ment, has sold to Nicaragua ten thousand rifles, fifty machine guns, and other military supplies for the equipment of the Nicaraguan army. The Department is informed that Nicaragua did not possess a sufficient amount of military equipment to enable the Government to cope with the revolutionary activities which have recently been carried on in that country. It was therefore felt desirable that that Government should be rendered this assistance in placing itself in a position to maintain order and to uphold the duly constituted authority. I am [etc.] For the Secretary of State: HENRY P. FLETCHER DENUNCIATION OF THE TRADE-MARKS CONVENTION OF (See volume I, pages 164 ff.) BOUNDARY DISPUTE WITH HONDURAS (See volume I, pages 231 ff.) NORWAY ARBITRATION AGREEMENT, SIGNED JUNE 30, 1921, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND NORWAY FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF THE REQUISITIONING OF NORWEGIAN SHIPS' 411.57 N 83/42 The Norwegian Minister (Bryn) to the Acting Secretary of State WASHINGTON, June 3, 1919. MR. ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE: I am instructed by the Norwegian Government to state to the Government of the United States that the Government of Norway has examined the contract between the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation and the Norges Rederforbund, dated June third, 1919,2 relative to the settlement of twenty-seven claims of Norwegian subjects, represented by said Norges Rederforbund in connection with certain property and rights described in said agreement of settlement and alleged to have been requisitioned by the United States; that the Government of Norway approves without reservation said contract of settlement and that the Government of Norway hereby formally guarantees to save the Government of the United States or any of its branches harmless from any claims on the part of the Norges Rederforbund or the members thereof, or of any other persons, firms, associations or corporations having or claiming to have any right, title, or interest in the said property or rights, or any claims arising out of either, and that further the Government of Norway hereby waives any claims on its own behalf and on behalf of all citizens, firms, associations, or corporations of Norway arising out of or having relation to the said twenty-seven alleged cases of requisition; and finally, that the Government of Norway recognizes and agrees that the said contract of settlement constitutes a final settlement and disposition of all questions arising between the two Governments in connection with the said twenty-seven alleged cases of requisition. 'For papers concerning the requisitioning of ships under construction in the United States, see Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 2, vol. 1, pp. 603 fr. 'Not printed. $34,500,000 was the sum agreed upon in settlement. As interest, in case of postponement of the payment agreed upon in said contract, is to be paid from the date upon which said guaranty has been produced, which date constitutes the due date of the payment I venture to ask that the United States Shipping Board be today notified about the filing of the present undertaking. I also ask that I be advised that such notification has been given. Please accept [etc.] H. BRYN 411.57 N 83/54 The Norwegian Minister (Bryn) to the Secretary of State WASHINGTON, December 2, 1919. MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: By my note dated October 31, 1919,* I had the honor to inform Your Excellency of the arrival of Captain C. Frölich Hanssen of Christiania, Norway, as the representative of a group of shipowners, called "The Christiania Group of Norwegian Shipowners", in order to negotiate with the United States Shipping Board about a settlement of claims growing out of the requisition by the United States of ships under construction in American yards for account of members of said group of shipowners. I added that I had been ordered by the Norwegian Government to render every assistance to Captain Hanssen in this matter. I asked that the United States Shipping Board be notified and, by a note of November 3, 1919, Your Excellency was good enough to inform me that a copy of my note had been transmitted to the Shipping Board. Captain C. Frölich Hanssen thereupon entered into communication with the Shipping Board to which he, on November 5, 1919, submitted a brief in which he discussed the claims represented by "The Christiania Group of Norwegian Shipowners", in all fifteen claims to an aggregate amount of $14,157,977.58, which claims (except one) had already been formally presented to the Board last June by the legal Counsel of the Group, Judge J. Harry Covington. The Norwegian Government has, ever since the time of the first requisition order of August 3, 1917, been desirous of having the claims growing out of said order and subsequent similar orders settled by private negotiations between the representatives of the Norwegian shipowners concerned and the United States authorities. In my personal note to Your Excellency of June 3, 1918, I expressed the opinion that a settlement might be much easier obtained through 'Not printed. See telegram of Aug. 3, 1917, from the General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation to the owners of American shipyards, Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 2, vol. 1, p. 614. private than through diplomatic negotiations, and in my personal note of November 21, 1918, I stated that the Norwegian Government