740.00112 European War 1939/490
The French Ambassador (Saint-Quentin) to the Secretary of State
Under date of September 21, 1939, the Ambassador of France in the United States informed His Excellency the Secretary of State of the measures which the French Government saw itself obliged to take in order to prevent goods considered as contraband from reaching the enemy in the course of the present hostilities.
[Page 770]However, the French authorities, solicitous of respecting the legitimate interests of neutral commerce, desire to cause, in the exercise of the recognized rights of belligerents at sea, the least hindrance possible to shipping carried on in good faith, on condition that the latter be good enough to lend itself voluntarily to the indispensable operations. They have just studied, particularly, the means of shortening the search of neutral vessels in the ports of France.
Accordingly, Mr. de Saint-Quentin has the honor to call the attention of the Honorable Cordell Hull to the interest the shipping companies of the United States would have in providing their vessels with five manifests, two of which should reach the French authorities before the arrival of the vessel in the harbor. It would be suitable, in order to hasten the sending thereof, that the two copies should be transmitted, in due time, to the French consular authority of the port of departure, who would send them, by air mail, to the Minister of the Blockade at Paris. Thanks to this preliminary formality, the duration of the control operations in France would be considerably reduced.
Mr. de Saint-Quentin is happy to avail himself of this opportunity to renew to the Honorable Cordell Hull the assurances of his very high consideration.