839.00/2423
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Navy (Denby)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of July 15, 1921,20 enclosing a letter from the Military Governor of Santo Domingo in which he indicates the discrepancies existing [Page 842] between the Proclamation of Evacuation issued by him, and the draft of such Proclamation received through the mails after his promulgation of the draft received by coded despatch.
Among these discrepancies I only note one of any material consequence, namely, in the last sentence of the third paragraph wherein, after the word “withdrawal” should be the words “of the Military forces”. The Proclamation as issued by the Military Governor, owing to this omission, lends itself to a somewhat broader interpretation of the withdrawal than was intended. However, the later phrases of the Proclamation, especially those containing the terms of the Convention of Evacuation, are sufficiently emphatic in respect to the continuation by the United States of all its rights and obligations under the Convention of 1907, and the proposed Convention of Evacuation, to prevent any confusion arising from the omission of the above words from the body of the Proclamation as issued by the Military Government. Therefore, while it does not appear necessary for the Military Governor to publish any official correction of the Proclamation as issued by him, I have the honor to suggest that the Military Governor be instructed to consider the draft of the proclamation as forwarded to him by you in mail despatch the official Proclamation of June 14th.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