841D.01/306: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
2591. Please deliver the following message to Prime Minister Churchill from the President:
“I have discussed with Secretary Hull your message of March 19 on the further steps which you contemplate in relation to Ireland. We believe that you are pursuing the right line in taking the security measures mentioned without, however, adopting measures of coercion designed only to harm Ireland.
“We wonder, however, if measures forbidding Irish ships to go to all foreign ports from Ireland might not be interpreted as economic sanctions. Would not your purpose be accomplished by limiting the prohibition to Irish shipping going to any part of the continent? I realize that, as you say, a ship can start in one direction and turn in another, but any ship violating the prohibition could be dealt with in an appropriate manner. This would leave Ireland free to send its ships to North America to carry wheat and other essential supplies. The fact that no ban was made on Irish shipping to Canada and the [Page 246] United States would in itself constitute proof that the measures against shipping were not in the nature of economic sanctions.
“For our part we are considering a further message to Mr. de Valera once more making plain that the continued presence of Axis representatives in Ireland constitutes a danger to our forces and their operations for which the Irish Government cannot escape responsibility. We shall let you see it in advance.”