811.34544/669: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:50 p.m.]
908. For the President and the Secretary of State. There has been a definite speeding up of the Base Lease negotiations. Apparently the negotiations had been complicated and delayed by overemphasis on Colonial objections without sufficient authoritative recognition by the British of our primary defense needs. I am certain that unnecessary prolongation of negotiations would be no more helpful here than at home. I have been guided by the position and attitude of our Government [Page 78] as stated in paragraph 4 of the Department’s memorandum of March 1 to the British Embassy and your confidential telegram to the Commission No. 712, March 4, 6 p.m.
I would like to support the Commissioners’ recommendations given in our 853, March 5, midnight,91 and the recommendation they are making for an exchange of notes stating that the President would recommend to Congress that authority be given to try British subjects apprehended within the leased areas for security offenses by United States courts within such areas if the United States assumes jurisdiction. The Colonials are disturbed by the possibility of distant trials and the British fear that this jurisdictional point would be one of those most likely to block necessary colonial legislation and thus require an overriding act of Parliament. They consider it a fundamental question of civil rights. I am convinced that such an exchange of notes would go far to allay these fears which are particularly troublesome in Bermuda and Newfoundland. The Commission’s recommendations on this and other points arising from today’s meeting will be telegraphed after a meeting tomorrow on various miscellaneous points.
Three major points will remain under consideration by the Prime Minister and are scheduled for Cabinet discussion Monday:92 Article I dealing with rights, article II defense, and article III customs. The first and third seem reasonably near settlement. The second may prove troublesome because the Prime Minister himself attaches great importance to the issues involved. He has himself suggested the following:
“It is recognized that the interest of the United States Government in the defense of the leased areas and the territories in which they lie is physically in harmony with the separate interest of His Majesty’s Government and without raising any question of naval or military compacts or assurance it is recognized that the various schemes of defense shall be concerted and adjusted at any moment to provide in the highest degree the security of each of the two contracting parties. For this purpose there will be consultation in accordance with the spirit of the preamble. When the United States is engaged in war or in time of other emergency it shall have all such rights in the territories and the surrounding waters and air spaces as may be necessary for conducting military operations. But in the exercise of these rights full regard shall be had to the said preamble.”
The Commission has rejected this draft first on the ground that it is
incompatible with the position of our Government and secondly
because the last sentence of Mr. Churchill’s draft might be
construed to qualify our war powers. After the most careful
consideration of [Page 79] the problem
and in view of the Prime Minister’s very real concern we would
suggest breaking article II into two paragraphs reading as follows:
We forward this for your comment and any suggestions you wish to make, being fully aware of the instructions already given the Commission.
While it may not be possible, I have hoped that agreement on the base leases could be announced simultaneously with passage of the Lease-Lend Bill93 as it would afford an excellent example of practical Anglo-American cooperation and friendship and might minimize possible criticism in Parliament or the Colonies and also help in the United States.