File No. 763.72112/6419
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page)
Sir: The Department has received your telegram No. 7459 of October 17, 1917, and your despatch No. 6762 of August 13, 1917, with which you transmitted a copy of a note dated August 10, 1917, from the British Foreign Office, together with copies of British Treaty Series, Nos. 2 and 4 of 1914; No. 5 of 1915 and No. 6 of 1917, enclosed therewith, concerning the convention of November 9, 1914, and the subsequent extensions thereof, concluded between Great Britain and France and acceded to by Italy and Russia, to regulate captures made by the naval forces of the respective countries in the present war,1 and inquiring whether the Government of the United States is disposed to accede thereto.
The Department has carefully considered the enclosures transmitted with your despatch and desires you to inform the British Foreign Office that the Government of the United States, in view of the present character of the war, deems it advisable to defer consideration of the question of the accession of the United States to these conventions and agreements.
I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