File No. 763.72112/3049
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 12, 8.30 a. m.]
5003. Your 3908, October 9, 6 p. m. Lord Grey has given me copies of the long British reply to our note of July 281 about the black list and he has sent other copies on the Kroonland to Spring Rice to be delivered to you. He requests that no statement be given out till the full text may be published simultaneously in the United States and here. Please advise me when you receive it on what day publication will be agreeable to you.
The main points of this long reply are: (1) that the statutory list is purely municipal legislation, an exercise of the sovereign right of ail independent state over its own citizens and nothing more; (2) the only disability that black-list persons suffer is that British subjects are prohibited from the support of British credit and British property; (3) the measure is not directed against neutral trade in general, still less against American trade in particular; (4) it is a necessary part of a general belligerent campaign meant only to weaken the enemy; (5) it is not used to advance British trade at the expense of American.
I have had a long conference with Lord Grey on this subject and made appointments with him and other members of the Government for further discussions. There is no doubt they now clearly see they had made a bad blunder and I think they will at least greatly reduce the list, but they are afraid of criticism in Parliament and in other [Page 456] neutral countries than ours. An American black list was sheer stupidity—they did not foresee the effect on American opinion. I am privately but authoritatively informed that Cecil in his interview of October 6 had only Sweden in mind.
- Not printed.↩