File No. 763.72/8202
The Commercial Adviser of the British Embassy ( Crawford ) to the Counselor for the Department of State ( Polk )
[Received December 13.]
My Dear Mr. Counsellor: I am sending you herewith an official note embodying a resolution arrived at in London with regard to the division and employment of Norwegian tonnage.2 You will see [Page 644] that this proposal is different from the scheme which we had arrived at in our conversations with you, Mr. Hurley and Mr. Munson. I do not think the differences are very material and, as you will remember, the provisions in our scheme for close consultation with British representatives at Washington and American representatives in London are covered already by the general scheme outlined in the Ambassador’s official note of December 3. It would, no doubt, have led to a speedier arrangement between us if my Government had felt able to agree to our scheme, but the proposal in the enclosed official note was arrived at previously in consultation between two members of the War Cabinet, the Shipping Controller and the Minister of Blockade on the one hand, and Messrs. Colby, McCormick, Perkins and Doctor Taylor on the other and my Government feels that before discarding it the two alternatives should be discussed with Colonel House and his colleagues, who are now on their way home. This is the upshot of detailed telegraphic correspondence between ourselves and the Foreign Office during the past fortnight and I think that you will agree that the attitude assumed by the Foreign Office is reasonable.
Unfortunately, daily difficulties are still being encountered in the clearance from United States ports of ships loaded with supplies for France and Italy and the consequent disorganization in Allied transport arrangements is assuming dimensions which we cannot but regard as dangerous. The direct interest of the British Government in these transport arrangements is not great but that of Italy and France is very great indeed, and I trust that, in face of the definite declaration, contained in the enclosed official note, that the British Government is willing to divide Norwegian tonnage equally with the United States after certain deductions not widely different from those proposed in our scheme, there will be no further attempt on the part of the United States authorities to attach conditions to the sailings of ships in the Allied service, these ships being already covered by an official declaration of the British Government more weighty than the individual guarantees which have, I think unfortunately, been demanded in the past and are still being demanded.
Believe me [etc.]
- Official note, No. 591, follows.↩