had hitherto refrained from protesting against the requisition of the new-buildings as being an infraction of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of July 4, 1827, hoping that an agreement might be reached between the United States Government and the Norwegian owners as to a satisfactory settlement. On June 3, 1919, an agreement was signed between Mr. Emil Stray, on behalf of the "Norges Rederforbund ", representing twenty-seven claims, and the United States Shipping Board, whereby a friendly settlement was reached through mutual concessions, in so far as said twenty-seven claims are concerned. My Government has confidently hoped for a friendly settlement also of the fifteen claims represented by the association called "The Christiania Group of Norwegian Shipowners". From the discussions which Captain C. Frölich Hanssen has had with representatives of the United States Shipping Board it is, however, evident that the prospects of a settlement by agreement with the Shipping Board are very remote. From statements made by Mr. E. M. Weaver, Chairman of the Requisition Claims Committee of the United States Shipping Board in a letter, dated November 26, 1919, to the counsel of the Christiania Group, Judge Covington, it appears that the Shipping Board is of the opinion that the liability of the Board towards the Norwegian owners can be disassociated from the liability of the Government of the United States under the treaties for the actions of the Shipping Board In the opinion of the Norwegian Government it is impossible to disregard the treaty rights in settling these claims, and as the United States Shipping Board does not see its way to consider the treaties, the Norwegian Government is compelled, much to its regret, to lodge with the Government of the United States an official and formal claim for indemnification of all damage and all loss caused to the Norwegian citizens represented by "The Christiania Group of Norwegian Shipowners" by infractions on the part of the United States of treaty stipulations existing between the two Governments. Article XVII of the treaty concluded between Norway and Sweden and the United States on July 4, 1827, stipulates that various specifically named articles of the treaty of Amity and Commerce concluded at Paris on April 3, 1783,8 between the United States and Sweden are revived and made applicable to all the countries under the dominion of the parties to the treaty of 1827 and shall 'Not printed. ་ Miller, Treaties, vol. 3, p. 283. 'Ibid., vol. 2, p. 123. have the same force and value as if inserted in the context of the treaty of 1827. Article XVII of the said treaty of 1783 runs as follows: "One of the contracting parties being at war and the other remaining neuter, if it should happen that a merchant-ship of the neutral Power be taken by the enemy of the other party, and be afterwards retaken by a ship of war or privateer of the Power at war, also ships and merchandizes of what nature soever they may be, when recovered from a pirate or sea rover, shall be brought into a port of one of the two Powers, and shall be committed to the custody of the officers of the said port, that they may be restored entire to the true proprietor as soon as he shall have produced full proof of the property. Merchants, masters, and owners of ships, seamen, people of all sorts, ships and vessels, and in general all merchandizes and effects of one of the allies or their subjects, shall not be subject to any embargo, nor detained in any of the countries, territories, islands, cities, towns, ports, rivers, or domains whatever, of the other ally, on account of any military expedition, or any public or private purpose whatever, by seizure, by force, or by any such manner; much less shall it be lawful for the subjects of one of the parties to seize or take anything by force from the subjects of the other party, without the consent of the owner. This, however, is not to be understood to comprehend seizures, detentions, and arrests, made by order and by the authority of justice, and according to the ordinary course for debts or faults of the subject, for which process shall be had in the way of right according to the forms of justice.” It is the opinion of the Norwegian Government that the orders of the United States Government requisitioning ships under construction and building contracts belonging to Norwegian citizens constituted an infraction of Article XVII of the treaty of July 4, 1827, and the therein mentioned Article XVII of the treaty of April 3, 1783, which stipulations certainly mean that the vessels and effects of citizens of Norway within the jurisdiction of the United States may not be appropriated against the owner's will to the public use for military or any other purposes, even though compensation be tendered. As before mentioned the fifteen claims submitted by Captain C. Frölich Hanssen amounted to a total of $14,157,977.58. This amount includes only what the Norwegian owners of the ships and contracts have actually paid for the same together with interest and expenses incurred. It was in order to facilitate an amicable agreement that the Christiania Group claimed only re-imbursement of outlay. But there is no reason why the Norwegian owners should waive their right to indemnification also for loss of profit and other indirect damage when the claim has to be presented officially by the Norwegian Government. A moderate amount for loss of profit and other indirect damage is therefore now added, raising the aggregate |