File No. 838.00/1092.
Minister Blanchard to
the Secretary of State.
No. 24.]
American Legation,
Port au Prince,
December 28, 1914.
Sir: Referring to the Department’s December
12, 5 p.m., and December 19, 4 p.m., and my December 15, 11 p.m., and
December 21, 9 a.m., I have the honor to forward herewith copy of the
note dated December 19 which, at the request of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, I addressed to him in confirmation of the interview which I had
had with him on the morning of December 17 in pursuance of your
instructions of December 12, 5 p.m.
The letter was addressed to him as [a] private note with no mention of
his official title, and to my great surprise I received in reply the
official communication under date of December 23, a copy and translation
of which I herewith enclose.
I at once called to the attention of the Minister the fact of the form of
my letter to which he had replied by an official communication; that my
letter in no way implied recognition of the present Government. In
answer, he said that there was no misunderstanding and it was perfectly
well understood that my Government had not recognized Davilmar Theodore
as President of Haiti, but he considered I was the official
Representative of the United States to the de facto Government and it
was for this reason that he had addressed me as above, but that
hereafter communications, as had been in the past, would be in the third
person from and to the Legation and the Department of Foreign
Relations.
I have [etc.]
[Inclosure 1.]
Minister Blanchard to Mr. Louis
Borno, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
American Legation,
Port au Prince,
December 19, 1914.
Your Excellency: In conformity with the
wish which your excellency expressed, I have the honor to confirm
herewith what, in accordance with the instructions of my Government,
I had the honor of saying in our interview of the day before
yesterday.
The American Nation has no desire to assume the responsibilities in
regard to Haiti’s fiscal system except in accordance with the wishes
of the Government of Haiti. In expressing a willingness to do in
Haiti what it is doing in Santo Domingo, the Government of the
United States was actuated wholly by a disinterested desire to
render assistance.
Your excellency having again stated to me that it was an
impossibility for the Haitian Government to consider this
proposition further, my Government does not insist.
With regard to the question of recognition, it will be considered on
its merits, and recognition will be granted whenever the Government
of the United States is satisfied that there is in Haiti a
government capable of maintaining order and meeting the country’s
obligations to outside nations. Such a government is impossible,
however, unless it rests upon the consent of the governed and gives
expression to the will of the people. It will be necessary,
therefore, for the Government of the United States to have
information as to the fiscal standing and general plans of the
Government of Haiti as to its attitude toward foreigners and the
obligations which it owes to the citizens of other nations,
including its attitude on the subjects relating to the Mole St.
Nicolas. Please accept [etc.]
[Page 377]
[Inclosure 2—Translation.]
The Minister of Foreign
Affairs to Minister Blanchard.
Department of State for Foreign
Relations,
Port au Prince,
December 23, 1914.
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to
acknowledge receipt of the official communication dated December 19,
by which you have been good enough to announce to me that the
Government of the United States did not insist on the proposition
which it had made to the Government of Haiti of a customs convention
similar to that which exists in Santo Domingo.
In taking note of your declaration, the Haitian Government is happy
to recognize, once more, the admirable height of principles and
noble disinterestedness which inspire the policy of the United
States. The Republic of Haiti rejoices sincerely in being able to
count on the active sympathy of the Government at Washington with a
view to aiding the greatest possible development of cordial and
fruitful relations between the two countries, by the development of
our national resources obtained through the powerful aid of American
capital and American industry.
Referring, Mr. Minister, to the last part of your important
communication of December 19, please permit me to refer you, for
confirmation, to the declarations contained in the two notes which
the Department of Foreign Relations had the honor to address to you
on the fifteenth of this month.
The Government of President Theodore, constitutionally and freely
elected by the Representatives of the nation, presents to the
foreign Governments, as much by this constitutional origin as by the
force of its organization and by the firm principles of order which
characterize it, all the guaranties and all the rigorous conditions
of a normal and stable government.
In renewing to you here this formal assurance, I am happy to seize
this occasion [etc.]
