File No. 860d.48/84
The Minister in Sweden ( Morris ) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 3, 3.30 a.m.]
1813. Your 653. I beg to refer to my 1707 giving the views of myself and my colleagues on the question of the supplies of cereals to Finland. We are still unanimous in the opinion that giving cereal to Finland is directly helping the enemy. After the despatch of my telegram 1707, the Inter-Allied Committee in Stockholm interviewed delegates of the Finnish Government and informed them that in view of the new position in Finland, it seemed impossible for any export of cereals to Finland to be permitted. The Committee, however, inaugurated negotiations for the exchange of transit goods in Finland against Finnish transitory goods in Scandinavia, which has now resulted in a concrete proposal being put forward by the Finnish delegates on this basis. Not only with [would] a grant of cereals to Finland be directly inimical to our interests in general, but it must inevitably prejudice the negotiations for transit goods.
I strongly urge, therefore, that your decision be reconsidered and that the [shipment] of cereals be refused. My French, British, and Italian colleagues concur with me in the above, and our opinion is strengthened by report of the Allied military mission which has just returned to Sweden from General Mannerheim’s quarters. The [Page 581] mission report that so far as they can see, the White Party of Finland is entirely under German influence and that they personally were insulted by Finnish officers with pro-German sympathies, although traveling with General Mannerheim’s special passport.
There is, therefore, nothing to cause me to change the views expressed in my telegram 1707, which I trust will be given serious consideration.