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I have the honor to enclose copy with translation of the note dated September 7, 1921,56 received in reply from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The attention of the Department is particularly invited to the following points in Mr. Barau's note:

1. Paragraph 2. It is maintained that the Protocol of October 3, 1919 is based upon a loan of 40 millions and to establish the Claims Commission before the loan is made would be making the principal follow the accessory; that for any loan other than for forty millions there must be a new Protocol, as the Protocol of October 3, 1919, foresees a control of the revenues of the Republic of Haiti during 30 years, and in agreeing to execute it in part, it is binding Haiti for this period which was only determined for a loan of 40 millions."7

2. Paragraph 3. Mr. Barau states that the Haitian Government considers as just the arrangements arrived at between the United States and France and Great Britain regarding the composition of the Commission, but makes no mention that the nomination of the third member shall be made by the Financial Adviser.

Finally Mr. Barau states that in case a new Protocol is made, the Haitian Government may accept the arrangements as outlined. I have [etc.]

A. BAILLY-BLANCHARD

438.00/124

The Secretary of State to the French Chargé (Béarn)

WASHINGTON, September 15, 1921.

SIR: I have received your note of August 27, 1921, in which you state that the Government of the Republic has just designated M. René Delage, Consul of France, formerly Chargé d'Affaires of France at Port-au-Prince, to represent it on the Claims Commission that is to pass upon the French claims against the Government of Haiti. You request in your note of August 27 to be informed on what date my Government would wish Mr. Delage to arrive at Port-au-Prince and to receive confirmation of the impression gathered from my note of July 29, last, that the salary and allowance to be paid by the Haitian Government to the French representative will run from the day of his arrival to that of his departure.

In reply to your inquiry, this Department interprets the language of the Protocol of October 3, 1919, establishing the Claims Commission, copy of which is herewith enclosed,58 to mean that the afore

5 Not printed.

57

For the Department's reply to this point, see the fifth paragraph of the note quoted in the telegram of Oct. 18 to the Chargé in Haiti, p. 214, and also the Secretary's telegram, no. 61, Nov. 18, p. 220.

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mentioned salary and allowance will run from the date of the arrival of the French representative until his departure from Port au Prince upon the conclusion of his service on the Commission. The date on which it will be desired that the French representative shall arrive at Port au Prince for the assumption of his duties on the Commission will be communicated to you as soon as it has been ascertained. Accept [etc.] CHARLES E. HUGHES

438.41R54/8

The British Ambassador (Geddes) to the Secretary of State

No. 892

59

WASHINGTON, December 3, 1921.

SIR: I have the honour, upon instructions from my Government, to invite reference to the note which you were so good as to address to me on October 13th, 1921, stating that the Government of Hayti has not yet appointed the member to be nominated for the Haytian Claims Commission by the Haytian Secretary of State for Finance, and that this Commission therefore cannot yet be constituted.

I have the honour to observe that it would be very agreeable to His Majesty's Government if the United States Government could see their way to urge the Haytian Government to hasten a settlement of this matter. Apart from the desirability, on general grounds, of securing an early settlement of the questions involved, I am instructed to draw attention to the great inconvenience which would be caused by a delay necessitating the sitting of the Commission in Hayti during the next hot season.

I have [etc.]

A. C. GEDDES

438.41R54/8

The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Geddes)

WASHINGTON, December 21, 1921.

EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 3rd instant, with reference to the delay in the constitution of the Haitian Claims Commission, caused by the failure, up to the present time, of the Haitian Government to appoint the member to be nominated by the Haitian Secretary of State for Finance. In reply to your observation that it would be very agreeable to His Majesty's Government if the United States Government could

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60

see their way to urge the Haitian Government to hasten a settlement of this matter, it affords me pleasure to say that the flotation of a loan by private bankers is now under negotiation between this Government and the Haitian Government, and that a successful outcome of these negotiations, which is confidently hoped for, will presumably result in the immediate formation of the Claims Commission.

Accept [etc.]

For the Sec[retary of State:
HENRY P. FLETCHER

438.00/130 Telegram

The Chargé in Haiti (Jordan) to the Secretary of State

PORT AU PRINCE, January 13, 1922-11 a.m.

[Received January 14-4:35 p.m.]

2. The French Minister has received from the Haitian Government a note regarding the composition of the Claims Commission in which it is stated that it is the desire of the Haitian Government that each government be charged with the payment of the arbiter named by it. The French Minister this morning requested me to inform the Department that his Government is unwilling to pay the salary or expenses of the arbiter who shall represent French claimants.

