The following cable was intercepted at a relay station in the early hours of an unrecorded morning, its origin obscured by the routing protocols of three foreign ministries. It is presented here in its decoded form, with the original cipher groups preserved in the registry. The reader is reminded that possession of this document constitutes an offence under the Official Secrets Act of 1911.
What follows is not a narrative but a transmission. Read it as such. The paragraph breaks are not editorial; they are the natural caesurae of a teleprinter pausing for confirmation. The indented passages are verbatim quotations from foreign communications, retained in their original phrasing for the purposes of authenticated analysis.
The first transmission was received at 03:17 GMT, encoded in a five-letter cipher group format consistent with the diplomatic traffic of the Auswartiges Amt. The second arrived seventeen minutes later, in a different cipher entirely -- a one-time pad of the type favoured by the Quai d'Orsay for matters concerning the African mandates. The third never arrived, or arrived and was suppressed before it reached the registry.
It has come to the attention of this Mission that the gentlemen referred to in our previous dispatch (DQ/26/000) have, in the intervening fortnight, removed themselves from the residence at Bryanston Square and have not been observed at any of the customary establishments. The porter at the Travellers' Club confirms that neither party has called for correspondence since the eleventh of the month.
"We are advised by sources of unimpeachable reliability that the matter under discussion in the previous quarter has now been resolved to the satisfaction of all interested parties, and that no further communication on the subject will be required from this office."
The interpretation of this communication is left to the discretion of the recipient, but the Mission is bound to observe that the phrase "all interested parties" is, in the context of the original conversation in Geneva, a term of art with a specific and rather narrow application.
Subsequent inquiries at the registry of the Italian Embassy have produced the following information, which is forwarded for the assessment of the Department. The clerk in question -- who has previously proven a reliable conduit for material of this character -- reports that the file marked "AFRICA ORIENTALE / RISERVATISSIMO" was withdrawn on the morning of the twelfth and has not been returned to the cabinet from which it was taken.
The clerk further reports that the withdrawal was authorised by a signature he did not recognise, and that the file's removal was not entered in the customary register. He has been instructed to convey any further information by the established route, and to expect a token of the Department's appreciation in the usual manner.
"The position of His Majesty's Government on the question of the territories under discussion remains as set forth in the memorandum of the seventeenth of February. No modification of this position has been authorised, and any communication to the contrary should be regarded as having no official standing."
It is suggested, with the utmost respect, that the Department consider the desirability of reinforcing this position through the customary diplomatic channels before the close of the present session of the League. The opportunities for such reinforcement are diminishing with each successive day, and the consequences of a perceived softening of the British attitude would be, in the considered opinion of this Mission, severe and possibly irreversible.
A further matter requires the attention of the Department. The gentleman referred to in our cable of the third instant (DQ/26/004) has been observed in the company of a foreign national whose presence in the metropolitan area was not previously known to this Mission. The identification has been made by an agent of the Special Branch, and is considered reliable.
The implications of this association are, at present, a matter for speculation. The Mission has taken steps to ensure that the gentleman's movements are observed during the remainder of his stay, and will report any developments by secure cable. It is requested that no action be taken at the metropolitan end without prior consultation with this office.
"In the matter of the agreement of the twenty-third of June, the position of this Government is that the obligations therein contained are mutual and reciprocal, and that any failure of performance on the part of one signatory absolves the other from the corresponding obligation. This position is not subject to negotiation."
The Mission has, in accordance with its standing instructions, refrained from comment on this declaration, and has communicated its content to the Department by the present cable. It is the view of the Mission that the declaration represents a hardening of the position previously adopted, and that the Department should be prepared for further communications of a similar character in the immediate future.
The cipher staff has been working continuously for the past seventy-two hours to clear the accumulated traffic, and the registry reports that some forty-seven cables remain in the queue for decoding. It is requested, with the greatest urgency, that the Department consider the dispatch of additional cipher personnel to this Mission, as the present establishment is no longer adequate to the volume of traffic.
The following materials are attached to the principal cable as supplementary documentation. They are not to be circulated beyond the offices of the Department and the Mission, and are to be returned to the registry upon the completion of the Department's review.
"Excerpt from the proceedings of the Permanent Mandates Commission, sixteenth session, held at Geneva, the seventh and eighth of November. The Commission, having considered the petitions transmitted by the Mandatory Power, and having heard the observations of the accredited representative, resolves to defer further consideration of the question to its seventeenth session."
The full text of the proceedings is held in the registry under reference DQ/26/ANNEX/01, and may be consulted by authorised personnel during the customary hours. A summary, prepared by the legal adviser to the Mission, is attached to the present cable as Appendix A.
It is observed, in conclusion, that the developments described in the body of this cable are consistent with a pattern of conduct that has been the subject of repeated representations by this Mission since the autumn of the previous year. The Department is respectfully reminded of the warnings contained in the cables of the fourteenth of October and the second of December, and of the consequences predicted therein.
The cipher staff requests that the present cable be acknowledged by return, and that the Department's instructions for the disposal of the supplementary materials be communicated as soon as practicable. The Mission remains at the disposal of the Department for any further information that may be required.
By Order of the Office of the Permanent Under-Secretary
Transmitted this twenty-fourth day of March, in the year nineteen hundred and thirty-seven