Minister Swenson to the Secretary of State
Copenhagen, May 6, 1902.
Sir: I have the honor to confirm my cablegram of the 2nd instant and to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the following day, in reply as follows: [Printed ante.]
My cablegram was caused by the following circumstances:
As indicated in my No. 253, of the 25th ultimo, the Landsthing report on the ratification of the treaty for the cession of the Danish West Indies to the United States came up for consideration in the Folkething April 29th. The debate, which lasted about two hours, gave additional proof of the fact that the question of ratification has been made a party issue. By a vote of ninety-eight to seven—eight members being absent—the following resolution which I translate was adopted.
The Rigsdag gives its consent to the convention concluded at Washington, January 24, 1902, for the cession of the West India islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix to the United States, on condition that the inhabitants of the islands, through a plebiscite, (similar to that of 1867), arranged by the Danish Government, express themselves in favor of ceding the islands to the United States of North America.
You will observe that this is identical with the resolution proposed by the minority of ten in the Landsthing. The majority leader declared that in receding from its former position and showing such spirit of compromise, the Folkething had reached the limit of its concessions.
The matter was again sent up to the Landsthing, where it was considered in two secret sessions (the house sitting as a committee) on April 29th and May 1st, respectively. It had been expected that these sessions would result in reintroducing the resolution previously adopted by this body; and that such action would give the minority the desired opportunity to move, in open session, that the matter be referred to a conference committee of the two houses, to which proposal the majority would agree. The progress of the deliberations was locked, however, by a discovery made by Dr. Matzen, the President of the Landsthing, and communicated by him to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a confidential letter bearing date April 29, 1902.
By reading the report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations referred to above, Dr. Matzen had come to the conclusion that the parties to the treaty differed radically in the interpretation of an essential provision in Article I.
He considered the memorandum submitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations by the Department of State on this point to be of special importance; and found fault with the Minister of Foreign Affairs for not having called the attention of the Rigsdag thereto. He insisted on a satisfactory explanation before permitting further action on the treaty. The Minister of Foreign Affairs replied that Dr. Matzen was mistaken in his views as to the interpretation of Article I, and offered to prove that fact verbally to the Landsthing. He appeared in the two secret sessions mentioned above, but failed to satisfy the opposition; and it was decided to make no further [Page 530] move, pending an authoritative statement from the Department of State on the subject. The opposition majority made good use of this complication to draw its members closer together; and the anti-sale part of the press made the alleged difference between the two Governments appear as serious as possible—in fact represented it as an insurmountable obstacle to ratification. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Director General appealed to me to help them out of the difficulty by submitting my views of the interpretation of the treaty in writing. I assured them that my Government was in full agreement with that of Denmark on the interpretation in question; but told them I wished to communicate with the, Secretary of State by cable before committing myself officially in writing. I had previously been informed of the Minister’s despatch to Mr. Brun and had been shown a copy of the latter’s note to you, under date of April 18th last. A cablegram had been sent to Mr. Brun but the desired information had not been received when your cablegram reached me. I immediately communicated to the Minister of Foreign Affairs your reply to me. You will find enclosed herewith a copy of my note to him. He expressed much gratification and felt quite reassured.
The president of the Landsthing was notified yesterday; and this afternoon a secret session was held in which the majority decided to reintroduce the resolution originally passed, as explained above. To-morrow an open session will be held, at which a conference committee of the two houses will likely be agreed to. A compromise on the resolution proposed by the Landsthing minority of ten and now accepted by the Folkething seems probable.
I have [etc.]