File No. 763.72112/3619
The Commercial Adviser of the British Embassy ( Crawford) to the Counselor for the Department of State ( Polk)
[Received May 14.]
Dear Mr. Counsellor: In your letter to me of May 8 you enquired what arrangements were made by His Majesty’s Government for the disposition of neutral cargoes or Allied cargoes on board enemy vessels seized in British ports.
We duly cabled to the Foreign Office and have now received a reply stating that arrangements were made at the outbreak of war for the speedy release of such cargoes on production to the Procurator General of proofs of ownership and particulars of freight, whether paid or unpaid. The United States Ambassador has been furnished with memoranda showing in detail the simplicity of the procedure followed in various cases.
Believe me [etc.]