438.00/352
The Secretary of State to the Haitian Minister (Price)
The undersigned Secretary of State of the United States of America has the honor to acknowledge the note of February 5, 1926, of the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Haiti, stating that he has been instructed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Haiti to say on behalf of the Haitian Government that it has entered into an agreement with the Government of France respecting the claims of French nationals and protegés against Haiti, which contains the following provisions:
- (1)
- That the individuals whose names appear on an attached list shall be recognized as enjoying French protection and that certificates of the French Legation at Port-au-Prince shall be recognized as entitling individuals whose names were omitted from this list to such protection; and that during the period while the claims of French nationals and protegés are being examined the third member of the commission will be designated on the nomination of the French Government and appointed, like the others, by the President of Haiti (Article I); and
- (2)
- That the procedure to be followed by the Claims Commission, constituted under the provisions of the protocol of 1919 between the United States and Haiti, in the examination of French claims shall be that fixed by Article 4 of the protocol and the existing regulations of the Commission, insofar as such regulations do not conflict with the provisions of the French-Haitian agreement referred to (Article V); and
- (3)
- That with respect to the awards made by the arbitral tribunal contemplated in the agreement to pass upon claims on appeal from the decision of the Claims Commission, constituted under the provisions of the protocol of 1919 between the United States and Haiti, the Government of Haiti will satisfy such awards in accordance with the provisions of the protocol relative to awards by the Claims Commission in question (Article VIII); and
- (4)
- That the certificates of payment of the two French claimants mentioned under (a) and (b) of Article IX of the French-Haitian agreement will be immediately satisfied by the Haitian Government, under the provisions of the protocol of 1919 and through the decision of the Claims Commission, which will fix the amount of interest due on each award computed to its date from the date of the award given in favor of the claimants by the French-Haitian tribunal under the arbitral agreement of 1913, and indicate the proportion of bonds and of money due each claimant (Article XI); and
- (5)
- That awards made by the Claims Commission in favor of French nationals or protegés may be issued in the name of the Legation of France for the account of the claimants and the certificates representing such awards sent to the French Legation (Article XV).
The note further states that it has been called to the attention of the Government of Haiti that the provisions before referred to as contained in the French-Haitian agreement are considered by the Government of the United States as not entirely in accord with the provisions of the protocol mentioned and that the Government of Haiti desires to request the consent of the Government of the United States not to raise a question of any such lack of accordance as may exist, and in this connection states, with particular reference to the before mentioned provisions of Articles V, VIII and XI of the agreement, that the intent of the agreement, so far as it may appear preferential as to French claimants, is merely to give to such claimants certain rights and privileges to which they are entitled under the provisions of the French-Haitian arbitral agreement of 1913.
Recognizing that the primary purpose of the protocol in question is to bring about the settlement of all pecuniary claims of whatsoever nationality pending May 3, 1916 against Haiti; and recognizing, also, that to effect the above-mentioned primary purpose of the protocol it was apparently necessary for the Haitian Government to make special provision respecting the claims of French citizens since an existing agreement between France and Haiti made in 1913 but never fully carried out provides for an arbitral tribunal to pass upon claims, and relying upon the statement of the Haitian Government that the intent of the French-Haitian agreement of 1925, so far as it may appear preferential as to French claimants, is merely to give such claimants certain rights and privileges to which they are entitled under the provisions of the French-Haitian arbitral agreement of 1913, and understanding, further, that the third member of the Commission designated by the French Government will be so designated to the Financial Adviser of Haiti, whose province it shall be to nominate such member, in accordance with the provisions of the protocol of October 3, 1919, and that all claims of French nationals or protegés have been or will be presented to the Claims Commission not by the individual claimants, but by the French Legation, the United States agrees not to [Page 428] raise a question as to any lack of accordance between the above-mentioned provisions of Articles I, V, VIII, XI and XV of the French-Haitian agreement referred to and the protocol of 1919 between the United States and Haiti.
The undersigned, the Secretary of State of the United States, avails himself [etc.]