Office of the Historian

341.1154L58/265

The Ambassador in Great Britain (Bingham) to the Secretary of State

No. 812
London, July 7, 1934.
[Received July 17.]

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegraphic instruction No. 218, May 29, 6 p.m., regarding the Armes Automatiques Lewis Company, and in this connection to enclose a copy of a Foreign Office note, dated July 6, 1934, which was promised at the time I made the representations according to the Department’s instructions.

The point of view expressed to me at that time by Sir John Simon is repeated in this note.

Respectfully yours,

For the Ambassador:
Ray Atherton

Counselor of Embassy
[Page 827]
[Enclosure]

The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Simon) to the American Ambassador (Bingham)

No. A 5278/1870/45
London, 6 July, 1934.

Your Excellency: In a note which you were good enough to address to me on the 5th March last, (No. 362),16a relative to the claim of the United States stockholders of the Armes Automatiques Lewis Company, Your Excellency again drew my attention to the desire of the United States Government that this claim should be submitted to arbitration.

2. The views of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom as regards (a) the question whether any international claim lies against His Majesty’s Government in respect of the Treatment of the Armes Automatiques Lewis Company, (b) the question whether, owing to the fact that the Company is not incorporated in the United States but in Belgium, the claim is one which the Government of the United States is in any case entitled to support by diplomatic action, and (c) the question whether in any circumstances the disputes which have been determined by the judgment of the High Court of this country and by the agreement of the Company can be reopened at the instance of a section of the shareholders of the Company, have been fully explained in my note No. A 4758/1710/45 of the 2nd August, 1933, and the memorandum to the Belgian Ambassador enclosed therein, and also in the note addressed on the 1st January, 1927, to the United States Chargé d’affaires,17 and I am unable to accept the proposal that this claim should be submitted to arbitration.

I have [etc]

(For the Secretary of State)
R. L. Craigie
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Note of January 1, 1927, not printed.↩