File No. 838.00/855.
The Secretary of State to Minister Smith.
Washington , February 26, 1914 .
Your February 21. You will immediately seek an interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the de facto Government at Port au Prince and state to him that the Government of the United States will be probably disposed to recognize the Government of Oreste Zamor as the duly elected constitutional government of the Republic of Haiti, since it appears from the support which it received in the north and in the other parts of the Republic that the advent of this Government is based upon the consent of the governed.
You will further state that the Government of the United States has always considered that there can be no freedom without order based upon law and upon public conscience and approval; that the United States will always lend its influence to the realization of these principles in practice; and that, desiring the peace and prosperity of all its sister republics, this Government desires to extend its genuine disinterested friendship and aid for the continuance of peace and prosperity in Haiti.
In your conference with the Minister for Foreign Affairs you will suggest to him that the United States is, as is natural, on account of the vested interests of American citizens in the Republic of Haiti, interested in the proper administration and collection of customs, [Page 340] and would be well disposed toward lending its aid in any practical way to the Government of Haiti if such were desired.
Further, that on account of the opening of the Panama Canal the United States is interested in the proper location of lighthouses along the coast of the different countries and islands by which the traffic will pass to enter the Panama Canal. In this connection this Government would be most willing to lend any expert assistance to the Government of Haiti in aiding her to determine the points most necessary for lighthouses.
At the time of the visit of Mr. Osborne, Assistant Secretary of State, to Haiti in 1913, the matter of the Mole Saint Nicholas as a naval station was under discussion. Different views were exchanged and an understanding was arrived at by which it was promised that no power other than the United States should gain a foothold in that section of the Republic. In presenting this last matter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs you will use your utmost tact and discretion in conveying to him the idea that while this Government has, for the present, no intention of entering into negotiations regarding Mole Saint Nicholas, it nevertheless desires that the understanding between President Oreste and the Assistant Secretary of State remain undisturbed.
You are instructed to cable immediately whatever reply is made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to these various suggestions, and Department will then instruct you as to recognition.