Delegates White and Gummeré to the Secretary of State .
Sir: Referring to our dispatch No. 7, of the 2d instant, we have the honor to send you the following account of the course of events at the conference since that date.
We inclose copies of the official reportsa of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth meetings held, respectively, on the 3d, 8th, and 10th instants, at the first of which a majority of the articles of a “Project for the establishment of a state bank of Morocco” were agreed upon, and the conference decided that those numbered 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 15, 17, 19, 20, and 23, in respect to the wording of which an agreement was not reached, should be further considered. A brief discussion followed as to whether a meeting in committee of the whole should be fixed for Monday, the 5th instant, to discuss the organization of the “police in Morocco,” and after each delegation had been consulted a sentiment favorable to that suggestion was found to be pretty general. The meeting was held accordingly, and speeches were made by the French, British, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese delegates expressing the opinion that a body of police should be organized under the authority of the Sultan of Morocco and should be composed of Moors with Moorish officers, but that the instruction and supervision of the proposed force, which would be for the eight ports only and not for the interior of the country, should be in the hands of French and Spanish officers. We inclose a reporta of the French delegate’s speech. The German delegate also made a few brief remarks (a report of which we inclosea) to the effect that his Government could not approve of that arrangement on the ground that the entire police force would be thereby placed under the control of France and Spain, a state of things which, in the opinion of Germany, would not furnish an adequate guaranty for the observance of the “open-door” policy and commercial equality for all nations in Morocco.
The meeting, which lasted a short time and the proceedings at which were of a harmonious nature, was thereupon adjourned until Thursday, the 8th instant, on which occasion the conference first of all held an official session to discuss certain features connected with the organization of the proposed state bank and adopted certain articles in respect to which an agreement had been previously reached in the committee of experts.
It was then decided, on the proposal of the president, to go into committee of the whole for the further discussion of the organization of the police. The senior German delegate, M. de Radowitz, opened the proceedings with a short speech, of which we inclose the official version, and in which he admitted that there are good reasons for the employment of French and Spanish officers, but added that in the opinion of his Government it would be impossible to place the police entirely under the instruction and guidance of officers of those two countries without any guaranty of supervision as to the manner in which they might be carrying out the duties wherewith it was proposed that they should be intrusted. He concluded by saying that his Government is ready to examine any proposal for the organization of the police which should be based upon such adequate supervision.
[Page 1484]M. de Radowitz was followed by the French delegate, who laid a proposal on the table, of which we inclose a copy and translation herewith.a It provides, as you will observe, for a body of from 2,000 to 2,500 men, all Moors, to be distributed between the different ports according to their importance and population, in detachments varying between 150 and 500 men; the number of French and Spanish officers not to exceed 16 nor the noncommissioned officers 32. The second Spanish delegate, M. Perez Caballero, also made a speech, which is inclosed herewith.a
The Austro-Hungarian senior delegate, Count Welsersheimb, thereupon rose and said he had a proposal to make, but before doing so he wished to say a few words. He then set forth in an exceedingly conciliatory manner the differences existing between France and Germany in respect to the organization of the police, and added that his Government had, with a view to bringing these divergent opinions into harmony, instructed him to make the proposal which the president then read and which we inclose.a It provides for the organization and supervision of the police force by French officers at the ports of Tangier, Safi, Rabat, and Tetuan; by Spanish officers at Mogador, Larache, and Mazagan; and for the establishment at the eighth port, Casablanca, of an inspector-general who should be in command thereof and should also inspect the police at the other seven ports, reporting the results of such inspection to the diplomatic body at Tangier.
The action of the Austrian ambassador undoubtedly produced a considerable impression upon the conference, and there was a general feeling that for the first time a proposal had been made on the subject of the police which, if not actually acceptable, would serve as a basis for negotiations and not improbably, with some modifications, for settlement; the more so, as no one supposed that Count Wei-, sersheimb would have brought forward that or any other proposal without previously ascertaining that it would not be objectionable to Germany. The committee therefore adjourned on the 8th instant with a hopeful feeling that a settlement on all the questions at issue might, with a few concessions on the part of France and Germany, be arrived at before long.
Unfortunately, however, for these hopes, the cabinet, presided over by Mr. Rouvier, was defeated on a question of domestic policy in the French Parliament on the 7th and resigned. Versoon afterwards it came to be realized that this circumstance would materially delay, if not actually bring to a standstill for a certain length of time, the work of the conference, which turned out to be the case.
