File No. 763.72119/991
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Memorandum
In the British Embassy’s memorandum of November 19, 1917,2 it is stated for the information of the Department of State that, according to a telegram received from the British Foreign Office, the executive committee of Central Organization for a Durable Peace at the Hague Tribunal recently tried to arrange for a conference at Berne between representatives of Allied and enemy powers and neutrals to discuss a basis of peace; that the conference was fixed for November 12, but was postponed since the British, French and Italian Governments refused to issue passports for their nationals who desired to attend, and that His Majesty’s Government informed the Dutch committee that they could not issue passports to British subjects, as communication between British and enemy subjects is illegal.
The memorandum adds that the Dutch committee now propose to hold two conferences in December, one at Berne, when neutrals will meet enemy representatives only, and the other later at Geneva, when neutrals will meet Allied representatives; that the Geneva conference will be managed entirely by French and Swiss who are making repeated efforts to induce the French Government to issue [Page 311] passports to French citizens to attend; and that the British Government are inquiring what attitude the French Government intends to adopt.
In communicating this information, the British Embassy, under instructions from the British Government, inquire the views of the Government of the United States, and state that, as at present informed, His Majesty’s Government would prefer not to issue passports to British subjects for this conference.
The Government of the United States is in entire accord with this attitude of His Majesty’s Government, and the Department of State will take a similar course by refraining from issuing passports to American citizens who may apply for them for the purpose of attending the conference.
- Not printed.↩