File No. 656.119/433
The Netherland Chargé ( De Beaufort) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary of State: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s note which you were pleased to address to me under date of April 26 last relative to the assurances that the Government of the United States is ready to give a guarantee to Dutch vessels against seizure and detention by the American authorities.
In transmitting to my Government the contents of the said note, I reported that the Department of State had told me that it would send me as soon as possible another note containing an answer fully covering my request to the Government of the United States for a formal assurance that on and after March 20 last no vessel under the Dutch flag would be seized in a port of the United States. The above-mentioned note of Your Excellency spoke only of an assurance against the seizure of Dutch vessels leaving a Netherland port after the 20th of March.
I indulge the hope that Your Excellency will kindly enable me to transmit to my Government in the very near future, if possible, the formal assurance of the Government of the United States guaranteeing all vessels under the Dutch flag in a port of the United States against seizure by the American authorities after the 20th of March.
I avail myself [etc.]