870.811/49
The Swiss Chargé (Jenny) to the
Secretary of State
Washington, August 10,
1920.
Department of
German Interests
XXXIV Pr.
Sir: By direction of my Government, I have the
honor, herewith, to transmit to your Excellency the transcript of a
cable from the Swiss Foreign Office concerning protest of the German
Government against the nomination by the United States of the American
citizen, Mr. Hines, as Arbitrator according to Article 339 of the Peace
Treaty of Versailles.
I am also instructed to add that the German Government has always desired
that normal relations with the United States be reestablished, but that
it can take another position in the present case only after such normal
relations have been re-established.
I shall be happy to transmit to the Swiss Foreign Office, for
communication to the German Government, any reply your Excellency may
desire to make in the premises.
Accept [etc.]
[Enclosure]
The Swiss Foreign
Office to the Swiss Legation at
Washington
The American citizen, Mr. Hines, has been nominated arbitrator
according to Article 339 of the Peace Treaty of Versailles. The
German Government, although it had declared to the Allied Powers
that it would deduce no difficulties from the non-ratification of
the Peace Treaty by the United States, is constrained to protest
that it should be subjected to the award of an arbitrator nominated
by a [Page 268] Government which is
in a state of war with Germany. The German Government observes that
it can not be expected to submit to what, in the light of the law of
nations, is an enormity (völkerrechtliche
Ungeheuerlichkeit). The German Government, however, would
welcome the nomination of Mr. Hines as mediator between the German
Government and the other interested parties in the question of
inland navigation dealt with in the Peace Treaty.
