Text of Document "Yesterday morning a carefully chosen British officer. Captain Holland, lately Naval Attache to Paris, was sent_in a destroyer. He waited fon the French Admiral and after being refused an interview presented, the following document which T will Tead to the House.
"The first three paragraphs which dealt with the question of an armistice 1 already explained in my own, words, the fourth paragraph being as follows: "It is impossible for us, your comrades up til now, to allow your fine ships to fall into the power vf the German or talion enemy. are determined to fight on to the fend and if we win, as we think shall, we shall "never forget Franso was our ally, that our interests are the same as hers and our common enemy is Germany.
"Should we conquer we solemnly declare we shall restore the greatness and territory of France. For this purpose we must make sure that the best ships of the French Navy are not used against us by the common foe.
"stu these circumstances His M3.
Jesty's Government instructed me to demand that the French Fleet now at Mire el Kebir and Oran should act im accordance with one of the fol-
Towing alternatives: (a) Sail, with lus and continue the fight for victory against the Germans and italians; <b) Sail with redueed crews under our control to a British port. Reduced crews will be repatriated at the earliest' moment. "It either of these courses is adopted by you we will restore your ships to France at the conclusion of the war or pay full compensation if they are damaged meanwhile; \c) Alternatively if you feel bound to stipulate your ships should not be used against the Germans of Italians unless they break the armistice then sail them with us with reduced crews to some French port in the West Indies, Martinique for instance, where they can be demilitarized fo our satisfaction or be perhaps entrusted to the United States and remain safe till the end Of the war, the crews being re-patrioted.
If you refuse these fair offers 1 must with profound regret require you to sink your ships within six hours. Finally, failing the above T have orders of His Majesty's Government to use whatever force may be necessary to prevent your ships from falling into German or Mahan Moved continued, "that One or the other: of the alternatives we presented would have been accepted without necessity of using the terrible force of a British battle squadron, Such squadron arrived before Oran two] hours after Captain Holland and his destroyer.
"This battle squadron was com~ manded by Vice-Admiral Somerville, fan ofileer who distinguished himself lately in bringing off over 100,000 Frenchmen during the evacuation of Dunkirk, Vice-Admiral Somerville was further provided, besides his battleships, with a cruiser force and Jo strong flotilla of destroyers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.