740.00111A.R./898: Telegram
The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:58 p.m.]
10. For Under Secretary. You correctly interpret Aranha’s opinion in regard to paragraph 3 in the last sentence of your telegram No. 4, January 4, 5 p.m.
On Tuesday night the British Ambassador10 informed me that his Government had agreed “to the neutral zone proposal on certain conditions” and would hand a copy of the reply next day, Wednesday, to the Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs. Aranha showed me the note the same day. The note which is cautiously and shrewdly written sets out that the British Government notwithstanding the fact that it involves the temporary surrender of various well known and acknowledged legitimate belligerent rights views with sympathy the stand of the American Governments in regard to a neutral zone and is prepared under certain conditions to surrender for the duration of hostilities only certain legitimate belligerent rights and consequently to respect the zone during this war. Their conditions in brief are: (1) German acceptance and actual compliance; (2) adequate measures to be taken by the American Republics to secure enforcement; (3) German ships now in ports of American Republics not be allowed to leave those ports. Then follows a courteous but vigorous protest in advance against any attempt to deny port facilities to British war vessels (as envisaged in published proposals).
Aranha promised me a full copy of the text for tomorrow.
- Sir Geoffrey George Knox.↩