No. 151
American Legation,
Copenhagen,
February 28, 1900.
[Inclosure-Translation]
The Minister of Foreign
Affairs to Minister Swenson
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Copenhagen,
February 28, 1900.
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 20th instant,
transmitting, by order of the Secretary of State of the United
States, a copy of a draft of a convention which he proposes to
conclude with His Majesty’s Government for the cession of the Danish
West Indies to the United States, a copy of which draft I had
already received from His Majesty’s Legation at Washington.
Conformably to the disposition previously manifested to give earnest
consideration to a proposal from your Government for negotiations
looking to the cession of the Danish West Indies, and in a spirit
corresponding with the cordial relations subsisting between the two
Governments, His Majesty’s Government will give its most
conscientious consideration to the submitted proposal.
As I have had the honor to inform you orally, his Majesty’s
Government, after a preliminary examination of the proposal as
drafted by your Government, is constrained to reserve the right of
proposing certain modifications therein; and it is of opinion that
the negotiations on this subject can be conducted to the best
advantage in Copenhagen, where all the desirable information bearing
on the points of detail can be procured without delay. Though the
negotiations will of necessity require some time, I beg you to
inform the Secretary of State that, in accordance with his desire, I
shall expedite the matter as much as its nature and importance will
permit, endeavoring at the same time to preserve secrecy, though it
will be necessary to acquaint a certain number of persons with the
subject.
His Majesty’s Government believes that it ought to comply with your
request eventually to have the convention signed at Washington, if
your Government persists in such desire.
I avail [etc.]
