711.5612a/42

The Department of State to the Netherlands Legation

The Department of State has been gratified to receive the note from the Netherland Legation, dated December 10, 1929, wherein the Department is informed (1) that the Government of The Netherlands will regard the statements made in the Department of State’s note of November 23, 1929, as sufficient assurance that the words “which have not been adjusted as a result of reference to the Permanent International Commission constituted pursuant to the treaty signed at Washington, December 18, 1913,” appearing in Article I of the proposed arbitration treaty, do not have the intention of altering the meaning of the language in Article I of the treaty for the advancement of peace of 1913 between the United States and The Netherlands [Page 633] defining the matters to be submitted to the Permanent International Commission as being disputes “to the settlement of which previous arbitration treaties or agreements do not apply in their terms or are not applied in fact”, and (2) that the Government of The Netherlands does not insist upon the exchange of notes at the time of the signing of the treaty, proposed in the Legation’s note No. 3160 of August 29, 1929.

The Department of State has been happy to take note of the statements, as well as of the further statement made by the Legation that a full power authorizing the signature of the treaty on the part of The Netherlands will be forwarded as soon as possible. The Department of State will be happy to receive, at the convenience of the Legation, the Dutch equivalent of the English text of the draft in order that the treaty may be put in shape for signature.