881.6463/26

The Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Tangier (Blake) to the Secretary of State

No. 599

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Instruction No. 626 of March 12th, 1931, (File No. 881.6463/24), and Enclosures29 with reference to previous correspondence concerning the electric light concession in Tangier.

In this connection I transmit to the Department herewith copy in the French text, and English translation of a letter recently addressed by the Committee of Control to the Administrator of the Zone of Tangier,30 which has been confidentially communicated to me.

I understand that the Protectorate Government at Rabat is being approached by the Committee of Control in an attempt to induce the French Resident-General, as the Sultan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, to address to me a request that the American Government assent to an exceptional derogation of the principle of public adjudication, in respect of the concession in question.

If this eventuality should materialize, I presume that the Instruction hereby acknowledged is to be taken as sufficient authority for me to act in the direction indicated in the Department’s Instruction No. 708 of March 12th, 1931, addressed to the American Ambassador in London.

Respectfully yours,

Maxwell Blake
  1. Instruction No. 626 not printed; for the enclosures, see despatch No. 1635, February 5, from the Ambassador in Great Britain, p. 755, and instruction No. 708, March 12, to the Ambassador, p. 756.
  2. Not printed.