Delegates White and Gummeré to the Secretary of State.
Sir: Referring to our dispatch No. 5, of the 12th ultimo, we have the honor to report to you the further proceedings of the conference since that date.
We inclose herewith the official reports of the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth meetings,a which took place on the 10th, 13th, 14th, and 17th ultimo, respectively, and with regard to which there is no particular comment to be made. They for the most part confirm decisions previously arrived at in committee of the whole, after previous discussion by the committee of experts, relative to customs and port regulations. You will observe that at the ninth session Mr. White proposed that training ships of the mercantile marine not engaged in commercial operations be added to the category of vessels exempted, in the same manner as ships of war, from the deposit of their manifests at the custom-house on their arrival in Moorish ports, a proposal which was unanimously adopted. It may also be perhaps worthy of note that at the same meeting the Moorish delegates refused their assent to a proposal for the expropriation of real estate when necessary for works of public utility, even though sanctioned by the Government and the diplomatic body at Tangier, upon the payment of a fair price for the same, on the ground that it is contrary to koranic law to compel proprietors to part with their landed possessions against their will. It was humorously suggested by some of those present who were familiar with Moorish customs that there is apparently nothing contrary to koranic law in depriving a man of his life with a view to obtaining his possessions, which is not unusual, but the objection of the Moorish delegates seemed to be to the legal expropriation of landed property during the owner’s life.
The interest in the proceedings of the conference, however, continues, as stated in our previous dispatch, to be not in the official sessions, but in the conversations and meetings between the French, German, and certain other delegates, with the view, if possible, to reach ing an agreement upon the organization of the proposed police for the Moroccan ports and of the state bank.
These conversations, which were intended by those at whose instance they were brought about to be entirely private, can no longer be so described, in so far at all events as the French and German delegates are concerned. Not only has their substance been immediately [Page 1481] communicated to the press, but written memoranda, unsigned, have latterly been exchanged between the French and German ambassadors on the occasion of each of their meetings, beginning with that of February 13. Copies of all these documents were communicated to us immediately after they were handed in, sometimes previously, and a translation thereof was forthwith cabled to you. We herewith inclose copies of the same with translations.a
It has been our earnest endeavor to urge upon our French and German colleagues that each of these memoranda afford a basis for further negotiations, and with a little good will on both sides and a few further concessions that an agreement on the bank and police questions could easily be reached.
We also inclose for your information copiesa of the three bank projects which have been laid by the French, German, and Moorish delegates before the conference in committee of the whole, and which served as the basis for a discussion conducted in a friendly spirit whereby numerous points of agreement were discovered. This discussion has been continued during the present week by the committee of experts and it is now proposed that the agreements arrived at shall be confirmed and approved at an official meeting to-morrow. The French and Germans have both made concessions and the original project of each has been considerably modified. We have, etc.,
- Henri White.
- S. R. Gummeré.