317.41/12

The British Ambassador (Howard) to the Secretary of State

No. 130

His Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador presents his compliments to the Secretary of State, and has the honour to state that he has been instructed by His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to draw the attention of the United States to the menace to British lives and property arising from the present disturbances in Nicaragua. In particular, His Majesty’s Government have been advised by His Majesty’s Chargé d’Affaires at Managua that the hostilities between the rebels and Government troops have now resulted in a situation which threatens the safety of British lives and property in Corinto, Leon, Managua, Granada and Matagalpa.

In view, therefore, of the grave risks to which British residents in Nicaragua are now exposed, His Majesty’s Ambassador has been instructed to remind the United States Government that His Majesty’s Government look to them to extend to British subjects, and especially to those in the places above mentioned, the same measure of protection as they afford to United States citizens in the districts now threatened by revolutionary disturbances.