File No. 656.119/710
The Acting Secretary of State to the Netherland Chargé ( De Beaufort)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of July 23, 1918,2 which refers to the note I addressed to you, at the direction of the President, on July 9, concerning certain ships which you desire to use in transporting grains and cereals to Holland.
[Page 1518]You advise me in answer to one of the inquiries contained in my note of July 9 that the Netherlands Government has seriously protested against the German prize regulation No. 55(c) and that this protest has been without avail. You further state that the Netherlands Government will shortly publish a statement concerning the negotiations regarding the shipping situation and that this statement will include the protest made by the Netherlands Government to Germany with respect to these regulations.
You state, however, in effect, that your Government is reluctant to publish this statement until the United States Government has acted favorably on the request of the Netherlands Government that bunker facilities should be furnished to the three Netherlands vessels Jason, Cornelis and Amsteldyk.
In this connection I desire to repeat the statement I made in my note of July 9 to the effect that the President wished me to make it very clear to you that his ultimate decision with respect to the furnishing of bunker facilities to the Netherlands vessels Jason, Cornelis and Amsteldyk will be controlled by the character of the representations made by the Netherlands Government to the Imperial German Government and especially by the measures adopted by the Netherlands Government to give full publicity to such representations, and to the answer received thereto, so that the people of the Netherlands may be accurately advised as to the facts. Your note of July 23 does not give me any information with reference to the character of the representations made by the Netherlands Government to the Imperial German Government respecting the German prize regulation in question, nor am I advised of any measures adopted by the Netherlands Government to give such publicity to these representations as to permit the people of the Netherlands to be accurately advised as to the facts.
As I am unable from the information you have given me to inform the President with respect to these points, I trust that, in order that I may be able to give you a prompt answer regarding the bunkering of the three Netherlands vessels Jason, Cornelis and Amsteldyk for voyages to Netherlands European ports, you will furnish me with the information requested in my note of July 9.
Accept [etc.]
- Not printed.↩