Memorandum by Joseph P. Walshe
'War Criminals'

In the course of a conversation this morning, Sir John Maffey referred to the bad Press we had got following the reply of the Parliamentary Secretary of State for the Dominions in the House of Commons in relation to our attitude on war criminals.¹ He said it was most regrettable but it really was not likely to interfere in the good relations between the two countries. As he told me, he was opposed to the idea of a Note being sent to us on this matter, and it was only with reluctance and casually he had verbally supported the American Note. On the other hand, that particular point could not be revealed in the House of Commons because there were so many diehards who would say that the British Government should have taken the initiative and extracted a guarantee from us. The Parliamentary Secretary also felt that any weaker answer would have displeased the Americans.

When I objected that the manner of the answer was insulting and threatening, Sir John Maffey said he agreed, but it was his misfortune to have such a poor representative in the House of Commons. Evans, he thought, was no good, very weak, and, in fact, a b[loody] f[ool]. Extremists in the House knew that and their tactic was to play on his desire to appear strong.

I remarked to Sir John that a good letter from him to Evans might help matters and that our own inclination was to blame the officials of the Dominions Office for not reminding Evans that his unfriendly attitude was hopelessly bad policy.

I also pointed out that the Americans, who had sent us a somewhat fierce Note with fiercer reactions, when it came to a public statement were in fact almost amiable and certainly infinitely less objectionable than the British who disapproved of the American action in sending us a Note.

Sir John Maffey said that we were going to be asked (this time, he hoped very much, not in a Note) to hand over to the Allies any merchant ships or planes which the Germans might seek at the last moment to save by rushing them over to Ireland for refuge.

I said I could hardly believe the Germans would make the attempt, but we would consider very carefully any representations he might make.