The French Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Washington, January 25, 1908.
My Dear Secretary of State: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter you were pleased to send me on the 11th instant, in which you speak of the question of eventually publishing the reports of the commissions provided for by Article III of the draft of commercial arrangement and define the scope which, in your understanding, belongs to the clause imparting a conditional character to the advantages reciprocally conceded.
My Government, to which I had communicated by cable the substance of your remarks, has just sent me its reply, which puts forth no objection. On the other hand, I am asked to make it quite clear that, as already agreed to in our conversations, it is to be understood that the aforesaid commissions will not have to negotiate, and much less to come to any agreement. They are to be mere commissions of inquiry, and the mission of the specialists that will be members thereof is confined to collecting and exchanging information.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,