862t.01/214
The French Ambassador (Jusserand) to the Acting Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary of State: Your Excellency has no doubt received, as we have, intelligence of the answer of the German Government to our remarks concerning the improper attitude of the German ministers who recently visited the Rhenish country.
[Page 341]In compliance with instructions received I have the honor to inform you that the Government of the Republic does not deem it expedient to answer that note unsatisfactory though it be in its wording, but thinks that it will be proper for the Allied Governments to furnish their representatives on the High Commission with precise instructions in case these ministers see fit to renew their manifestations in occupied territory, so that the German authorities may entertain no doubt as to the will of the Allied and Associated Powers that such untoward incidents shall not recur.
The most efficacious method in our opinion would consist in sending to the members of the High Commission identical instructions, which my Government ventures to suggest, might run as follows:
“The Allied Governments strictly adhere to the viewpoint they made known to the German Government in their note of December 6, relative to the movements of German ministers in the occupied regions.50
“If in spite of the remonstrance made to them, the German ministers should again indulge in like manifestations in the occupied regions they would make themselves liable to the measures which it would be incumbent on the occupation authorities to take for the guarantee of the order and safety of the Allied troops.
“You may make these instructions known to the German Commissioner.”
I hope that Your Excellency will find it possible to comply with the wish I have just had the honor to impart to you and to send instructions in that sense to the American representative on the High Commission.
I should be very thankful to Your Excellency for an assurance to that effect.
Be pleased [etc.]