It was impossible in the first place for the French delegate to make any concessions, however unimportant, without the consent of the new Government, and it was unreasonable to expect the new French minister of foreign affairs at the moment of assuming office to be in a position to give any instructions, much less to yield on any of the questions at issue, until he had had time to become thoroughly familiar with the course of the negotiations up to the moment of his predecessor’s resignation. Nor was it to be expected that Germany [Page 1485] should be otherwise than indisposed to make further concessions until the policy of the new French cabinet should be ascertained.
Under these circumstances the conference met on Monday, March 10, first of all in plenary session, during which some little progress was made in the matter of the Morocco state bank, as will be seen from the report of the proceedings of the twelfth session, inclosed herewith,a and afterwards in committee of the whole for the further discussion of the police.
The impression left upon the mind of everyone present at this meeting was optimistic, and we have reason to believe that most of the governments represented were informed, many of them probably for the first time, that there was little doubt of a settlement being reached at no distant date on all points still at issue.
The French and German delegates both made speeches stating that in the Austrian proposal and in one which was presented by the French delegate for the organization of the police a basis might be found for an agreement, and each of those delegates recognized the conciliatory disposition shown by the other. We inclose herewitha copies of the French and Austrian proposals, the chief difference between them being that in the former the instruction of the Moorish police is to be left to French and Spanish officers in all the eight ports of Morocco, whereas in the Austrian proposal such would be the case in seven ports only, and in the eighth a Swiss or Dutch officer would command, with the additional duty of inspecting the organization and working of the police in the other seven ports.
But for reasons previously stated it was soon found, while no one has, we think, seriously doubted since the meeting of the 8th that a settlement would be eventually arrived at, that no further progress could be made in the committee of experts, and the conference remained practically at a standstill in so far as arriving at any decisions officially for about a fortnight, the meeting fixed for Tuesday, March 13, being postponed.
It must not be supposed, however, that during this period the delegates were idle. On the contrary, the private conversations and consultations referred to in our previous dispatches were continued daily, and we have no doubt that while no formal conclusions were reached the constant discussion by certain delegates of the points in respect to which if an agreement were to be reached concessions must be made was of material advantage to those participating in them when the meetings of the conference were resumed, as they were yesterday.
It is not necessary for us to trouble you with details of these discussions or of the various suggestions which were either made or foreshadowed in respect to questions at issue with regard to the organization of the proposed state bank and Moroccan police.
On the 18th instant we received your telegram embodying the note addressed by you on the 17th to the German ambassador at Washington in reply to an inquiry from his excellency as to your view of the Austrian proposal, stating that for reasons therein set forth our Government does not approve of that proposal and considers that the control of the police in all the eight ports should be left to France [Page 1486] and Spain jointly as mandatories of the powers here assembled in conference.
We have reason to believe that this expression of our Government’s opinion affected the situation very materially, as on the 20th instant the German senior delegate informed ours that he thought a proposal would be brought forward at the next meeting by the Austrian ambassador, modified in accordance with suggestions embodied in a communication received by the German Government from that of the United States, evidently your note aforesaid, to the effect that there should be French and Spanish officers together in all the ports of Morocco, of which M. de Radowitz said his Government entirely approved.
We have the honor to inclose herewitha a copy of the official report of the meeting of the conference held on Monday, the 26th instant, on which occasion a project prepared by the committee of experts for the organization of the police was under discussion, and the Austrian ambassador withdrew that part of his proposal for a Dutch or Swiss inspector of police to command at Casablanca and now proposed instead, as set forth more fully in the accompanying report of the meeting, (1) that the control of the working of the police be under the diplomatic body at Tangier, with which the inspector should cooperate; (2) a paragraph relative to the manner in which the diplomatic body should exercise that control; and (3) a paragraph providing that French officers be charged with the organization and instruction of the police in certain ports not settled, and Spanish officers in certain others not stated, his idea being that the conference should decide which ports should be assigned to the officers of France and which to those of Spain.
Several articles of the expert committee’s project were adopted and others were, after discussion, referred back to it for further alterations, notably the first of Count Welsersheimb’s new proposals, which was as follows:
The control of the working of the police shall be exercised by the diplomatic body at Tangier. To this end the inspector shall afford the diplomatic body his assistance.
Some anxiety was felt when the conference adjourned in respect to this proposed article, to which the British and French delegates strongly objected; whereas the German ambassador had gone so far as to say that the principle it embodied was, from the German point of view, a matter of the highest importance (un point capital), and that if it could not be settled in accordance with the ideas of his Government he thought “it would be difficult to continue usefully the discussion upon the organization of the police.”
We shall not fail to report to you at as early a date as may be practicable the further proceedings of the conference, which we have good reason to hope is likely before long to terminate its labors.
We have, etc.,
- Henry White.
- S. R. Gummeré.