862q.01/17

The Ambassador in France (Herrick) to the Secretary of State

No. 2660

Sir: With reference to the Department’s telegraphic instruction No. 283 [222] of July 12 [13], 7 [6] P.M., relative to the French Mandates for Togoland and the Cameroons, I have the honor to transmit herewith enclosed a copy and translation of a Note dated December 5, 1922,38 from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on this [Page 153] subject. It will be noted that the Foreign Office states that the proposals of the Government of the United States in regard to the text of Article 7 of these mandates have had the consideration of the French Government, but that the latter does not deem it possible to modify the spirit of the mandates. It is alleged that the text of Article 7 of the Mandates for Togoland and the Cameroons, as approved on July 20, 1922, by the Council of the League of Nations, is a reproduction of the text which appears in the American-Japanese Treaty concerning the Pacific Islands. The Foreign Office claims that, should American missionaries be granted the right to teach in English in their churches and schools in Togoland and the Cameroons, the same privilege would be claimed by missionaries belonging to other nationalities and speaking other languages; that only a common language, which should be that of the Mandatory, can promote a close collaboration of the inhabitants with the authorities. It is held that children receiving education in any other language would be placed in an inferior position toward those who have received instruction in French schools and the Foreign Office gives its reasons for this point of view. The Note concludes with the request that the considerations set forth therein be submitted to the Government of the United States and expresses the hope that it will admit the reasons for which the French Government asks that the text of the Franco-American Treaty, relative to the territories of Mandate B, should diverge as little as possible from the text of the Mandates as they were approved by the Council of the League of Nations.

I have [etc.]

Myron T. Herrick
  1. Not printed.