124.45/43

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State

The British Ambassador called to see me this evening at my request. The Ambassador left with me a memorandum concerning the mission of Colonel Louis Johnson to India, which reads as follows:

“On March 16th the Acting Secretary of State informed Sir Ronald Campbell that the President had decided to send Col. Louis Johnson to India as his personal representative. Mr. Welles explained that Mr. Wilson, the present U.S. Commissioner in India, was to be transferred and that the office of Commissioner would remain in abeyance as long as Col. Johnson was in India. Mr. Welles asked that his statement to Sir Ronald Campbell should be regarded as the official intimation of the President’s wishes and enquired whether any further formal steps, such as an application for an agrément, would be necessary. Sir Ronald Campbell promised to make enquiries on this point.

“The British Embassy has now been instructed to inform the State Department that His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of India will be glad to receive Colonel Louis Johnson as the personal representative of the President of the United States in India with the personal rank of Minister. They note that it is intended that the post of Commissioner shall remain in abeyance as long as Colonel Johnson remains in India.

“It is understood that Col. Johnson will not present any actual Letters of Credence but that—as was done when Mr. Wilson was appointed Commissioner—he will be furnished with an informal letter of introduction to the Viceroy from the President. In this connection the State Department will be aware that the present constitutional position of India makes it impossible for direct diplomatic relations between India and other countries to be established.”

S[umner] W[elles]