352.1153 St 2/38: Telegram
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Houghton) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 8—11:50 a.m.]
28. Reference your 26, February 4, 8 p.m. Mr. Blair and I have discussed the Spanish oil situation. No matter what the legal rights under the Spanish Constitution prove to be ultimately, clearly there have occured the annulment of a charter of a company with substantial [Page 846] American ownership, the taking over of its property without adequate compensation, and the handing over to a Spanish company, bodily, of its business.
The only remedy immediately available would seem to be a protest by the American, British, and French Governments. Such representations have already been made by the French Government whose Ambassador assures me informally that this pressure will go on. He believes, however, that the British Government will refuse to act because British subjects are interested in a company which is a Spanish corporation in fact. This attitude, we now feel from certain private information, possibly may be altered. The most effective means of speeding such a result, I suggest, would be for the Secretary and the British Ambassador to discuss the matter. If the American press were given the facts, this also would probably help.