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accordance with the long-established military

principle that highly secret matters should be

known only to those who must have the knowledge

for the proper execution of their duties.

It is not because there is any lack of mutual

trust between the Allies; the French and

ourselves do not hesitate to disclose to each

other the most vitally secret matters in all

spheres of military and political activity when

this is necessary for the good of the Allied

cause.

(ii) General Miles knows well that in the past, in

view of the very special relationships existing

between this country and the United States of

America., re have taken the American Ambassador

and Service Attachés very much more fully into

our confidence than those of other neutral

powers. We shall continue so to do. But a

request for information of so secret and so

far-reaching a nature as General Miles has now

made is "one over the odds". We feel we must

►

adhere to the broad principles governing the

disclosure of military information set out in

(i) above.

(iii) We earnestly hope that this reluctance on our

part to provide General Miles with a complete

picture of our present defence position and

future plans will not be misunderstood.

Should

Mr. Sumner Welles in the course of his

conversations with Ministers in this country

request information on specific points,

General Miles may rest assured that we shall go

as far as possible to meet his wishes."

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