740.00119 Control (Italy)/6–2045
The Italian Ambassador (Tarchiani) to the Acting Secretary of State
The Italian Ambassador presents his compliments to the Honorable the Acting Secretary of State and has the honor, with reference to the Embassy’s note of June 16, 1945, No. 4183, to communicate to him [Page 1188] the instructions transmitted a few days ago by the Italian Government to the Royal Embassy in London on the matter of Venezia Giulia:
“Your Excellency is requested to confirm at once to the Foreign Office, in the most friendly terms, that we are fully aware of the gravity and the risks which the question of Venezia Giulia involved for the Allies.
We are therefore deeply grateful for the sympathetic comprehension shown to us many times during the crisis by the Allied Government and our feelings of solidarity with Great Britain and the United States have been evermore strengthened.
Nevertheless, we were, and still are, kept entirely in the dark not only as to the development of the conversations, but also of their outcome. So that, even today, we are unaware of the contents of the agreement and of the course of the demarkation line established between the Anglo-American and Yugoslav forces in that zone.
Your Excellency knows that the question is of the utmost importance for our national life and that it strikes deeply into the very soul of our people.
In these conditions, if the principle is safe to reserve until peace the main question of the final decision on these territories, it is not possible to say the same thing about that equally important question of maintaining an Anglo-American administration in the contested areas. Thus, the “coup de force” of Tito has shown, even if partially, its results.
Therefore, I beg Your Excellency to point out these fundamental reasons of internal nature which have determined our attitude on this matter and to inform the Prime Minister that we rely on his comprehension now more than ever”.