862S.01/19: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Belgium (Fletcher)
83. Reference my telegram No. 15, February 2, 7 p.m.
The Belgian Ambassador on July 7, 1923 addressed a Note to the Department5 inquiring whether the change in the boundary of Belgian B Mandate of Ruanda-Urundi agreed upon by the Belgian and British Governments to prevent the dismemberment of the Musinga Kingdom was acceptable to this Government. The Department replied by Note5 stating that this Government did not perceive any objection to the modification in question, and that at the proper time this Government would be prepared to proceed to the signature of the necessary protocol supplementing the Treaty of April 18, 1923.5a
[Page 433]In order to assent to the modifications involved, the Department is now ready to execute a supplementary protocol amendatory of Article I of the Mandate recited in the preamble of the treaty in question. The Department desires, therefore, that you address a Note to the Belgian Government in the following sense:
“In accordance with instructions from my Government, I have the honor to advise Your Excellency that, in order to assent to the modification in the boundary of the Mandate for East Africa in the District of Ruanda Urundi administered by His Majesty the King of the Belgians, the Government of the United States is now prepared to execute a protocol amendatory of the treaty concluded April 18, 1923.
Accordingly, I have the honor to transmit herewith to Your Excellency a draft of the proposed amendatory protocol and to express the hope of my Government that His Majesty’s Government will be disposed to proceed to an early conclusion of the amendment.”
Please prepare the text of the protocol as follows:
[Here follows the text of the protocol which, after minor modifications suggested by the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs and approved by the Department in a telegram to the Ambassador in Belgium, December 31, 1923 (not printed), was appended to the convention on promulgation.]
Since the Congress is now in session, and since it is desired that there should be ratification at an early date, it is hoped that you will be able to effect a prompt conclusion of the amendment. Full powers are being prepared and will be telegraphed to you upon Department’s learning of readiness of Belgian Government to sign proposed amendment.