Cablegram 40[A] LONDON, 14 March 1944, 4.25 p.m.
IMMEDIATE MOST SECRET
For the Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin.
Your telegram 37. [1]
Under the general authority given to me (in telegram 32 of March 9th [2]) I had anticipated your instructions received only this morning, Tuesday, by yesterday informing Dulanty [3] orally ‘that the Australian Government did not see its way to intervene so as to secure the withdrawal of the American note [4], and that the attitude of the Australian Government was that they were in accord with the American request that the German and Japanese Representatives should be expelled and hoped that the Eire Government would agree to take the action asked for in the American note’.
You will observe that I did not make any reference to Eire declaring la state of war with both Countries’. I made this omission deliberately owing to the fact that the U.S.A. note did not go as far as this nor did the United Kingdom or Canada in their supporting representations and that I was acting without immediate instructions and before I received a reply to my telegram 38[A] of March 9th. [5]
In all the circumstances I suggest the wiser course would perhaps be that this omission should not be cured and I have acted on this assumption in the communication I have made to the United Kingdom and the American Ambassador.
BRUCE
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1 Document 76.
2 Document 69.
3 Irish High Commissioner.
4 See Documents 55 and 60.
5 Document 73.
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