File No. 656.119/227
The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2.41 p.m.]
9087. War Trade Board [from Sheldon]:
No. 294. Following telegram was received yesterday by Foreign Office en clair from British Minister at The Hague, being part of a telegram sent by the Netherlands Foreign Office to the Netherlands Minister, London: [Page 1415]
Owing to impending serious want of cereals in this country, Netherland Government is forced to withdraw objections to part of the Dutch tonnage which is left at disposal of associated interests navigating also in danger zone. However it must be understood (1) that said ships will not transport either troops or war supplies; (2) that said ships will not be armed. Moreover it must be understood crews are entirely free to accept or decline navigating in said zone and in accordance with Lord Robert Cecil’s communication to Van Vollenhoven we consider Associated Governments pledged to replace immediately after war all destroyed ships. The above on condition that Holland may count upon rationing and tonnage as proposed by us on basis of London and that, in advance on the 400,000 tons of wheat, 100,000 be placed at our disposal mid-April, viz., at least 50,000 in United States and the rest in South America, and that Dutch ships necessary for transport thereof shall be provided with bunkers.
British reply en clair to British Minister, The Hague, was as follows:
It is evident that the conditions proposing that the ships should not be used for troops or war supplies is quite unacceptable. Such a limitation would in practice make it almost impossible to use the ships at all. Further, the suggestion that the ships should not be armed is and can only be in the interest of our enemies. We are not favorably impressed by such a reply and unless we receive an unqualified acceptance of our proposals by tomorrow evening we can only regard it as a refusal.