Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 61 Part 3.djvu/487

 2772 INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS OTHER THAN TREATIES [61 STAT. Translation By order of His Excellency, Marshal Badoglio, Chief of the Govern- ment, I have signed the clauses added to the Preamble and to the last paragraph of the Cunningham-de Courten Agreement, which were requested by the Allied Governments as conditions of the signature of the amendments to the Armistice. In signing, I request that note be taken of the following statement: "I believe it my duty to make clear that the request for insertion of these clauses, put forth less than two months after the meeting with Sir Andrew Cunningham, then Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Mediterranean Fleet, alters the spirit of the agreement concluded between Admiral Cunningham and me. The clauses of this Agree- ment had been put forward in accordance with the Armistice, by Admiral Cunningham himself, who invited me to examine them and make known to them my observations and comments. In as much as there was complete agreement in regard to the text presented by the Allies, and as the Agreement has up to now been carried out in the widest and most complete manner without opposition either in letter or spirit, I did not and do not have any reason to believe it should be modified and completed by a subsequent safeguarding clause. This clause seems to be at odds with the active collaboration given up to now by the Italian Navy and with the visible demonstration of the loyalty with which the Italian Fleet is contributing to the utmost to the conduct of the war against the common enemy in the spirit of existing co-belligerency". BRINDisI, 17 November 1943 ADMIRAL DE CouRTEN Minister of the Navy

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