467.11St25/33

The Chargé in Great Britain (Wright) to the Acting Secretary of State

No. 843

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the Department’s instruction No. 120 of March 18, 1919, enclosing a copy of a letter, dated March 15, from the Standard Oil Company of New York reporting the action of the British military authorities in Jerusalem in sending an officer to the representative of the Standard Oil Company there to inspect certain maps of concessions to prospect for oil which were allotted to the above Company prior to the outbreak of the war.

In compliance with the Department’s instructions, appropriate representations were made to the Foreign Office in this connection, and I now have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a Note, No. 80443/M.E/44 of June 3rd, which has been received from the Foreign Office, …

[Here follows a summary of the enclosure.]

I have [etc.]

J. Butler Wright
[Page 254]
[Enclosure]

The British Acting Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Curzon) to the American Chargé (Wright)

No. 80443/M.E/44

Sir: With further reference to the Note which the United States Ambassador was so good as to address to me on April 10th (No. 253) I have the honour to state that the enquiry to which His Excellency’s note refers was conducted in order to ascertain in view of the very numerous claims which were being put forward, what concessions had in fact been granted by the Ottoman Government in Palestine. The offices of the Standard Oil Company in Jerusalem were only entered after proper application had been made to the Spanish Consul, who was at the time representing American interests. The Spanish Consul stated that in his books Ismael L. [El] Husseini and Suleiman Bey Nassif were not registered as holders of American rights. These gentlemen raised no objection to the investigation at the time and, in fact, offered to assist in every way. The information obtained has been treated as strictly confidential.

I trust that the above explanation will satisfy you that the action of the British Military authorities was in no way arbitrary nor designed to prejudice the Company’s claims.

I have [etc.]

For Earl Curzon of Kedleston,
W. Tyrrell