438.00/377
The Haitian Minister (Price) to the Secretary of State
The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Haiti, has the honor to inform His Excellency the Secretary of State of the United States that he has received instructions [Page 425] from His Excellency the Secretary of State for Foreign Relations of Haiti to declare in the name of the Haitian Government that on June 12, 1925, an Agreement was concluded between the French and Haitian Governments relative to the pending French claims against Haiti, in which Agreement are found in particular the following stipulations:
- (1)
- That persons whose names appear on an annexed list are recognized as enjoying French protection, and that those whose names may have been omitted by mistake may be given by the French Legation, at any stage of the proceedings, a certificate by which the recognition is made of such protection for them; and that during the time while the claims are under examination the Third Member of the Commission shall be appointed on the nomination of the French Government and commissioned as the others are by the President of Haiti; (Article 1).
- (2)
- That the procedure to be observed by the Claims Commission, organized in accordance with the stipulations of the Protocol of 1919 between the United States and Haiti for the examination of the claims of French national protégés stands as fixed by article 4 of that Protocol and the existing regulations of the Commission insofar as the said regulations are consistent with the Franco-Haitian Agreement of 1925; (Art. 5).
- (3)
- That in the case of judgments handed down by the Arbitrations Tribunal provided in the Agreement to take cognizance of claims appeals from the decision of the Claims Commission, organized in accordance with the provisions of the Protocol of 1919 between the United States and Haiti, the Haitian Government undertakes to carry out those judgments in accordance with the stipulations of the Protocol; (Art. 8).
- (4)
- That the certificates of payment for the two French claimants mentioned under letters A and B of article 9 of the Franco-Haitian Agreement shall be immediately paid by the Haitian Government under the conditions and in the manner agreed in the Protocol of October 3, 1919, and by the decision of the Claims Commission which must connne itself to settling the amount of the interests due since the day of the original award up to its own decision, and to name the proportions of the securities in cash to be paid to each interested party; (Art. 11).
- (5)
- That the decisions handed down by the Claims Commission in favor of the French nationals and protégés shall be given in the name of the French Legation for the account of the claimants, and that the certificates stating the decisions shall be delivered to the Legation; (Art. 15).
The undersigned has been further instructed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Relations of Haiti to declare in the name of the Haitian Government that it has received notice that in the opinion of the Government of the United States the foregoing stipulations in Articles 1, 5, 8, 11, and 15 of the said Agreement made between the French and Haitian Governments are not fully in accord with the stipulations of the Protocol of 1919.
[Page 426]It asks that the Government of the United States will not raise any question as to the parity between the Protocol and Articles 1, 5, 8, 11, and 15 of the Franco-Haitian Agreement of 1925.
In this respect it wishes to note with special reference to these articles that the intent of the Agreement, although it appears to give preference to French claims, is simply to acknowledge the said claimants to hold certain rights and privileges sanctioned by the stipulations of the Franco-Haitian Agreement of 1913.
Done in Washington, February the Fifth, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-six.