File No. 7101/1–3.
American Embassy,
London, June 18,
1907.
No. 387.]
[Inclosure.]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to the Spanish
Ambassador.
Foreign Office,
London, May 16,
1907.
Your Excellency: Animated by the desire to
contribute in every possible way to the maintenance of peace, and
convinced that the preservation of the territorial status quo and of
the rights of Great Britain and Spain in the Mediterranean and in
that part of the Atlantic Ocean which washes the shores of Europe
and Africa must materially serve this end, and is, moreover, to the
mutual advantage of the two nations bound to each other by the
closest ties of ancient friendship and of community of
interests;
The Government of His Britannic Majesty desire to lay before that of
His Catholic Majesty the following declaration of policy, in the
confident hope that it will not only still further strengthen the
good understanding so happily existing between them, but will also
promote the cause of peace.
The general policy of the Government of His Britannic Majesty in the
regions above defined is directed to the maintenance of the
territorial status quo, and in pursuance of this policy they are
firmly resolved to preserve intact the rights of the British Crown
over its insular and maritime possessions in those regions.
Should circumstances arise which, in the opinion of the Government of
His Britannic Majesty, would alter, or tend to alter, the existing
territorial status quo in the said regions, they will communicate
with the Government of His Catholic Majesty, in order to afford them
the opportunity to concert, if desired, by mutual agreement the
course of action which the two powers shall adopt in common.a
I have, etc.,
Note.—Similar convention concluded at
Paris by S. Pichon, French minister for foreign affairs, and F.
de Leon y Castillo, the Spanish ambassador, May 16, 1907.
