438.41R54/8

The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Geddes)

Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 3rd instant, with reference to the delay in the constitution of the Haitian Claims Commission, caused by the failure, up to the present time, of the Haitian Government to appoint the member to be nominated by the Haitian Secretary of State for Finance.

In reply to your observation that it would be very agreeable to His Majesty’s Government if the United States Government could [Page 232] see their way to urge the Haitian Government to hasten a settlement of this matter, it affords me pleasure to say that the flotation of a loan by private bankers is now under negotiation between this Government and the Haitian Government,60 and that a successful outcome of these negotiations, which is confidently hoped for, will presumably result in the immediate formation of the Claims Commission.

Accept [etc.]

For the Sec[retar]y of State:
Henry P. Fletcher
  1. See pp. 214 ff.