740.00113 European War 1939/612: Telegram
The Chargé in the United Kingdom ( Matthews ) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 2—8 p.m.]
62. Department’s 6679, December 31, 5 p.m., came just after the Foreign Office had sent out a communication setting the time for the [Page 440] release of the declaration to the public Tuesday, January 5 at 12 noon local London time. It was difficult to change the procedure in the short time available but after informal talks with the Foreign Office, substantial changes have been made.
1. The Foreign Office agrees to making a distinction between “technical” neutrals who have broken off relations with the Axis and neutrals who are neutrals in fact as well as in name. They will telegraph tonight to British representatives in Asuncion, Bogota, Caracas, La Paz, Lima, Montevideo and Quito asking that the action to be taken in regard to the governments concerned should be brought in line as far as possible with that to be taken in the case of the Latin American Governments who are at war. The British representatives in these capitals will be instructed (a) to make their communication on January 4 instead of January 5; (b) [possible omission] make it difficult for any government not actually in a state of war to associate itself directly with it; they hope that the governments to which they are accredited will be able to make public statements condemning acts of dispossession perpetrated by the Axis in territories occupied by it or under its control, and in addition will declare its intention not to recognize such transfers of property; and (c) to take every precaution against premature disclosure of the declaration, and to request the governments concerned to treat the matter as confidential until the time of public release.
2. The Foreign Office does not favor taking the same line with the Argentine and Chilean Governments as with the Governments which have broken off relations with the enemy. They feel that, at least as regards the Argentine Government, to do so might draw a rebuff which might hinder attempts to make the declaration known fully in Argentina. They believe that they can explain later to the satisfaction of other parties to the declaration the distinction now to be drawn between the method of communication of the declaration used in the case of neutrals which have severed relations with the Axis and that used in the case of neutrals which are neutrals in fact as well as in name. But they believe that they would be criticised by other parties to the declaration if without consulting all parties they adopted a special approach to particular neutrals which had not broken with the enemy. They think, therefore, it would be better to allow the communication by the British Ambassadors in Argentina and Chile to be made on the morning of January 5, which is the time set for communicating the declaration to other neutrals which are neutrals in fact as well as name, and to make the communication on the lines indicated under heading (2) in Embassy’s 7346, December 24.4
[Page 441]The Foreign Office, however, considers that this would not preclude the United States Government from separately giving its own opinion to the Argentine and Chilean Governments.
3. Regarding the suggestion in the second paragraph of Department’s 6679, December 31, the general procedure that Britain as the coordinating power should make the communication on behalf of the powers concerned to United Nations other than those making the declaration was indicated in section III of Embassy’s 6797, December 15 and as no comment was received from the Department, the Foreign Office assumed that this arrangement met with the Department’s approval. At this late date it would be difficult to put the suggestion fully into effect but the Foreign Office will send tonight a further instruction to British representatives in Latin American countries that they should communicate the declaration to the governments concerned jointly with their United States colleagues if the latter in his own judgment or following instructions from the Department should express a preference for this procedure.
The Foreign Office says that the arrangements for British representatives to communicate the declaration were only intended as a matter of convenience and wishes to make it clear that the action to be taken by British representatives as the agents of the other parties does not impair the rights of other parties to make individual communications to particular governments if they so desire.
4. The exact designation of each Government was received yesterday from the Foreign Office as follows: The Union of South Africa, the United States of America, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, the Czechoslovak Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Greece, India, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Yugoslavia and the French National Committee.
6. [5.] We understand that the Foreign Office will shortly make a communication to the parties concerned regarding the formation of the Committee of Experts6 referred to in section II of Embassy’s 6797, December 1. This communication will deal with a number of comments on the subject which have been received from some of the Allied Governments.
- Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. i, p. 87.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. i, p. 81.↩
- No such communication found in Department files. See telegram No. 550, January 21, from the Chargé in the United Kingdom, with respect to the establishment of the subcommittee of experts, p. 445.↩