File No. 656.119/359
The Secretary of State to the Minister in the Netherlands ( Garrett )
1122. Your 2334, April 17, 6 p.m. In view of the repeated assurances, to which you refer, that Dutch ships leaving a Netherlands port after March 21 will not be brought into service other than by agreement with the owners, the Department is unable to understand your apparent doubt as to the unequivocal character of these assurances and your apparent hesitancy in taking all such steps as you may consider advisable to convince the Netherlands Government of the effectiveness of such assurances. The three grain vessels to which you refer are not, of course, covered by assurances above referred to, since except for the Juno at Curaçao they will not have left a Dutch port since March 21, and it is possible that a larger vessel may be substituted for the Juno. These three grain vessels are, however, protected by specific assurances that they may proceed to Holland with all the facilities which the Associated Governments [Page 1468] can offer. The three replacing vessels which will sail from Holland will come under the general assurances heretofore given.
The Netherlands Chargé has asked formal assurance that after March 20 no vessel flying Dutch flag will be seized or detained in a port of the United States. We now have under consideration the giving of a comprehensive guarantee against requisition. We have no present intention of taking further Dutch vessels, but in view of military exigencies which are possible, though not probable, we are reluctant to agree never under any circumstances to requisition another Dutch vessel. It may, however, be necessary that we give such a broad guarantee in order to get Dutch shipping generally into active service. An expression of your views on this point is desired.