462.00R296/4992b
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Bulgaria ( Shoemaker )
Dear Mr. Shoemaker: You will doubtless have noticed that in indicating its acceptance of the President’s proposal of debt postponement the Greek Government appended two reservations,87 one of which concerns Bulgaria. This reservation stipulates that the payments for the execution of the Caphandaris-Molloff agreement must be included in the suspension of payments.
This Government has from the beginning taken the position that it could not act as arbiter in the various points in dispute between the Balkan countries in connection with their response to the President’s proposal. We still do not want to take any active part in deciding the questions created by the Greek reservations, but we are naturally following the situation with interest and I will, therefore, ask you to keep us informed of any developments in this connection.
I do not know, of course, whether the Greek Government has approached the Bulgarian Government in regard to the suspension of the payments for the execution of the Caphandaris-Molloff agreement, or whether it merely intends without further discussion not to make the payments as they fall due. Any information you may receive in this regard will be of interest to us here. If Greece stops payment to Bulgaria, it is likely that Bulgaria will make some form of protest. It is open to her under the Caphandaris-Molloff agreement to carry the dispute to the Council of the League for settlement.
Any opportunity that you may have of recommending to the Bulgarian Government a speedy final settlement of this disputed question, it will be advisable to take, though you must not, of course, reveal in any way the fact that the Department has given you special instructions.
Sincerely yours,
- See Great Britain, Cmd. 3947, Misc. No. 19 (1931), p. 26.↩