Office of the Historian

500.C114/445cc

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Houghton)

Washington, November 12, 1926.
No. 742

Sir: Abyssinia having recently adhered to the Protocol of Signature of the Statute for the Permanent Court of International Justice, it appears to be necessary for this Government, in compliance with the Senate Resolution of January 27, 1926, to ascertain whether the Abyssinian Government will accept the conditions, reservations and understandings set forth in the above-mentioned Senate Resolution in regard to the adherence of the United States to the said Protocol of Signature.

There is accordingly transmitted herewith a Memorandum, with its enclosure, in this connection, which you are requested to ask the British Foreign Office to cause the British Diplomatic Representative in Abyssinia to present to the Abyssinian Government, on behalf of the United States. The British Diplomatic Representative in Abyssinia should request that the reply of the Abyssinian Government in this matter be in writing.

I am [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
[Enclosure—Memorandum]

The Government of the United States of America has noted that on July 12, 1926, His Excellency the Minister Plenipotentiary, Diplomatic Representative of the Ethiopian Empire to the League of Nations, signed the Protocol of Signature of the Statute for the Permanent Court of International Justice. The Senate of the United States of America, on January 27, 1926, gave its advice and consent to the adherence on the part of the United States to the said Protocol of Signature of the Statute for the Permanent Court of International Justice, dated December 16, 1920, and the adjoined Statute for the Permanent Court of International Justice, without accepting or agreeing to the Optional Clause for Compulsory Jurisdiction, contained in the said Statute, on the condition of the acceptance by the Powers signatory to the Protocol of the conditions, reservations and understandings contained in the Senate Resolution, a certified true copy of which is attached.

The Government of the United States of America therefore desires to ascertain whether the Imperial Ethiopian Government will accept the conditions, reservations and understandings contained in the Resolution as a part and a condition of the adherence of the United States to the said Protocol and Statute.

Washington, November 12, 1926.