. . . . . . .
The Brigade Commander presented at the meeting a copy of a document
which he had obtained, and stated that it was the instructions
issued by the Haitian Government to their Delegate to the Peace
Conference, their Minister in Paris. This document was read at the
Conference and, at the suggestion of the Brigade Commander, a copy
is herewith attached to this report.
The Conference adjourned at 5:50 p.m.
[Enclosure—Translation]11
The Haitian Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Benoit) to the
Haitian Minister in France and Delegate to the Peace
Conference (Guilbaud)
[Port au Prince,]
January 22,
1919.
Mr. Minister: In answer to your
telegraphic despatch received the 18th of this month, announcing
the opening of the Peace Conference and the right for our
Government to be represented by a Delegate, the President of the
Republic replied as follows:
“Inform the Minister of Foreign Affairs that you are the
Delegate of the Government of Haiti to the Peace
Conference. While awaiting your letters of credence and
precise and detailed instructions,
[Page 314]
adopt an attitude in
keeping with the principles of equality of nations and
protection of the small states.”
You are therefore, Mr. Minister, our Plenipotentiary to the Peace
Conference and we herewith transmit to you our instructions
concerning the claims that we desire to have accepted at the
Solemn Assizes of the Nations and touching the line of conduct
in keeping with the policy of our Government that you are to
follow.
. . . . . . .
Apart from the above three claims to be presented to the Peace
Conference, we are entrusting you with a special mission to
President Wilson and to Secretary of State Lansing. You will see
them personally and request in the name of the Haitian
Government:
- (a)
- Abolition in Haiti of the regime of martial law and of
the provost courts instituted since the arrival of the
American Occupation in Haiti and no longer
justifiable.
- (b)
- Recognition of the right of the Haitian Government, in
conformity with article 2 of the Convention of September
16, 1915, to appoint and discharge the Haitian employees
of all the customs houses of the Republic.
The latter question which was brought before the Government at
Washington, at the time when the Convention was going into
effect,12 has
never received any solution, in spite of its great importance to
us.
The Haitian Government has always maintained that the General
Receiver and the aides and employees who are to be appointed by
the President of Haiti upon the nomination of the President of
the United States, form a service for the collection of all
customs duties, a bureau distinct from the customs service,
properly so-called, which consists in checking, verifying and
taxing the goods, in conformity with the tariff; that,
consequently, the Haitian employees of this customs service are
to be dependent upon the exclusive appointment of the President
of Haiti; but the latter, nevertheless, responding to the
promises of effective help from the President of the United
States, will make no appointments to the customs houses except
in accord with the Receiver General who, on his side, shall have
the right to delegate to the customs houses such of the aides
and employees of his office as it shall please him to choose to
control the custom house operations. See Report of Louis Borno,13 letter to the
American Legation, September 16, 1916 [1915],14 at end
page 214.
Tired of discussing, and wishing to hasten the putting into
effect of the Convention, the Haitian Government deemed it
necessary—
[Page 315]
while
formally reserving the matter—not to insist nevertheless upon
their right of appointment and dismissal in the personnel of the
customs houses. And in a despatch to our Minister at Washington,
the Department of Foreign Relations wrote on October 28, 1916:
“And, only in the case of your insistence being vain, I
cannot but authorize you to accept the interpretation of
the Department of State for the sole object of avoiding
any delay in putting the Convention into effect, but you
should not fail to do so under all reservations and
stating that the question which has thus arisen will be
submitted to arbitration in conformity with article 1 of
the Haitian-American Convention of Arbitration of March
22, 1909.15
When making these reservations, it would at the same time
serve a useful purpose to make the remark to the
Department of State that the Government cannot abandon
this interpretation which is also that of the
Legislative Body—Report of Louis
Borno, page 215.”
As you will observe, we have preferred, apart from the claims
that you are to present against Germany, to entrust you with a
special mission to President Wilson and Secretary of State
Lansing touching our claims relative to the application of the
Convention of 1915 in Haiti. We have preferred to adopt this
course because it seemed to us more likely to produce practical
results.
As a matter of fact, it will be easier for you to arrive at a
solution of these difficulties by addressing yourself personally
to President Wilson and to his Secretary of State who, we
believe, have not always been faithfully informed by their
agents in Haiti on what was passing here. In a heart-to-heart
conversation, there will be, undoubtedly, more likelihood that
by a sincere, faithful presentation of the facts in all their
details, you shall obtain justice for us at the hands of
President Wilson upon the two questions of the abolition of
martial law and of the provost courts, and of the recognition in
favor of the Haitian Government of the right of appointment and
of dismissal in the personnel of the customs houses of the
Republic, in accordance with the Convention of September 16,
1915.
Finally, there is another reason for adopting this course which
is not the least important in our eyes and which you will not
fail to grasp. We believe that the American Government will be
more disposed to admit our claims if we seek for their solution
in a personal conference with them, rather than by taking the
claims directly to the Conference. Doubtless they could think
they would win the case against us in a public discussion, but,
just at the moment when their chief, President Wilson, is giving
the assurance that one of the principal reasons for his personal
presence at the table of the Conference is to bring about the
triumph of the principle of respect for the
[Page 316]
rights of the small nations by the
strong, the representatives of the American Government,
President Wilson himself, Mr. Lansing who knows how often we
have laid our claims before him without obtaining justice,
should surely deem it best, at this hour, that the voice of a
feeble nation like Haiti should not be raised in the presence of
all the nations assembled to complain, with just reason, of the
injustice of the powerful Republic of the United States.
. . . . . . .
To sum up, put yourself in communication with President Wilson
and Secretary of State Lansing, and shape your course
accordingly. Take advantage of every opportunity to inform them
of our internal situation. Insist upon the financial question,
the unification of our debt at a reasonable rate of interest; an
improved budget of expenses, soon, the one which has been
imposed upon us being a famine budget, rendering impossible all
amelioration in the moral and economic situation of the country,
since the best part of the receipts have been absorbed by the
police, the public works and health departments, the latter
expenses being made independently and beyond the control of the
Government.
Keep a close watch over events so as to reap, if need be, all the
advantages possible to our country. It is not possible to
prescribe, in advance, what your attitude shall be under all
circumstances.
For that matter, the Government relies, Mr. Delegate, upon your
tact, your clear-sightedness and your skill.
I take [etc.]
