File No. 701.6311/235
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8 p. m.]
5243. Before making the full statement communicated in your 4097, November 28, 6 p. m., I pointed out to Lord Grey this morning that the original request for a safe-conduct for Count Tarnowski, which I transmitted pursuant to your 4044, November 14, 4 p. m., was submitted as from the Austro-Hungarian Government. I then asked him whether an expression of your strong desire to have an Austro-Hungarian Ambassador in Washington would have influenced his Government’s decision as announced, if it had accompanied the request from Vienna. He replied that it would certainly have done so and added that to grant such a request from the Austro-Hungarian Government would lay his Government open to embarrassing attacks in Parliament, while a request put forward by the United States as its own was a very different matter. He said his Government’s conclusion had been reached after consultation with that of France, without whose consent he could not reopen it, and that while he could not promise me a reversal of their decision, he would bring the matter up at once for reconsideration. He gave me to understand that he had been under the distinct impression that the United States Government did not particularly care to have a successor to Dumba.
I venture to suggest that you communicate urgently with Paris.