Mr. Hay to Count de Lichtervelde.

No. 196.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 9th instant, inclosing the proceedings of the conference which met [Page 83] at Brussels on April 20 last, for the purpose of revising the regulations of the liquor trade in Africa, and the convention which resulted therefrom, to which the accession of the United States is requested.

The discussions during the conference of 1889–90, which resulted in the conclusions of the general act of July 2, 1890, developed the earnest sentiment of the Government of the United States in favor of the utmost possible restriction of the deleterious traffic in spiritous liquors with the tribes of Central Africa, and the result then reached, by which an import duty of 15 francs per hectoliter of proof spirits testing 50 per cent of alcohol was imposed, fell short of the just expectations of this Government, because apparently inadequate to check the trade. The present convention, whereby the import tax is raised from 70 francs per hectoliter (about 61½ cents per imperial gallon, or 52 cents per United States gallon), while still believed scarcely adequate to attain the humanitarian object of virtual prohibition for which this Government had contended, is so far in the direction desired as to merit the cordial acquiescence of the United States Government. The convention will be laid before the Senate of the United States at the next session, with the President’s recommendation that that high body advise and consent to the adhesion of the United States thereto.

Accept, etc.

John Hay.