740.00111 A.R./866
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The British Ambassador called at his own request. He said that he had already made known in detail to Mr. Welles the British views on the safety zone arising from the Declaration of Panama; that his Government desired that he call and discuss these matters with me. He then proceeded to say that his Government is very much concerned lest the introduction of sanctions envisaged by the protest of the twenty-one American republics to the belligerents really contemplates the use of force. The Ambassador expressed the opinion that such a policy of force would be calculated to lead from one incident to another until the friendly relations between our two Governments might be badly injured in case that another Government desired to bring about such a situation. By way of illustration, he said that, if British naval vessels felt obliged to enter this safety zone to deal with vessels, such as the Graf Spee, some of the Governments might consider that such British ships should not be allowed to enter their harbors to secure supplies; or in any event that there might well be incidents where the British Government would be thus precluded. He then said that there was really no international law to justify the designation of the 300–mile boundary around the Americas, thereby making it possible for German merchant ships to carry on business between any American [Page 123] ports and be at all times safe from possible British interference, and also make it possible for German armed vessels to occupy such area without disturbance from the British, so long as they refrained from such hostile or other acts as are expressly prohibited by the Declaration of Panama. He elaborated in an effort to cite other possible situations leading to similar results. He stated that naturally his Government had no desire to send its fleets into American waters with the view to any naval engagement or act of hostility, but that it could not well refrain from doing so without turning over all of these American waters to German merchant vessels and even German naval vessels just so long as they complied with the technical requirements aforesaid.
I replied that, since the Ambassador had talked this matter out in detail with Mr. Welles, I would not undertake to enter into a detailed discussion with him now, and I thanked him for coming in.