File No. 125.0055/3
[Enclosure—Translation]
The
German Foreign Office
to the
American Embassy
IcI/2312
Note Verbale
In supplement to its note verbale of November
30, 1914, No. Ic16180, the Foreign Office has the honor to enclose
herewith to the Embassy of the United States of America a copy of a
note verbale, received from the Royal
Spanish Embassy, which transmitted to the Imperial German Government
a protest of the Belgian Government relative to the position of
neutral consuls in Belgium:
The Imperial Government is obliged to consider that the
protest of the Belgian Government is not well founded.
Article 42 of the fourth Hague convention in particular is not
capable of supporting the view of the Belgian Government. This
article makes it obligatory on the occupant state only to maintain
as far as possible public order in the occupied districts, but not
to permit the officials of the enemy state to remain in office. Such
officials can not be tolerated, except as far as military
considerations admit, and if the officials themselves are ready to
comply with the regulations of the occupant state. If these
principles are applied by analogy to the consuls of neutral states,
it results that they also can not perform their public duties,
except by consent of the occupant power and to the extent allowed
[Page 919]
by it, inasmuch as the
exequatur of the enemy is not binding on the occupant power.
The note verbale of the Imperial Foreign
Office of November 30, last, does not affect the rights of the
Belgian Government in any way, but deals exclusively with the
interests of the Imperial Government, which conceives it to be its
right and its unalterable duty to regulate for the period of
occupation the consular protection in the territory occupied by its
Army. Moreover, this re-regulation is primarily necessary in the
interests of neutral nationals themselves. More than three hundred
consular representatives of the allied and neutral States were
hitherto officially recognized in Belgium. By far the majority of
them were honorary consuls of Belgian nationality, and of them a
large number have left Belgium. It is beyond doubt that the Imperial
Government, in the very interest of neutral nationals, can not
hesitate to see to it that their consular protection is established
securely and effectively, to which end it has, as a first step,
requested the allied and neutral Governments, under date of November
30, 1914, to express their wishes.
The Foreign Office begs to request the good offices of the Embassy of
the United States of America to the end that the above may be
brought to the attention of its Government.
Berlin
,
January 3, 1915.
