845.515/7–1544
The Acting Secretary of State to the British Chargé ( Campbell )
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of July 15, 1944 setting forth the undertaking of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom in respect of the recently signed agreement between my Government and the Government of India concerning the provision by my Government of 100,000,000 ounces of silver for the purposes of combatting inflation in India.
I take pleasure in noting that His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom undertakes that in the event of the Government of India failing to restore to the United States Treasury any part of the silver which had been made available to it by the United States Government [Page 271] under the terms of the above-mentioned agreement, His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom will take such steps as may be necessary to effect the delivery to the United States Treasury of such amounts of silver and within such a period as is required for the implementation of the said agreement between my Government and the Government of India.
My Government will, as you suggest, recognize that should His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom be called upon to play any part in fulfilling the Government of India’s agreement with my Government, the action of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom in the matter would be considered as discharging pro tanto the obligations of the Government of India.58
Accept [etc.]
- Subsequent exchanges of notes, under the same terms as agreed upon here, made provision for further loans of silver to the Government of India as follows: the British note of December 29, 1944, and the American reply of January 19, 1945 (845.515/12–2944), covering a recent requisition for silver to the Government of India in the amount of 20,000,000 ounces; the British note of April 30 and the American reply of May 7, 1945 (845.515/4–3045), covering a recent requisition for silver to the Government of India in the amount of 45,000,000 ounces; and the British notes of July 4/July 30 and the American reply of July 19, 1945 (845.515/7–445, 845.515/7–3045), covering a recent requisition for silver to the Government of India in the amount of 41,000,000 ounces.↩