File No. 882.51/439.
The Acting Secretary of State to the German Chargé d’Affaires.
Washington, September 11, 1912.
My Dear Mr. Haniel: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your note of August 23, stating that your Government has advised the Liberian Government of Mr. Lange’s spontaneous declaration of intention to retire from the German Consular Service as soon as he should enter upon his duties as Customs Receiver at Monrovia. I note with pleasure this expressed intention of Mr. Lange to retire from the Imperial German Consular Service because it has from the first been the view of the Government of the United States, as already expressed to all the other Governments concerned, that the Receiver General and the Receivers of Customs, being alike officers of the Republic of Liberia, the preference of Liberia to refuse to recognize in that capacity persons who would hold the dual positions of customs officials and consular [Page 687] officers would be so reasonable as to enlist the moral support of the Government of the United States.
In your letter under acknowledgment you are good enough to inform me that the Imperial German Government, favoring the decision of Mr. Lange, has so advised the Liberian Government; that the Government of Liberia has asked, rather, that Mr. Lange’s retirement from the Consular Service should precede his assumption of his duties as Receiver of Customs, making it a point that there should be no interim during which he would be recognized in both capacities. It is evident, then, that the question is merely one of whether Mr. Lange shall retire from his consular functions before or after entering upon his duties as Receiver of Customs.
I must say frankly that the Government of the United States is not inclined to share the view that it would be unobjectionable to establish a precedent for having consular officers also occupy posts as Receiver General or Receiver of Customs in Liberia and that this Government would find it difficult in these circumstances to view as unreasonable the substance of the position taken by the Liberian Government or to ask that Government to depart from the principle for which it is contending.
Since the Imperial German Government has declared its approval of Mr. Lange’s intention to divest himself of his consular capacity upon his assumption of the receivership, I can only assume that what concerns your Government is merely the question of having a successor to Mr. Lange reach Monrovia to assume his consular functions before Mr. Lange is obliged to undertake his duties as Receiver of Customs. I therefore venture to suggest that if the Imperial German Government should find it convenient either temporarily to appoint some resident of Monrovia or promptly to send a new consular representative to Liberia, there could easily be avoided any considerable interregnum during which Germany need be unrepresented either in the receivership or in the Consular Corps at Monrovia.
In view of the extreme deference which, as you will readily recall, has been shown the Imperial German Government by the Government of the United States throughout the preliminary arrangements of this Liberian matter, I can not but feel confident that you will be good enough to bespeak your Government’s cooperation in order that the receivership may now begin to function without any delay and that your Government in lending such cooperation will be glad to acquiesce in a purpose which the Government of the United States is so well known to have so much at heart.
I am [etc.]