890g.01/220
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Dawes) to the Secretary of
State
London, August 15, 1929.
[Received August
24.]
No. 158Sir: With reference to my despatch No. 101,
July 26, 1929, concerning the draft convention between the United
States, the United Kingdom and Iraq, I have the honor to transmit
herewith a copy, in triplicate, of a letter from the Foreign Office
suggesting a small alteration in the text of Article 4 of the Protocol,
and asking whether the United States Government would be willing to
accept the same.
I have [etc.]
(For the Ambassador)
F. L.
Belin
First Secretary of
Embassy[Enclosure]
The Head of the Eastern Department, British
Foreign Office (Monteagle), to the
Counselor of the American Embassy (Atherton)
[London,] 14 August, 1929.
No. E 3988/171/93My Dear Atherton: Would you kindly refer to
my letter of July 25th on the subject of the Iraq Convention, as I
have one small alteration to suggest in the text of Article 4 of the
Protocol which was enclosed as Annex A?16 Jafar Pasha has
pointed out that the present wording of the article from the word
“under” onwards is not altogether clear. This is mainly because we
inadvertently allowed a comma to creep in after the word
“application”, but even if this is deleted, the text is perhaps not
as clear as it might be. What I would suggest is that the wording
should now run:
“under normal expropriation laws of general
application, and subject to the previous provision for just
and reasonable compensation”.
This, I think, removes any possible doubt as regards the meaning of
the assurance which your Government had in mind, and I shall be glad
to hear whether you can accept it.
Yours sincerely,
