740.0011 European War 1939/15907⅔
The Under Secretary of State ( Welles ) to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: At the time of your meeting with Mr. Churchill in August,9 with your approval I inquired of Sir Alexander Cadogan, for the information of this Government, whether the British Government had entered into any commitments or secret understandings covering territorial readjustments after the close of the war. You will remember that some six weeks previously you had sent a personal message to Mr. Churchill10 expressing the opinion that [Page 34] the British Government should make no secret commitments to any of its allies without the knowledge of the United States or without the agreement of the United States.
Sir Alexander Cadogan gave me the most specific and positive assurances that the British Government had entered into no agreements and had made no commitments which had to do with frontier or territorial readjustments, with one possible exception. He stated that this one exception was an oral statement made to the Government of Yugoslavia prior to the Yugoslav coup d’état that the British Government believed that at the conclusion of the war the subject of the jurisdiction of Istria was a matter which might well come up for reconsideration. He went on to say that this did not constitute any firm commitment and added that no mention whatever had been made by the British Government of either Gorizia or Trieste.
Sir Alexander Cadogan further stated that, should the British Government at any future time intend to make any commitments of this character, the Government of the United States would be advised prior to the making of such commitments.
I received yesterday a letter from Lord Halifax under date of October 18 which contains a message to me from Sir Alexander Cadogan. I am enclosing a copy thereof for your information.11
Unless you see some objection I propose in reply merely to state that this Government has taken due note of the contents of this message and that we have no comment to offer and no suggestions to make.
As you know, the treatment by the Italians of the Senussis has been shocking and, from the standpoint of humanity alone, a statement of the kind proposed by the British Government would seem to me to be one which would be welcomed by public opinion everywhere.
I shall appreciate it if you will let me have your views.12
Believe me [etc.]
- For correspondence regarding the Atlantic Conference, see Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, pp. 341 ff.↩
- See telegram No. 2600, July 14, 1941, 6 p.m., to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom, Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, p. 342.↩
- Supra. ↩
- Notation on original: “SW OK FDR”.↩