859B.01/199: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul at Godthaab ( Penfield )
Washington
, June
5, 1940—1 p.m.
16. Your 22, June 3, 11 p.m.24
- (1)
- Campbell has been ordered to increase speed and will probably arrive Godthaab sometime on Friday, June 7.
- (2)
- On Monday before the receipt of your telegrams nos. 19 and 2025 we discussed separately with representatives of the British Embassy and the Canadian Legation the reports which we had received of the presence of Canadian police and possibly soldiers on board the Nascopie and of British naval officers on board the Julius Thomsen. At our request the British and Canadian representatives undertook to ask their respective governments for further information regarding [Page 369] these reports. We hope that when the replies are received their contents will be of such a nature as to allay the present nervousness of the Greenland authorities. As you are aware we would be averse to landing an armed force at Ivigtut except under special circumstances. We will of course, however, give every consideration to the Governor’s request with a view to determining what further steps we may properly take.
Hull