File No. 838.00/1295.
The Haitian Minister to the Secretary of State.
Washington, September 6, 1915.
Mr. Secretary of State: Since I had the honor of writing you under date of September 4, about a recent telegram from the President of Haiti, the Haitian Government has informed me that Admiral Caperton after taking possession of seven Haitian custom houses including that of the capital, and putting them in charge of directors selected by him, proclaimed martial law throughout the territory of the Republic unduly occupied by the American forces, and appointed simultaneously a governor for Cape Haitien and a chief of police and a harbor-master for Port au Prince.
I have had the honor to talk with you on several occasions of facts that may be regarded as encroachments on the rights of sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Haiti; but you were so good as to give me, as to the intentions of the Government of the United States, assurances that did not fail of favorable reception. Yet my Government, confronting the last measures taken by. Admiral Caperton, cannot but doubt whether these acts and orders, the effects of which deprive it of the exercise of the essential prerogatives vested in it by the Constitution, do not amount to a manifest invasion of the autonomy of the country whose institutions it is commissioned to defend.
It has in consequence instructed me to let you know how glad it will be to receive through me such explanations as may dispel the justified alarm of the Haitian people.
Be pleased [etc.]