File No. 422.11G93/947
The Minister in Ecuador ( Hartman) to the Secretary of State
My notes to the Minister for Foreign Affairs relating to Gil-Ochsner contract, resumption of deposits by Ecuador for railway bonds, transmitting textually Department’s November 26, 1917, 5 p.m.,1 and suit against Santos on his guarantee all published in official bulletin Foreign Office without my consent.
On March 12 my note No. 254, November 30, 1917, relating to resumption of deposits for railway bonds was published in El Comercio.
I immediately addressed a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs protesting against such a proceeding. He answered same day, justifying publication on the ground that said notes are routine and tend to create jurisprudence, and that the subject of railway note is not diplomatic, and therefore, there is no breach of faith in publishing them. He closes by promising that “when really diplomatic matters are concerned this Ministry will never publish the correspondence exchanged.” The next morning my railway note and the answer of the Minister for Foreign Affairs transmitted to Department in my No. 274, January 22, 1918, were published in El Dia.
I consider this matter of great importance and am preparing another note to the Ministry presenting the subject fully and insisting that such publication is contrary to diplomatic usage and in contravention of the agreement between the Foreign Office and the Diplomatic Corps, reported to Department in my No. 171, May 8, 1916.2
If Department has further instructions please send as soon as possible for incorporation in my note. Please answer by telegraph.
- Foreign Relations, 1917, p. 746.↩
- Not printed. The agreement referred to, as embodied in a memorandum from the Ecuadoran Minister of Foreign Affairs dated April 28, 1916, was that, in the matter of publication of correspondence with representatives of foreign governments, the principle of “reciprocity in the practice of courtesy” should be observed … and that “the Government of Ecuador will proceed with the friendly governments as each one of them may proceed with it.” (File No. 822.021.)↩