740.00112 European War 1939/534: Telegram
The Minister in the Netherlands (Gordon) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 22—4:43 p.m.]
287. With respect to Chamberlain’s57 announcement in the Commons yesterday that by way of retaliation for Germany’s violations of international law and the brutality of her methods of conducting war at sea an Order-in-Council is to be issued making German exports subject to seizure on the high seas as they were during the last war, the Dutch Government has today instructed its Legation in London to lodge a vigorous protest with the British Government at once before the Order-in-Council is actually issued.
The Foreign Minister has given me the text of the protest—which of course remains a strictly confidential document—which may be briefly summarized as follows.
The British Government’s decision evokes comments inspired by the probability if not the certainty that Dutch interests will be injured by the putting in force of the measures announced.
Without arguing the question of whether or not the accusation against Germany has been duly proved it is to be noted that the Dutch Government which has just lost a valuable unit of its mercantile marine with the accompanying loss of several score human lives including women and children has a special interest in learning the cause of this disaster; if the British Government could make this known with certainty the Netherlands Government would be very [Page 779] grateful so that it might obtain legal redress for damages and for the suffering inflicted upon a great number of innocent people.
Nor does it pertain to the Netherlands Government to go into the question of whether the British Government is entitled to take measures of reprisal against Germany or whether these measures are lawful in themselves on the hypothesis of German aggression as alleged by the British Government. However, the Netherlands Government wonders why the British Government in conformity with ethical and legal principles did not feel that it should make a formal public charge against Germany denouncing the facts against which the British Government felt that it must complain. In this connection the Netherlands Government evokes the diplomatic démarche of Pope Benedict XV of August 25, 1915 suggesting that belligerents refrain from any measure of reprisal without preliminary communication of the motives thereof. Such communication “recommend[ed] by good sense and very judicious even vis-à-vis an enemy” would moreover give third parties a chance to raise objections in case their interests as in the present case should be unjustly injured.
In any event the Dutch Government must protest with energy against the fact that in decreeing reprisals against Germany the British Government has had recourse to measures prejudicial not only to Germany but also to the Netherlands whose colonies regularly import German merchandise and in very special measure to Dutch shipping; the law of nations recognized by Britain as by other civilized nations and notably the Declaration of Paris of 1856 accepted by Great Britain allows such shipping freely to transport goods destined to third countries even if these goods are of German origin. The fact that the British reprisals injure not only those whom the British Government deems culpable but also innocent parties gives them an odious character which the Netherlands condemns all the more as these measures are taken by a friendly power.
The Dutch Government all the more fails to understand why Dutch along with other neutral interests must be injured even if involuntarily by the British measures inasmuch as the choice of reprisals is very large and if the British Government for reasons best known to itself decides to proceed to reprisals against the Germans it could have chosen measures not entailing injury to Holland which is already hard hit as to her means of existence by the war and especially by other means already taken by Great Britain.
The Dutch Government feels that the preceding observations are so fair and pertinent that a reconsideration of the publicly announced British decision is called for. (End of Dutch protest).
The Foreign Minister urgently requested me to ascertain the views of my Government with respect to the announced British measures of reprisal and accordingly I know he will be appreciative if you will give me an indication thereof at the earliest moment possible.58