Office of the Historian

838.51/1028: Telegram

The Minister in Haiti (Bailly-Blanchard) to the Secretary of State

Port au Prince, November 23, 1920—noon.
[Received November 24—10:55 p.m.]

95. My 92, November 19 noon.1 Minister for Foreign Affairs handed me yesterday evening reply of Haitian Government to my memorandum in compliance with Department’s 104, November 16, 6 p.m., annexed to which is an explanatory statement from the Department of Finance. Substance of reply as follows:

Haitian Government—

1.
Reiterates its acceptance of $11,000,000 loan at 95 and 7½ percent interest maturing in five years with privilege of redeeming same two years after date of issue with a slight premium.
2.
Insists on its original counter-proposition of a bond issue of $13,750,000 in lieu of $15,000,000 for very lengthy reasons and figures in support of their contention. Copy of reply and statement by mail.2
3.
Accepts $5,000,000 six percent bonds redeemable in 30 years which would be used solely for the retirement of the interior debts consolidated and floating. These last $5,000,000 six percent bonds to be of a separate series of which the interest and amortization will be paid in Haiti and this part of the loan will be considered as being essentially an internal debt.
4.
Agrees that after the reimbursement of the external debt and the settlement of the internal debt the balance of the funds from the loan will be applied in conformity with paragraph 4 of article 7 of the protocol of October 3, 1919,3 relative to a loan of $40,000,000.
5.
Considers that the condition forseen in the protocol of October 3, 1919, being modified, it is not [?] necessary that a new protocol be negotiated to reinvesting [replace?] that of October 3, 1919.
6.
Finally invites the special attention of the Department of State to the just and urgent necessity for passing instructions to the General Receiver of Customs and Financial Adviser ad interim in order that the arrears interest of the internal debt be paid in full or in part, [and states?] that it will be with very great and very legitimate satisfaction that the Haitian Government and people will view the immediate resumption of the service of the internal debt.

Blanchard
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. Last sentence of art. 7 as printed in Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. ii, p. 350.↩