File No. 711.5914/243a
[Untitled]
Washington, April 2, 1917.
To the Diplomatic Officers of the United States
Gentlemen: By the convention concluded between the United States and Denmark on August 4, 1916, the ratifications of which were exchanged at Washington on January 17, 1917, the Government of His Majesty the King of Denmark ceded to the United States “all territory, dominion and sovereignty, possessed, asserted or claimed by Denmark in the West Indies, including the Islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, together with the adjacent islands and rocks,” in consideration of the payment by the United States within 90 days from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the convention of the sum of $25,000,000, in gold coin of the United States. The [Page 705] payment of this sum was made at Washington on March 31, 1917, to the agent authorized by the Government of Denmark to receive the money; and on the same day the islands were formally transferred by Denmark to the United States, and possession effectively taken.
You are instructed to communicate officially the above information to the Government to which you are respectively accredited, advising them at the same time that in the opinion of the Government of the United States it would be desirable for existing foreign consuls in the islands ceded by Denmark to the United States to receive new commissions from their Governments upon which the Government of the United States could issue its exequatur.
I am [etc.]