875.00/37
The British Chargé ( Barclay ) to the Secretary of State
Memorandum
His Britannic Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires presents his compliments to the Secretary of State and, with reference to the latter’s note No. 315 of November 16th, has the honour to inform him by direction of His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that His Majesty’s Ambassador at Rome telegraphed to the Foreign Office on November 14th stating that the Italian Government, who had communicated the text of the Albanian Appeal of October 12th to His Majesty’s Government and to the United States and French Governments through the Italian Embassies in their respective capitals, were of opinion that no action should be taken calculated to limit the freedom of the Albanians in expressing their views as [Page 374] to the future organization of Albania, the future political status of which country would of course be definitely established as a result of decisions taken in common by the Powers.
His Majesty’s Government instructed His Majesty’s Ambassador on November 18th to inform the Italian Government in reply that while His Majesty’s Government had no objection to the Albanians expressing their views on this question, they earnestly trusted that the Italian Government would take no action and would allow no action to be taken on these proposals until the Peace Conference had decided the future of Albania.