File No. 711.5521/4
The Secretary of State to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium
Washington, November 11, 1916.
Excellency: I have had the honor to receive through the American Legation at Brussels and the American Embassy at Berlin, the communication which you addressed on June 29, 1916, to Mr. John Ball Osborne, American Consul at Havre, France, in reply to the note by which Mr. Brand Whitlock, American Minister at Brussels communicated to Mr. Davignon the text of the law of the United States approved March 4, 1915, known as the Seamen’s Act, and notice of the intention of the Government of the United States to denounce, in pursuance to that law, Articles 11 and 12 of the Consular Convention concluded March 9, 1880, between the United States and Belgium, and Article 5 of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, signed January 24, 1891, between the United States and the Independent State of the Kongo, as well as the desire of the Government of the United States that the remaining articles of these [Page 35] two conventions might be continued in force by agreement or an exchange of notes.
I am gratified to learn by your excellency’s note that the Belgian Government duly appreciated the reasons which caused the enactment of the law, and has accepted this Government’s notification as terminating from July 1, 1916, the effect of Articles 11 and 12 of the Consular Convention of March 9, 1880 between the United States and Belgium, and that it accepts the further proposal of the Government of the United States to leave in force by exchange of notes the other provisions of the said convention, which exchange of notes the Government of the United States understands by your excellency’s communication may be considered as effected by your communication under acknowledgment and the communication to which it is in response, addressed by Mr. Whitlock to Mr. Davignon on July 6, 1915. This understanding is entirely acceptable to the Government of the United States which, therefore, regards the Treaty of March 9, 1880, as being in full force and effect with the exception of its Articles 11 and 12.
With respect to the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, signed on January 24, 1891, between the United States and the Independent State of the Kongo, your excellency, while stating that the Belgian Government consents that Article 5 of this Treaty shall cease to have effect on and after July 1, 1916, and that the other Articles shall remain provisionally in force, points out that the Belgian Government desiring to make modification in several provisions of the Treaty, would prefer that formal notice be given by the Government of the United States denouncing the whole Treaty.
In regard to this, I have the honor to suggest to your excellency whether, in view of the fact that the Government of the United States has given notice of the abrogation of Article 5 of this Treaty, in pursuance of the Act of March 4, 1915, which notice has been accepted by the Belgian Government, that Government may not consider, as does the Government of the United States, that notice of the denunciation of the Treaty as a whole should more appropriately be given in behalf of the other contracting party by the Government of Belgium.
Accept [etc.]