No. ^>3.
fceroh 20th 1341,
Tho cencaia of the Loi tie-Lend ..ot«
which we* allied by the President on ;:croh
11th and the final text of which is enclosed
hereint is to be found in the iTesidenVs
:.easug© to Confess on the state of the Union
on January Cth«     In this message the President
for the firot ti-.e enurfealated the principle
of the manufacture of defence articles in
the United Jttites to be loosed or lent to
foreign countries, a policy which is intended
to -ivo effect to the Administration1s -eolared
intention of converting this country into an
"arsenal of deraocr^oy."
2.   The tirne-table of the Hill's : ro xess
is as followst-
tfc
Co
Jamury 10th.   Bill introduced in
nate and the Mouse und referred to
tees.
The Uight Honourable
nthony   don> M«CV*
etc,     etc, etc.
J.' uuy ry loth.   House foreign Affairs
OOLjrdttee begins hearings.
Jnnuory £9th.   House Ca&sdttoe ends
its heerings» voter, a.-;endrjents :.nd reports
favourably to the J^ouse by 17 votes to 8.
January .1st.   senate foreign ..f fairs
Co xiittee opens its hcarin*o.
: ebx*u ry ord.    Oeneral debate opened
In the Uouae.
February uth.   House parses Bill*
£60 votes to 1G5.
Febru ry/
[0\J
February 11th*   Senate Co2>salttec*s hearings end.
tfebru ry loth,    Senate Committee reports favour-
ably on the Dill by IS votes to (S$ with certain aiiondmentfl.
Februnry loth.   Senate debate opens.
March 4th.    General deviate ends.
Maroh 3th.   Bill passes the Senate v.ith certain
amendments.
Mardh 11th.   The House agrees to the Senate's
aiaendments and the  President signs the Bill which becomes
law.
3.   in the early sts es of the Dill's progress
the hearings of distinguished witnesses in Corunittee
attracted i-jore attention than the debates in the House
or even than the amendments which v«ere there discussed.
The star witness for the opposition was Colonel Lindbergh*
and for the Bill Mr. v.illkie.     In the end the latter
was by far the   ore effootive.    Colonel Lindbergh shot
his bolt too soon; ho testified before the House Committee
on January *-ord» end his subsequent nppearanoe before the*
Sea*** Committee was largely repetitive in effect. &r.
illkio on the other lull who had given general support
to the Bill in e public state; ent on January isth» did
not appecr before Congress until the laet day of the Senate
Committee's hearings, when he arrived in ..ashington fresh
from his trip to inland; this draiEatio e/feot produced
the largest attendance in the public galleries ever known
at a meeting of a Committee of the Senate. l*oreover»
apart from its superior timing Z4r. ..iilkie'a testimony
was far more effective in its content than th'.t of Jolonel
Lindbergh.     The Colonel's view that the United iitates
is in no danger of ?»ttaok> that Britain cannot win even
with American aid and that it does not matter to Amerioa
which side v.ins is shared by very few people in this country
on the other hand iir. <<illkie's support of the principle
of the Dill and of aid to Britain and his emphasis on the
necessity of national unity behind this policy is in full
accord with popular sentiment.
4.   In contrast to these dramatic eventst and
to/
to the weighty tostiriony In support of the Bill
¦•3von by auoh Administration leaders aa tho ^ecrotoriea
of 3t&te. the Trer aury.   .or find tho tfavy. the achate
in tho Jiouae of iiepreaentativea attracted little atteatioa*
T-ore particularly bcc-use the final result was - foroftone
conclusion nnd tho House rules of procedure did not permit
of a filibuster which l ight have delayed a vote*     In the
ovont. efter six days' debits* the House pasaod tho Bill
by 260 votes to 165 with a certs in nuetber of aaei&diaeats*
all of the?: acceptable to and approved by the Adttl&lstretioa
except for one* passed by a snap vote. »hioh provided
that the powers granted to the President under the Bill
Right bo terminated at any tine by e concurrent resolution
agreed to by a majority of both Houses of Congress •
such a resolution not requiring subsequent .'"residential
asoent.     The ar-endneats ooceptable to the Administration
included & provision for consultation with the Chiefs
of utoff before disposal of a defence article, lirdtatlon
to I.SCO million dollars of the aaount of defense
articles which Eight be disposed of froa funds heretofore
appropriated, termination of the   ct on June ^oth 1943.
ftnd sttte ents th^t nothing in tho   ct ahould be construed
as authorizing convoy by the United States Kavy or the
entry of American ships into ccabot areas as defined by
the neutrality ct.
S.   The general debate opened in tho Senate
ten avtya after the House passed the Bill*     It lasted
for three weeks and generated r^ore heat than li£it.
