838.51/757a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Haiti (Bailly-Blanchard)
The Department has received the following note from the Haitian Legation in Washington,7 “The undersigned Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of Haiti is under positive orders to deliver the following note to His Excellency the Secretary of State: ‘At the very moment when your Excellency addresses the Government of Haiti as that of a free and independent nation at the very moment when, thanks to the might of the United States the holy principles of right, justice, respect of small peoples triumph in the world, the Haitian people are the prey of the vexatious and unfair tyranny of American officials who, contrary to the Treaty, would impose revenue laws and taxes on the Republic without joint consideration with us, without conceding to the Haitian Government the right to rectify even the obvious, material and other mistakes made in their plans.
‘The Haitian people are firmly resolved to carry out, with the American Government’s help, all the reforms that progress demands, but through that most cordial cooperation stipulated in the Treaty, that cooperation which proceeds on joint examinations and not on imperative commands notified without regard to national dignity and prompted perhaps by sentiments of a private nature, in which the higher interests of the two countries are given no consideration. So the Haitian Government adheres to the conviction that the Department of State which is not fully informed of the true situation of Haiti will see fit to take steps toward meeting the legitimate desires of the Haitian Nation which places the utmost reliance on the noble impartiality of the Honorable Head of the Department of State and the illustrious Chief of the Government of the United States.’
In making this communication to His Excellency, the Secretary of State, the undersigned has the honor to renew to him the assurance of his highest consideration.”
You are instructed to convoke immediately a conference of the Treaty officials and Colonel Russell, to lay before this conference the note quoted above and report to the Department by cable the opinion of the conference, also any opinion you may have personally in this connection which you may feel the Department should know.
- The note was dated Nov. 20 and delivered Nov. 27 (File No. 838.51/766).↩