467.11St25/33
The Chargé in Great Britain (
Wright
) to the Acting Secretary of
State
London
,
June 5,
1919
.
[Received June
28.]
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.]
[Page 254]
[Enclosure]
The British Acting Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs (
Curzon
) to the American Chargé (
Wright
)
London
,
June 3,
1919
.
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
