File No. 711.5521/8
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Belgium to the Secretary of State
Le Havre, December 31, 1916.
Mr. Minister: I have in my possession the letter which your excellency was pleased to address to me on November 11 last, in reply to the communication of June 29 which I sent to the Consul of the United States at Havre about the repeal of certain provisions of the Consular Convention concluded March 9, 1880, between Belgium and the United States, and of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce [Page 36] and Navigation, signed January 24, 1891, between the Independent State of the Kongo and the United States.
It is understood that, in accordance with the agreement arrived at between the two Governments, they regard the Consular Convention of March 9, 1880 as continuing in force with the exception of Articles 11 and 12 which are repealed.
With regard to the treaty of January 24, 1891 with the former Independent State of the Kongo, I take the liberty of calling your excellency’s attention to the last paragraph but one of my note of June 29, 1916, addressed to Mr. Osborne which was for the very purpose of giving the Government of the United States notice by the King’s Government of the termination of that Convention as a whole. I asked at the same time for an acknowledgment of that notice by the American Government.
The question being thus settled, the Treaty of January 24, 1891 will be deemed to have been denounced on July 1, 1916. It is understood that the provisions of that Treaty set forth in Article 5 have ceased to be operative on that same date of July 1, 1916, the other articles remaining in force for the time being.
In communicating the foregoing to your excellency,
I avail [etc.]