File No. 763.72115/3316
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador on Special Mission ( Reading )
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your memorandum of May 23, 1918, relative to the proposal to deport to Australia enemy subjects in China.2 I note the communication received from the German Government intimating that if the deportation takes place, the German Government will be compelled to resort to the severest retaliatory measures without any consideration whatever. I also note that [as] the German Government has not adduced any arguments to show that the contemplated deportation of enemy subjects from China to Australia is contrary to international law, His Majesty’s Government does not propose to make any reply beyond a formal acknowledgment but suggests that the Associated Governments should agree on a course of action to be pursued in the event of the German Government taking the measures threatened when the deportation of enemy subjects from China is carried out.
[Page 650]In reply I have the honor to inform you that this Government has received a similar communication from the German Government through the Swiss Legation and has made merely a formal acknowledgment in reply. Any suggestions which the British Government may desire to make relative to a joint course of action on the part of the Associated Governments will be given the most careful consideration by the Government of the United States.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