It is believed that Mr. Blake’s Note to General Noguès satisfactorily
complies with the directions contained in the Department’s cable
instruction No. 32 of July 25, 5 p.m.
The Department will be kept informed of any further developments in
the matter.
[Enclosure]
The American Diplomatic Agent and Consul
General at Tangier (Blake) to the French Resident General in Morocco (Noguès)
Mr. Resident General: I have the honor
to inform Your Excellency that Mr. Herbert S. Goold, the
American Consul General at Casablanca, has reported the
prosecution of an American protégé, Rahamin Azoulay, by the
Court Martial at Fez, apparently on a charge of concealment of
stocks, in contravention of the provisions of a Dahir of
September 13, 1938, concerning the general organization of the
country in time of war.
On this subject, Mr. Goold addressed two Notes dated respectively
June 10,49a and July 6, 1940,50 to the Diplomatic
Cabinet, pointing out that the American protégé concerned was
under the exclusive jurisdiction of the American Consular Courts
in Morocco. He consequently requested the good offices of the
Diplomatic Cabinet to obtain desistance from the proceedings in
the Military Court on the grounds of the lack of jurisdiction of
that Court over the American protégé.
From a later report of Mr. Goold, it appears that this
intervention on his part has proved ineffectual, since a
judgment given by the Military Court on July 23, 1940, sentenced
the American protégé to a suspended penalty of one month
imprisonment, and to a fine of 1000 francs.
The matter has been brought to the attention of my Government,
and the latter instructs me to point out to Your Excellency that
the French Military Courts in Morocco cannot assume jurisdiction
over American nationals or protégés by proclamation of state of
siege, in the absence of an agreement to that effect with the
Government of the United States, for the reason that, under the
existing treaties, and by custom and usage, such persons are
liable to judicial proceedings only in the Consular Courts of
the United States of America in Morocco.
I am instructed to add that my Government has no desire to
interfere with the French Government in the performance of its
proper enterprises in Morocco but that it cannot admit
violations of American rights by the French Military Authorities
in Morocco in taking jurisdiction over an American protected
person for an offense which obviously does not in any way
threaten or affect the safety of the French forces.
Furthermore, I beg to recall that my Government’s attitude
towards emergency war time legislation in French Morocco was
stated in two Notes which I had the honor to address to Your
Excellency respectively
[Page 814]
under dates of September 18, 193951 and
January 9, 1940.52 In the latter Note, after indicating
the reasons which prevented my Government from giving formal
assent to such legislation, I informed Your Excellency that I
was prepared to examine with the Protectorate Authorities, and
report to the Department of State at Washington, suggestions
designed to avoid special difficulties prejudicial to the
interests of the Moroccan community, which might result from the
failure of my Government to give its approval to legislation
enacted as a result of the present exceptional
circumstances.
In this connection the census of stocks held by American ressortissants—the basis of the case
brought against the American protégé in the French Military
Court at Fez—is a matter on which our mutual cooperation might
well have fallen within the scope of such suggestions. It
appears therefore to be deeply regrettable that instead of avail
being taken of these friendly overtures, on my part, to deal
with this question, resort should have been made to an
unwarrantable action of the French Military Court at Fez in the
premises.
In conclusion, while I have pleasure in reiterating to Your
Excellency my readiness, in the future, to examine with the
Protectorate Authorities, and to submit for the consideration of
my Government the adoption of dispositions intended to overcome
such special difficulties as may arise, I find myself obliged,
in transmitting the observations of my Government upon the
violation of American treaty rights involved in the action of
the Court Martial at Fez against the American protégé, Rahamin
Azoulay, to request that Your Excellency be good enough to cause
the sentence of that Court to be quashed and the fine
remitted.
Please accept [etc.]
