File No. 66/40.
The Belgian Minister to the Secretary of State.
Washington, May 25, 1909.
Mr. Secretary of State: By a communication dated February 19 last, your honorable predecessor was good enough to let me know that it would be entirely acceptable to the United States Government if the third session of the International Conference on Maritime Law should not be opened until the second half year of 1909, in accordance with the Imperial German Government’s desire.
A telegram from the minister of foreign affairs at Brussels instructs me to inform your excellency that, in accordance with the wishes of several Governments, the date of the opening of the Brussels Maritime Conference is finally fixed for September 28 next.2
Mr. Davignon in so instructing me asks me to telegraph whether the participation of the United States in the Maritime Conference is assured.
I would be very thankful to your excellency if you would enable me with your customary obligingness to reply in the near future to the inquiry of the minister of foreign affairs.
Thanking you in advance, I gladly embrace, etc.,
- The date for the holding of the third session was postponed several times since 1907.↩