Office of the Historian

740.00112 European War 1939/161: Telegram

The Minister in the Netherlands (Gordon) to the Secretary of State

The Hague, September 28, 1939—5 p.m.
[Received September 28—2:39 p.m.]

202. A Dutch delegation will go to London tomorrow to assist Dutch Minister in the negotiations referred to in my 182, September 18, 5 p.m.41 The Dutch characterize these as “informative” negotiations. The general tenor of the instructions to the Dutch delegation is to seek interpretation of the proposals of the British note (see my 160, September 8, 4 p.m.) and to protest against what the Dutch allege to be the arbitrariness and vagueness of the British definition of contraband. If agreement can be reached as to what commodities can properly be classified as contraband the Dutch are prepared to agree to limit their importation of such commodities entirely to home [Page 751] consumption and give guarantees against re-export to Germany. With reference to article 5 of the British proposals the Dutch will of course be glad to agree to maintain only a normal trade with Germany compared to any period of years the British may desire to specify but as such normal trade from the Dutch point of view would necessarily include articles on the contraband list the Dutch do not hope, though they will ask for it, to secure British agreement to this. The Dutch delegation is also instructed to seek British agreement to a regime which was countenanced during the earlier part of the last war but as I understand it was practically closed up during the later stages of the war, i. e., if the Dutch should buy for instance guns from Germany containing a certain amount of copper the Dutch should be allowed to re-export to Germany an equivalent amount of raw copper; it would seem to me that there is also very little chance of the British agreeing to this.

Gordon
  1. Not printed; it referred to telegram No. 173, September 13, 11 a.m., from the Minister in the Netherlands, and reported that the British had agreed to enter into negotiations, proposed by the Netherlands note, to take place shortly in London (740.00112 European War 1939/90).↩