411.12/2299: Telegram

The Ambassador in Mexico ( Daniels ) to the Secretary of State

15. Department’s telegram No. 15, January 29, 7 p.m. Copies of all communications exchanged with Foreign Office have been transmitted to Department.

[Page 756]

I called yesterday on Minister for Foreign Affairs who again informed me that it would be impossible to make early answer to my repeated urgent requests that his Government would meet Department’s wishes by February 1. He said that to show his deep interest in the matter he had that day secured authorization from the President to engage four able lawyers to make an independent study of the whole question. He could not indicate how long before this study would be completed nor the course it would take but said that he would have to wait their report before making answer to our draft proposal. This gives no promise of early agreement. At a previous conference I had informed the Minister that unless an agreement could be reached by February 1, my Government would proceed with the filing of memorials in the agrarian claims on that date. “It is utterly impossible,” he repeated with emphasis on my last visit, “to make answer until the study by our lawyers is completed.”

Daniels