Minister Swenson to the Secretary of State
Copenhagen, December 19, 1901.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your cablegram of the 17th instant, relative to the treaty for the cession of the Danish West Indies, and to confirm mine of the 18th instant in reply thereto, the true reading of which follows: Cipher cablegram received December 17, 1901, at 9:30 p.m. [Printed ante.]
The text of the treaty which had been scrutinized and approved by the Department reached the Foreign Office Tuesday noon, the 17th instant. In the afternoon I called on the Director General—the Minister was attending a meeting of the Rigsdag—and urged the desirability of cabling Mr. Brun full power to sign the treaty as soon as the Minister for Foreign Affairs had examined it. I was informed that the formalities of finally laying the matter before the King would have to be observed, and that the Finance Committee of the Folkething had requested to have the treaty as agreed upon communicated to it before the signature was authorized.
This would require a few days. Yesterday morning I handed a copy of your cablegram to Mr. Deuntzer; and in the afternoon I had an interview with him. He said that it was quite impossible to expedite matters sufficiently to have the treaty signed before the [Page 502] adjournment of the Senate. A Council of State was to be held on Friday; and the King could not be asked to discuss the question earlier. The Folkething Finance Committee could not meet before Thursday afternoon. There seemed to be one or two discrepancies of minor importance, between the text of the treaty received and that of the cablegrams exchanged with Mr. Brun, which would necessitate further communication with him. No time limit for ratification had been inserted in the treaty. This he thought was an oversight; and such a stipulation ought to be added.
He then told me that the Rigsdag was giving him trouble by raising the question of a plebiscite at this stage in the negotiations, when an agreement between the two Governments had practically been reached. I reserve my report on this point for a separate dispatch, which will be mailed tomorrow.
I have [etc.]