File No. 811.203/18
The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page ) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 19, 3.30 a.m.]
9101. Your 6461, February 5, 10 p.m. Following note, dated March 15, received from Foreign Office:
With reference to Your Excellency’s note of the 6th instant relative to the maintenance of discipline among United States troops in this country, I have the honor to transmit to Your Excellency herewith for the information of the United States Government a draft copy of the regulations under the Defense of the Realm Acts and of the order [to be] made thereunder by the Army Council which it is proposed to issue at a very early date in order to meet the requirements of the United States authorities.
The military authorities, while prepared to consider the advisability of a formal agreement on the subject between His Majesty’s Government and the United States Government after the issue of the proposed regulations, are of opinion that so far as concerns United States troops in this country these regulations are a more comprehensive and satisfactory method of procedure than an agreement such as has been concluded between His Majesty’s Government and the Belgian [French?] Government, which, while acting satisfactorily in France, left the question of jurisdiction in this country open to some doubt.
With reference to the wording of the draft regulations I would invite Your Excellency’s attention to regulation No. 62 of the Defense of the Realm regulations, the last paragraph of which provides [Page 742] as follows: “For the purpose of these regulations references to Allies and states in alliance with His Majesty shall include states acting in naval or military cooperation with His Majesty in the present war.”
Draft Regulation
For facilitating the enforcement by His Majesty’s Allies of discipline amongst such of their naval or military forces as may for the time being be within the United Kingdom, the following provisions shall have effect:
- 1.
- It is hereby declared that the naval and military authority and courts of an Ally may exercise in relation to the members of any naval or military force of that Ally who may for the time being be in the United Kingdom all such powers as are conferred on them by the law of that Ally.
- 2.
- The Admiralty or Army Council may make orders authorizing the arrest and custody of members of any force of an Ally alleged to have been guilty of offenses and the handing over of such persons to the proper naval or military authority of the Ally whether [within] or outside the United Kingdom for the purpose of being dealt with (whether within or without the United Kingdom) by the naval or military authorities or courts of the Ally according to the law of the Ally.
- 3.
- A competent naval or military authority may on the application of the proper naval or military authority of an Ally issue an order requiring any person not being a member of any naval or military force of that Ally, subject to the payment on tender of the reasonable expenses of his attendance, to attend as a witness and give evidence or to produce documents before a naval or military court of the Ally in the United Kingdom or before any person duly authorized to take evidence in the United Kingdom in connection with any proceedings before a naval or military court of the Ally, and if any person fails to comply with any of the provisions of the order he shall be guilty of an offense against these regulations.
- 4.
- Where a person not being a member of a naval or military force of an Ally is guilty of any contempt towards a naval or military court of that Ally in the United Kingdom by using insulting or threatening language or by causing any interruption or disturbance in its proceedings or by printing observations or using words calculated to influence members of or witnesses before such court or to bring it into disrepute, he shall be guilty of an offense against these regulations.
- 5.
- Where a person not being a member of a naval or military force of an Ally when examined on oath or solemn declaration in the United Kingdom before any naval or military court of that Ally, or before any person duly authorized to take evidence in connection with any proceeding before such a court, willfully gives false evidence he shall be guilty of an offense against these regulations, but nothing in this provision shall prejudice any liability under the [Perjury] Act, 1911.
- 6.
- It shall be lawful for a member of a naval or military [court of] an Ally or any person duly authorized to take evidence in connection with any proceedings before such court and to administer oaths to witnesses.
- 7.
- If any person not being a member of a naval or military force of an Ally procures or persuades a member of such force to desert or absent himself without leave or knowingly aids or assists a member of such force about to desert or absent himself without leave, or knowingly conceals a deserter or absentee without leave from such force, or aids or assists him in concealing himself or aids or assists in his rescue, that person shall be guilty of a summary offense against these regulations and for the purposes of this provision shall be deemed to have had knowledge unless he proves that he had not knowledge.
- 8.
- If a person not being a member of a naval or military force of an Ally as provided: (a) buys, exchanges, takes in [pawn], detains, or (b) solicits or entices a member of such force to sell, exchange, realize [pawn], or give away, or (c) assists or acts for a member of such force in selling, pawning, or making away with any arms, ammunition, equipment or clothing of any member of such force or any stores belonging to or in charge of any such force, that person shall be guilty of a summary offense against these regulations unless he proves either that he acted in ignorance of the same being the arms, ammunition, equipment or clothing of a member of such force or being such stores as aforesaid, or that the same was sold by the order or with the consent of the proper naval or military authority of that Ally.
- 9.
- Any sentence passed in the United Kingdom on a member of a naval or military force of an Ally by a naval or military court of an Ally in accordance with the laws of that Ally may be executed according to the tenor thereof within the United Kingdom and if the sentence involves the detention of any person in custody that person whilst in custody in pursuance of the sentence shall be deemed to be in legal custody and any sentence passed on such a man by such a court shall be deemed to be in accordance with the law and to be within the jurisdiction of the court and the court shall be deemed to have been properly constituted.
- 10.
- For the purposes of the foregoing provisions the expression “proper naval or military authority” includes such members of their naval or military forces as the Government of the Allied state may appoint for the purposes aforesaid and different members may be appointed for different purposes.
- 11.
- The term “Ally” or “Allied state” wherever it is used in this regulation shall be taken to include a foreign country allied or otherwise acting in naval or military cooperation with His Majesty in the present war.
Draft Order of the Army Council
- 1.
- Any member of a naval or military force of an Ally may if authorized by the proper naval or military authority of that Ally arrest and hand over to that authority any other member of such force whom he finds committing or has reason to suspect of having committed an offense for which he is amenable to the naval or military courts of the Ally.
- 2.
- Any police constable and any officer or non-commissioned officer of His Majesty’s military forces may arrest any member of a naval or military force of an Ally whom he finds committing or has reason [Page 744] to suspect of having committed a civil offense if the offense is such that if such man had been a member of His Majesty’s military forces he could have arrested him.
- 3.
- Any police constable and any officer or non-commissioned officer of His Majesty’s military forces may on the request of the proper naval or military authority of an Ally or any person authorized by him arrest any person whom he has reason to believe to be a member of a naval or military force of that Ally and who is alleged by such authority to be guilty of an offense for which he is amenable to the naval or military courts of the Ally.
- 4.
- Any member of a naval or military force of an Ally arrested under this order by a police constable or by an officer or non-commissioned officer of His Majesty’s military forces shall as soon as practicable be handed over to the proper naval or military authority of that Ally and whether within or without the United Kingdom to be dealt with according to the law of that Ally applicable to the case and in the meantime may be kept in civil or military custody.