File No. 2151/238–B.
[Inclosure.]
Memorandum.
Department of State
Washington, October 20,
1908.
Due consideration has been given to the draft of a note proposed to
be communicated to Mulai Hafid through the dean of the diplomatic
body at Tangier, which draft was handed to the Secretary of State on
the 19th instant by the Spanish chargé d’affaires.
An identic draft was at the same time handed to the Secretary of
State by the ambassador of France.
The note appears to be satisfactorily framed with a view to the
safeguarding of the interests of all the powers having treaty
relations with Morocco, as well in respect to their several
conventional engagements as under the general act
[Page 651]
of Algeciras, and under the precepts
of international law, while at the same time conserving the equal
rights of all the powers in regard to direct contractual and
especial matters not growing out of the treaties or the act of
Aigeciras.
The Government of the United States deems it necessary that its own
interests and those of its citizens and commerce be confirmed and
guarded, and if the obligation to confirm and guard such interests
be made and accepted in the terms of the proposed note, the
Government of the United States is prepared, for its part, to
recognize Mulai Hafid as the Sultan of Morocco.
The Government of the United States, for its part, favors the
proposal that the communication of the note be effected, in the name
of all the powers, through the medium of the dean of the diplomatic
body at Tangier, and that the reply of the Sultan be communicated to
the several powers through the same channel.
The minister of the United States at Tangier will be forthwith
instructed by cable to put himself in touch with the dean of the
diplomatic body, to the end that the acquiescence of the United
States in the proposed step shall be definitely made known to his
colleagues, and that, in the event of categorical and unqualified
acceptance of the offered terms being made by Mulai Hafid, the
recognition of Mulai Hafid, by the United States, for its own part,
shall be effected coincidently with the like recognition by the
other treaty powers.
