Mr. McDonald to Mr.
Gresham.
Legation of the United States,
Teheran, September 25,
1893. (Received November 3.)
No. 21.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose for your
information a copy and translation of a circular memorandum, received
from the Persian foreign minister on the 22d instant.
The practice to which the memorandum refers is of long standing. When a
Persian subject fails to recover a claim from a fellow-citizen to which
he thinks he has a bona fide right, he very often transfers the
[Page 485]
documents relating to the
claim to the citizen of a foreign state for some valuable consideration
or on the pretext that the transferee has some counter claim against him
to the full or even a greater amount. The purchaser or transferee then
presses the claim through the intermediary of his legation, and, rightly
or wrongly, very often succeeds in recovering the whole of the
claim.
I have no reason to think that any United States citizen has ever
resorted or will ever resort to this practice, either to prevent an
injustice or to make profit; yet I have nevertheless sent a copy of the
memorandum to each of the missions in Persia, so as to prevent
misunderstanding.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure in No.
21.—Translation.]
Memorandum from the minister for foreign
affairs.
In consequence of certain persons, subjects of Persia, negotiating
and transferring some of their old, unjust, and irrecoverable claims
to citizens of foreign Governments, causing loss and damage to
traders, and producing confusion in the proceedings of the courts of
justice and disorganizing trade, besides violating the solemn rights
of the Government and otherwise causing annoyance and inconvenience,
His Majesty has ordered that these negotiations and transfers are to
be considered as groundless and entirely null and void until,
according to international engagements, the papers or documents have
the indubitable seal of the foreign office, and on the faith of that
security the legation legalizes them. It is therefore evident that
the honorable legation will give strict injunctions to its subjects
that this matter may be unquestionably complied with and by no means
allowed to continue, lest the claim (by the foreign citizen) be
refused.
It is furthermore hoped that the honorable legation will have this
subject in mind and so help to put a stop to the irregularity. We
give no further trouble at this time.
Dated 9 Rubi-ul-avval (20th of September), A. H. 1311.
[Seal of the Kavam-ed-Dowlah, minister for foreign affairs.]
