852.00/8131
The Counselor of Embassy in Spain (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 21.]
Sir: The Minister of State informed me today of the negotiations now in progress with the British Government for a mass exchange of political prisoners, and furnished me a copy of a Note addressed to the British Minister on May 25, 1938, setting forth the procedure by which the Spanish Government believes the exchange can be effected. A copy and a translation of this Note are enclosed.58
As will be observed, the terms of the Note to Mr. Leche differ in two important respects from those which he described to me and which were reported in the Embassy’s confidential telegram number 963 of May 26th. The Note makes no reference to President Roosevelt as a possible nominator of the members of the proposed exchange Commission, nor does it definitively designate an American as one of the members. An American is merely suggested as an alternative to a Scandinavian, whereas according to Mr. Leche’s statement, a Scandinavian would be an alternative to a French member. As of interest in this connection, there also is enclosed a copy of a pencilled memorandum, handed to me by Mr. Leche,58 and upon which the telegram already cited was based.
The British Minister informed me that it had been his hope to have but a single Commissioner, who of course would have been a British subject, but that the French had learned of his negotiations and insisted on participating in the proposed exchange—thus compelling the Spanish Government to devise the three-member form of Committee. A notation on Mr. Leche’s memorandum refers to this intervention of [Page 292] the French Ambassador. Señor Alvarez del Vayo’s version of the negotiations with respect to the composition of the Commission, however, is that while the British Government did in fact propose but one Commissioner (Sir Philip Chetwode) the Council of Ministers is so antagonistic toward and mistrustful of Mr. Chamberlain’s Government that it would not accept the proposal, and insisted on a three-member commission to offset the British plan to control the exchange negotiations.
Señor del Vayo expressed the hope that the Commission might be established and achieve its purpose, since all other efforts—by the International Red Cross and the British Government—to effect a genuine and large scale exchange had failed. He did not refer to the possibility, mentioned by Mr. Leche, that the activities of the Commission might afford the basis for an armistice and peace negotiations.
Respectfully yours,