File No. 882.51/361.
The German Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
The French Government has, through its Embassy in Berlin, expressed to the Imperial Government the desire that the post of receiver at Monrovia, or, if there should be no receiver at this port, the post of the receiver who will be entitled to replace the General Receiver during temporary absence, should in turn be given to the receivers appointed by Germany, England, and France.
The Imperial Government intends answering the Embassy:
- (1)
- that according to the loan agreement (article 4a, par. 3, phrase 1) the General Receiver, who is appointed by the President of the United States, is to direct the Receivers and therefore has the right to assign them to the different places;
- (2)
- that the Government of the United States has, prior to the conclusion of the agreement, given the assurance that it would, owing to Germany’s large share of trade in Liberia, cause the General Receiver to designate Monrovia as the residence of the German Receiver;
- (3)
- that the claim of the German Receiver to residence in Monrovia and to the right of representing the General Receiver, which the agreement has combined with the residence in this port, was for the German hankers and merchants an essential condition for their taking part in the loan and can therefore now not be given up by the Imperial Government.
The Imperial Government would be very much obliged for an answer, whether the Government of the United States sees any objection to such a reply being given to the French Embassy in Berlin.
Washington , April 22, 1912.