859B.01/351

The Consul at Godthaab (Penfield) to the Secretary of State

No. 48

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegram no. 31, April 4, 4 p.m. and to report herewith on the events of the afternoon and evening of April 5.

At about 12:45 p.m. on that day Governor Svane, obviously very much agitated, came to see me and asked if I had received a telegram from the Department that day. After I had replied in the negative he said that he had just received a telegram from Minister de Kauffmann strongly advising him to authorize signature of an agreement the terms of which were to be communicated to him by me. We called up the radio station and were informed that a long telegram for the Consulate was at that moment being received. Svane instructed that the telegram be delivered piecemeal as received and that all schedules be cancelled for the rest of the day except for communication with Ivigtut (where Governor Brun is staying) and Julianehaab. I promised to let the Governor know as soon as the message was received and decoded.

Shortly after one the first two sections of the telegram (the Department’s no. 31, referred to above) were delivered. As soon as they were decoded I informed the Governor of their general nature and about 5:30, as soon as the entire telegram had been received and decoded, I went to see him again and went over the substance of the telegram with him in detail. He appeared to appreciate the position of the United States but was much more agitated and concerned than I have ever seen him. I wrote out for him an outline of the Department’s summary of the proposed agreement and left him about 6:30. About 81 returned and found that he had drafted a reply to the Danish Minister which closed with a phrase to the effect that he concurred [Page 45] only under protest. I remarked that he has stated earlier that he appreciated the position of the United States and did not blame the Government of that country for taking the necessary steps to defend the western hemisphere, including Greenland. It therefore appeared that he was not protesting the action of the United States but rather the circumstances which forced that action. He agreed and during the conversation which ensued I attempted to reassure him regarding his doubts as to his authority to concur in the proposed agreement. Shortly after 8:30 he finally decided to concur “under extreme force of circumstances”.

I then helped him to code his reply and to code a message to Brun giving the latter a bare outline of the proposed agreement. The message to Brun was despatched about 10:30 and that to the Danish Minister about 11 o’clock, Julianehaab radio having been able to arrange a special schedule with New York at midnight (9 p.m. E. S. T.). In order to make sure that the messages were delivered as promptly as possible I also arranged to have them, as well as my 41, April 5, 10 p.m.,11 despatched via the U. S. C. G. C.12 Cayuga and to have the Cayuga receive Governor Brun’s reply from Ivigtut and relay it on to Washington. It was afterwards learned that Julianehaab radio was unable to get any of the messages through to New York due to atmospheric conditions and that the Cayuga was unable to get them off until early Sunday morning. It is regretted that it was thus physically impossible to get the replies to Washington by Saturday night as desired.

Respectfully yours,

J. K. Penfield
  1. Not printed.
  2. United States Coast Guard Cutter.