The principal subject discussed   \s whether or not the
3111 conferred dictatorial powers on the President)
on this thoi* extravagant statements wore n- de such
ee that if the Bill pesaed the President would have
greater powers than Hitler or   tnlin. the Bill of nights
would be suspendedi Congress would abdicate, etc. These
assertions were oade in general terse and without
reference to the t ms of the Bill, w&ieh indeed lent
no support to any of ther:.     Oonerally speaking, the
debates in both Houses accepted the j.rinoiple of aid to
Britain and differed about the method by which th t cid
would be rendered.     Isolationist senators, who little
£*>re/
- 4 -
mm than a year >;go were against allowing Uritaln
to buy war materials for cash In America* went on
record us favouring the grant of u loan to her for that
purpose, and the Opposition even introduced an alternative
Bill provided a credit of 2,000 million dollars. This
chan^o of attitude is a measure of the increasing aware-
ness of events not so much among the isolationist Senators
as in the country fit a whole, which realized far MVt
clearly than it did when the neutrality  .oc was under
discussion how much the fate of this country is bound
with that of Oreat Britain*     The Isolationist Senators
themselves had evolved only superficially, and seemed
to one observer to bo engaged in trying to keep America
out of the last war.     Though they professed to take
account of the change of heart in the country when the
debate opened, as it drew on their tempers began to
get frayed; anti-British speeches began to be mode,
notably by oenator Nye and indications of a possible
filibuster appeared*     Tho Administration leaders
were in a quandary; they were unwilling to leave the
arguments of the opposition unanswered, but on the other
hand if they got up to answer then theyproloneed the
debute and stultified their own repeated assertions
that early action on the Bill was necessary. Towards
the end of February the Bill passed through a bad period;
Opposition Senators made several speeches each, and angry
charges of filibustering were made by Administration
Senators and as angrily denied by the Opposition. The
public which had hitherto not shown much interest in
the Senate's discussions, began to wake up to what was
happening and manifested in no uncertain way its dis-
approval of the delaying tactio3 in regard to a measure
which even the Opposition admitted oonmanded a two to
one majority in the Senate, and which repeated Gallup
polls had shown to have a similar backing in the country.
As a result the general debate came to an abrupt end
on March 4th, and tho discussions on the amendments
lasted only four duys«   All the amendments which the
Administration opposed were voted down by majorities
of approximately two to one; a certain number of others
were accepted, nnd the Bill itself passed the oonute
by 60 votes to 31 on inarch Oth.
6.   The principal amendments agreed to by the
Sena te/
oeiiate were the inclusion of agricultural products
in the definition of defence articles, provision th^t
•tttioa under the Bill could only be taken "to the extent
to which funds are made available or contracts are
from time to time authorized by Confess"* an authoriz-
ation to the Governent to pro our e luanufactu e of
defence articles by private contract in addition to
nanufacturing defence articles itself, and the so-
called "Byrd amendment."   The latter which consisted of
the insertion of the last sentence of section 3 (a)
wo a allowed to pasB without proper consideration by the
Administration loaders in the Senate> and oame nearer
to upsetting the   ttoverniasnt* s plans than any other
a end;:ent#     It had been intended that nil defence
articles procured should forra one pool* out of which
the Resident would, at his sole discretion? Mkflf
allocations to the United states or to the United
Kingdom or other countries.     The ai oncU <ent however
liraits the allocations of articles procured out of new
appropriations under the Act to those prooured out of
funds appropriated under the Act, and thus llrolto the
Presidents discretion.     A large number of other
amendiaents designed to hamper the freedou of motion
of the Administration in future eventualities, o.g.
forbidding the use of convoys and the despatch of
American troops overseas, wore defeated w'thout great
difficulty.     'M iaore dangerous category of oi.endir.ent
was one whichbe^an with the phrase "nothing in tills
Bill shall be construed as empowering the President"
to do so and so.     The Administration have accepted
one or two —fnflmtMf of this kind when the Bill wag
in the House (see paragraph 4) on the grounds that they
left open the nuestJon whether or not the President
pos ©ssed such powers under the Constitution or sotfie other
Act.     The Opposition took advantage of this to try to
write into the Uill amendments in tide forn which* while
they would have had no logal ei'feot, vvould have constituted
an expression of opinion by the senate against a nuiaber
of policies   hich the President night subsequently wish
to/
to pursue*     Debates on this Insidious typo of ar.endsient
¦ore ft irly prolong* und on© of thera» which stated that
nothing in the Hill authorized the scudins of on<ariean
troops ovoiGQaa, \m>s only  lefented by 30 votes  x> U2»
the highest voto obtained by the Or-position on uny division
in the Join te.     The Administration oifoi*od its own sub-
stitute for all those anen*J onta In ?i clause stating tht.t
"Nothing in this   ot should be oonotrued to change existing
law rol( tine to the use of the land and m vol faroes of the
United St&tos» except insofar es such use relates to the
»»nui'<:oturet procurement* and repair of defense articles*
the co.v uni cation of infonv tion and other non-combatant
purposes enumerated in this   ot."     The vote on this t-i.end-
r.*nt wits regarded as a trial of strengths it was passed
by 05 votes to B4 and thereafter the Opposition seeaed
to lose heart*
7.   The House voted to nooept the Jenete's
amendments on iu. roh 11th by 317 votes to 71.     The Bill
was irarisdiately signed by the presidenti who five minutes
Itter approved a., unpublished list of »var materials to \
be transferred * t once l'rom the Amerioen Army and Navy
to the nritish and the Jreeks and a li tie later stated
th.he was preparing a request to Congress for an
inae&late appropriation of <;7.000.000f000 to onrry the
new Act into effeot.
I hive the honour to be*
with the highest respect*
Jir»
Your roost ohodient*
huuble servant*
Sd. HALIFAX