740.00119 European War 1939/126: Telegram
The Minister in the Netherlands (Gordon) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 7—4:32 p.m.]
258. My 257, November 7, noon. The conversations in question resulted in the despatch of a message to the King of England, the President of France, and Chancellor Hitler. The English text thereof given me by the Foreign Office reads as follows:
“At this hour of anxiety for the whole world before the war breaks out in Western Europe in all its violence we have the conviction that it is our duty once again to raise our voice. Some time ago the belligerent parties have declared that they would not be unwilling to examine a reasonable and well-founded basis for an equitable peace. It seems to us that in the present circumstances it is difficult for them to come into contact in order to state their standpoints with greater precision and to bring them nearer to one another. As sovereigns of two neutral states having good relations with all their neighbors we are ready to offer them our good offices. If this were agreeable to them we are disposed to facilitate, by every means at our disposal they might care to suggest to us and in a spirit of friendly understanding, the ascertainment of the elements of an agreement to be arrived at. This, it seems to us is the task we have to fulfill for the good of our people and in the interest of the whole world. We hope that our offer will be accepted and that thus a first step will be taken towards the establishment of a durable peace. The Hague, November 7, 1939. Wilhelmina. Leopold.”
It appears that for some days past the two sovereigns have felt that if they were to follow up their tender of good offices of last August98 there was no time to lose, but as there was some difficulty in agreeing upon the text of a further proposal King Leopold yesterday afternoon offered to come over and settle the matter in direct conversation.
As indicated in my telegram of this morning the conversations which centered about the drafting of the present proposal covered various aspects of policy, which might be entailed by the despatch of the note and the reactions thereto of the three recipients.