500.A4a/12a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in the Netherlands ( Phillips )41
3. Please deliver the following note to Minister for Foreign Affairs, tomorrow, February 4th.
“The United States of America have concluded on December 13, 1921, with the British Empire, France and Japan, a treaty with £ view to the preservation of the general peace and the maintenance of their rights in relation to their insular possessions and the insular dominions in the region of the Pacific Ocean. They have agreed thereby as between themselves to respect their rights in relation to these possessions and dominions.
“The Netherlands not being signatory to the said treaty and the Netherlands possessions in the region of the Pacific Ocean therefore not being included in the agreement referred to, the Government of the United States of America, anxious to forestall any conclusion contrary to the spirit of the treaty, desires to declare that it is firmly resolved to respect the rights of the Netherlands in relation to their insular possessions in the region of the Pacific Ocean.”
This is identical with notes to be delivered by British, French and Japanese Ministers.
- The same, mutatis mutandis, to the Minister in Portugal (file no. 500.A4a/13a).↩