not think that we should give the other Republics occasion
 
to feel that we are circumventing the Convention through
 
the establishment by the United States, Great Britain and
 
Canada of an administration of the Islands.
 
     On the question of bringing about the removal of
 
DeGaulle's forces from the Islands I am sure that you have
 
in mind our commitments to Vichy and Admiral Robert on
 
which they have been and are now counting and to which they
 
have referred. In your message of December 13 to Marshal
 
Petain which Admiral Leahy transmitted textually to Marshal
 
Petain you stated that
 
        "You may rest assured that the Government of the United States under present
circumstances and in view of the instructions which you have issued to Admiral Robert will
continue to give full recognition to the agreement reached by our two governments involving the
maintenance of the status quo of the French possessions in the Western Hemisphere."
 
     Moreover in the letter which you handed to Mr. Mathews
 
for transmission to Marshal Petain you stated
 
     "I again-repeat that as long as French sovereign control remains in reality purely French,
subject solely to the limitations of the Armistice Agreement, the Government of the United States
has no desire to see existing French sovereignty over French North Africa or over any of French
colonies pass to the control of any other nation."
 
Admiral Robert has already referred in connection with
 
 
with
 
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