859b.01/7

The Secretary of State to the Danish Minister ( Brun )

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note No. 230, dated July 9, 1921,3 in which you inform me that under date of May 10, 1921, the Danish Ministry of the Interior, in pursuance of the Royal Ordinance of March 18, 1776, issued an order to the effect that Danish Trade Missions and Sealing (Whaling) Stations have been established on the east and west coasts of Greenland, so that the entire country has now been laid under the Danish administration of Greenland.

In its treaty with the Danish Government signed August 4, 1916, for the cession of the Danish West Indies, this Government stated to [Page 3] the Danish Government that it would “not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland”. In this connection, however, I desire to state that owing to the importance of its geographical position, this Government would not be disposed to recognize the existence in a third government of the right of preemption to acquire the interests of the Danish Government in this territory should the latter desire to transfer them.

Accept [etc.]

Charles E. Hughes
  1. Not printed.