740.00116 European War 1939/566: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 26—5:10 p.m.]
5374. Personal to the Secretary. Since sending a personal message to you, my 5301, September 22, midnight,33 the British Foreign Office has informed me that we have agreed to include in the armistice terms a clause requiring the enemy to surrender war criminals to the Allies. I have received no word from the Department. The Lord Chancellor tells me, however, that this is not to be made public until there is agreement on the text relating to the establishment of the commission to investigate evidence on atrocities. Both the Foreign Secretary and the Lord Chancellor called me again yesterday to ask if I had received a reply to my message to you.
The Lord Chancellor would like to know if the text submitted to the President is acceptable to us and whether it could be announced as having joint support of the United States and Great Britain or whether it is to be announced as a British project supported by the United States. Since the subject was initiated by the War Cabinet here as a result of a memorandum from the President, the Lord Chancellor explained that they felt it would be reasonable to ask that it be announced as a joint project of both Governments and that it would have greater standing with joint support.
They are most anxious to get a reply as this question is now before both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the Government having already asked for two postponements.
- Not printed.↩