File No. 731.51/36.
The Secretary of State to
the French Ambassador.
Department of State,
Washington,
October 30, 1912.
Excellency: With reference to Count de Peretti
de la Rocca’s note of August 29, 1912, regarding the relations of France
and Venezuela, and to the Department’s reply of September 3, 1912,1 have
the honor to inform you that Mr. Elliott Northcott, the American
Minister to Venezuela, has just arrived in Washington. Mr. Northcott
brought with him the reply of the Venezuelan Government to the note in
which he communicated the substance of Count de Peretti de la Rocca’s
letter to the Department of August 29th. It was at the special request
of the President of Venezuela that Mr. Northcott brought this despatch
in person to the Department in order that he might at the same time
orally state that the President and Minister for Foreign Affairs of
Venezuela have expressed the hope that diplomatic relations between
France and Venezuela will soon be reestablished.
The Department will be happy if its friendly offices should result in the
renewal of those relations.
A copy of the note of the Venezuelan Minister for Foreign Affairs of
September 23d to Minister Northcott is enclosed.
Accept [etc.]
For
Mr. Knox
:
Alva A. Adee.
[Inclosure—Translation.]
The Venezuelan Minister for
Foreign Affairs to the American
Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Caracas,
September 23, 1912.
Mr. Minister: I have had the honor of
receiving your excellency’s courteous note No. 59, dated the 4th
instant,1 in
which, at the request of the French Embassy in Washington, you
transcribe the statement of the attitude of the French Government. I
informed the President of the Republic, who instructed me to reply
in the following terms:
The Government of Venezuela is greatly pleased that the French
Government, taking into account the good will and the reasons
expressed by this Chancellery,
[Page 533]
decides upon a conciliatory course preserving
the decorum and the interests of both countries.
The Government of Venezuela has no objection to the claims of French
citizens, decided by the Federal Court of Cassation, being submitted
to an arbitral tribunal whenever there is in such decisions a
violation of the principles recognized by international law. The
attitude of the French Government can not be otherwise in this
respect, in view of the enlightenment and the spirit of justice of
the men who direct it. Consequently the Venezuelan Government
considers it advisable, with a view to prevent any erroneous
interpretation, that such an expression be included in the protocol
of the resumption of relations.
As worded in the statement contained in your excellency’s note, the
right of recourse to an arbitral tribunal might occasion doubts and
confusions, and the Government of Venezuela is persuaded that the
French Government is also desirous of preventing such; and therefore
that it is incumbent to state that the French Government will
possess the right of having submitted to an arbitral tribunal those
claims which have been decided by Venezuelan courts, when it adduces
that in such decision some principles of international law have been
violated.
With this modification, which is merely the making clear of the
thought contained in the statement above referred to, the Venezuelan
Government infers that there will be no objection to proceeding to
the definite consideration of the matter, inasmuch, as is gathered
from conversations with your excellency, both Governments are
animated by the sincerest desire of reaching a satisfactory
solution.
I take [etc.]