JORDAN

438.00/130: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Haiti (Jordan)

WASHINGTON, January 24, 1922—5 p.m.

7. Your 2, January 13, 11 a.m., Department's 424, August 8, 1921, your 537, September 8, 1921.

You will state informally to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the suggestion of his Government to the French Minister, communicated to the Department at the latter's request, is not acceptable to this Government, in view of the assumption in the suggestion that the matter of the organization of the Claims Commission is not governed by the Protocol of October 3, 1919. You may advise the French Minister of this instruction.

HUGHES

"See pp. 214 ff.

LIQUIDATION OF GERMAN PROPERTY SEQUESTERED DURING THE WAR":

338.6253/2

61

The Minister in Haiti (Bailly-Blanchard) to the Secretary of State No. 402

PORT AU PRINCE, August 7, 1920.

[Received September 14.]

SIR: Referring to this Legation's radio No. 41 of July 22 [25], 9 A.M.a2 and in compliance with the Department's cable instruction No. 54 of July 29, 6 P. M.,62 I have the honor to forward herewith copy of the project of law 62 on the organization in Haiti of the "Office of Compensation" provided for by Section III, Part X of the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on the 28th of June 1919, which was submitted to this Legation by the Haitian Government in accordance with the agreement of August 24, 1918,63 and which, after careful examination, was returned to the Foreign Office with the approval of the Legation.

Subsequently, under date of July 17, the Minister of Foreign Affairs informed the Legation that the Council of State had passed the above law but had added two new articles thereto, copies of which are herewith enclosed.

These two articles not appearing to this Legation to be in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Peace, I requested that the law be not promulgated pending receipt of instructions from the Department in the premises.

I enclose copies of the correspondence on the subject exchanged between the Legation and the Foreign Office.62

I have [etc.]

[Enclosure-Translation 64]

A. BAILLY-BLANCHARD

Articles 14 and 15 of the Project of Law for the Establishment of a

Clearing Office

ARTICLE 14. Since the Clearing Office is to pass only upon individual debts standing between Germans and Allied nationals settled in Haiti, the owners of property in custody shall immediately be reinstated in possession of their property or paid the proceeds of the liquidations already effected as soon as

(1) The expenditures of the Public Treasury for the internment of former enemies shall have been repaid;

"See Foreign Relations, 1918, supplement 2, pp. 359 ff.

"Not printed.

63

Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. I, p. 309.

64 File translation revised.

(2) The debts chargeable to them under article 296 and its annexes, and article 297, 2d paragraph of section (b), and

4th paragraph of section (h), of the Treaty of Peace shall have been settled.

ARTICLE 15. Owners of property in custody who may desire to resume business in Haiti shall be afforded every facility to do so by conforming to the laws of the country.

The Haitian Government, however, will use every means of public order at its disposal to recover from them the quota charged to them by the Clearing Office on the amount of damages due from the German Government to Haitians as provided by sections (1), (2), and (3) of annex I to article 232 of the Treaty of Peace.

Those who may wish to leave the country shall not be permitted to avail themselves of the provisions contained in article 297, paragraph 4 of section (h), except after full settlement of their personal debt and the share on the amount of claims preferred against Germany by Haitian citizens that shall have been charged against them by the Clearing Office or Reparation Commission.

338.6253/2

The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Haiti (BaillyBlanchard)

No. 379

WASHINGTON, January 25, 1921. SIR: The Department has received your despatch, No. 402, of August 7, 1920, enclosing a copy of the project of law for the organization in Haiti of the "Office of Compensation", provided for by Section 3, Part 10, of the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on the 28th of June, 1919, which was submitted to the Legation by the Haitian Government in accordance with the agreement of August 24, 1918, and which was returned to the Foreign Office with the approval of the Legation.

You also enclosed copies of two new articles added to the project and passed by the Council of State, and copies of the correspondence between the Legation and the Foreign Office, and you ask for the instructions of the Department in the premises.

Examination of these articles in connection with the Treaty of Peace seems to indicate that they fail to accord with that Treaty in the provision of Article 14 of the proposed law that the expenditures of the Haitian Government in connection with the internment of its former enemies shall be repaid from the property of enemies. The rights of Haiti with respect to charges against such property would seem to be limited by paragraph 4 of the annex to Part X

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