840.50/1619
The British Ambassador (Halifax) to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I was informed by the Foreign Office that you sent them a message through Mr. Winant in November last2 repeating a statement that you had made to me on several occasions to the effect that the State Department were willing to embark on exploratory and informal discussions with countries signatory to Article VII,3 and suggesting that His Majesty’s Government might like to designate someone in the Embassy or to send someone from London to carry on such discussions. No reply to your message was sent through the American Embassy in London, since Sir Frederick Phillips4 and Mr. Redvers Opie5 were continuing the informal discussions which had been started some time before.
I am now asked to state formally in reply to your enquiry of November last that Sir Frederick Phillips and Mr. Redvers Opie have been designated to carry on informal and exploratory conversations in connection with Article VII.
Believe me,
Very sincerely yours,
- See telegram No. 5628, November 10, 1942, 4 p.m., to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom, ibid., p. 230.↩
- i.e., article VII of the Lend Lease Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, signed February 23, 1942, Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 241, or 56 Stat. (pt. 2) 1433.↩
- British Treasury Representative in the United States.↩
- Counselor of the British Embassy at Washington.↩