853.863/9
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Castle)
The Portuguese Minister came to see the Secretary yesterday, bringing with him the attached note.31 The Secretary looked it through and also looked at the text of the commercial agreement between the United States and Portugal. He was inclined to feel that the interpretation of that agreement, as set forth in our note of September 26th, was perhaps unduly narrow. He felt that there might be something in the Portuguese plea that it could properly refer to ships as well as to merchandise. The Minister pointed out that, if it could be so interpreted, the advantage would be entirely on our side, since Portugal has no ships which come to this country.
The Secretary asked the Minister to leave the note with him and told him that, if on reconsideration, it were found possible to take a different attitude, we would substitute another note and that, if it were necessary to maintain the stand taken here, we would write a covering letter of explanation.
- The Department’s note of September 26, supra. ↩