Office of the Historian

Mr. Adee to Viscount Santo Thyrso.

Department of State,
Washington, August 27, 1900.
No. 91.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 21st instant relating to the deposit by His Majesty’s Government, at the branch office of the “Comptoir d’Escompte” in London, of the amount awarded to citizens of the United States and British subjects in payment of their claims on account of the rescision of the concession to the Lourenco Marquez Railroad. Referring to the note of the 27th ultimo of the Secretary of State, you quote his statement that “as heretofore stated, the Government of the United States is not understood as authorizing or acquiescing in the making of said deposit, and in acknowledging the same it does so without prejudice and with reservation of all its rights, of whatever nature or character they may be in the premises,” and ask to be informed whether you interpret correctly the views of this Government when you say that you “presume that the reservations made in Mr. Hay’s note exclusively refer to the sentence of the arbitral tribunal and not to its execution on the part of the Portuguese Government.”

I have the honor to inform you that the protocol signed at Berne, June 13, 1891, provides distinctly in Article IV, in the third and in the fourth paragraphs that “the amount of the indemnity shall be paid by the Portuguese Government to the other two Governments” (the United States and Great Britain), and it is with reference to this provision that Mr. Hay, in his note of July 27, used the language which you ask to have interpreted. The Department intended by that language as well to preserve all rights with regard to the award itself as also to disclaim all responsibility regarding the deposit of the sum awarded by the tribunal at Berne at the Comptoir d’Escompte.

It is understood that the deposit was, made at the “Comptoir” in pursuance of a permissive clause in the award, which was apparently designed to enable His Majesty’s Government to stop the running of interest on the amount awarded.

Accept, etc.,

Alvey A. Adee,
Acting Secretary.