701.0065/34
The First Secretary of the British Embassy ( Barclay ) to Mr. Heyward G. Hill of the Division of Southern European Affairs
Dear Hill: I am writing to confirm what I told you on Friday29 about the view of the Foreign Office on the question of Swiss and other neutral diplomatic representation in Italy.30
The Foreign Office say that they have not yet gone fully into the question of neutral diplomatic representation in Italy and they have been working on the assumption that the question would only arise after the capture of Rome when certain neutral representatives left over from fascist days would be found and it would have to be decided on general grounds and on grounds of military security whether they should be allowed to stay, and if so on what conditions, or should be asked to leave under the power granted by article 25 b of the armistice.31 It seems desirable to the Foreign Office that so long as Italy is occupied by the Allies neutrals should only conduct their relations with the Italian Government through the Control Commission, representing the Occupying Powers. They admit that an awkward precedent has been created by the Russian action in exchanging direct (but not diplomatic) representatives with the Italian Government32 but they consider that any extension of the precedent would be undesirable and that it would be anomalous if the Allied Governments were confined to conducting their relations with the Italian Government through the Control Commission machinery while neutrals had direct and individual diplomatic relations with the Italian Government. Moreover, if neutral diplomatic representatives were to have direct relations with the Italian Government there would be some doubt about the position of neutral consuls who, if assimilated to the position of Allied Consuls, would only be able to conduct relations [Page 1170] with the Italian authorities through the political section of the Control Commission (though the latter may grant them permission to approach directly local Italian officials within their respective districts.)
The Foreign Office understand that you recently informed your representative on the Advisory Council33 that the Department for their part had no objection to the Swiss Government sending a diplomatic representative to Salerno34 though you considered that the final decision should be left to A.F.H.Q. If this is correct, they wonder whether you had taken the above considerations into account since, in their view, it would clearly be undesirable in present circumstances to permit the return of a Swiss diplomatic representative to function in liberated Italy. They point out that in any case the Swiss have not themselves apparently asked for diplomatic representation and they hope that they will not be encouraged to do so. The Foreign Office would be glad to have your views both on this question of Swiss representation and on the general question of neutral representation in Italy which they think should be cleared up before the Allied forces reach Rome.
The Foreign Office say that they are considering separately the question of Swiss Consular representation in Italy to which they are inclined to see no objection in principle provided the Swiss Consuls do not enjoy any cypher facilities or rights of access to the Italian authorities beyond those permitted in the directive on the subject from the Combined Chiefs of Staff to the Allied Commander-in-Chief (Tam 125 of January 8th35).
Yours sincerely,
- April 28.↩
- A marginal comment reads as follows: “Barclay informs me this was drafted and signed before my call on Monday [May 1] when I informed him we had sent a message stating no Swiss dip. rep. should be permitted at this time. May 2.”↩
- The Italian Armistice, signed on September 3, 1943, was announced by General Eisenhower on September 8, 1943. For the text of article 25 (b), see “Additional Conditions of the Armistice with Italy, September 29, 1943,” United States and Italy, 1986–1946: Documentary Record (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1946), pp. 55, 60.↩
- See telegram 822, March 13, 5 p.m., from Algiers, p. 1044.↩
- Telegram 1122, April 14, 1944, not printed.↩
- Both the Royal Italian Government and the Administrative Section of the Allied Control Commission were located at Salerno prior to the fall of Rome.↩
- For pertinent section, see memorandum by Mr. Heyward G. Hill, May 6, infra. ↩