681.003/132: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain ( Bowers )
5. Your 8, January 17, 3 p.m. With respect to points (1) and (2) of Blake’s formula including Kettani claim it has been necessary for Department to cable Blake for more specific information.9
With respect to your second inquiry, since it has been the established policy of this Government to consider as wholly separate the question of recognizing Protectorates in Morocco and the withdrawal of our extraterritorial privileges, the Department is of the opinion that American negotiators should refrain from making any statement to the Spanish which would in any way commit this Government legally or morally to a favorable consideration of the question of the surrender of capitulations.
Likewise, since the purpose of the present negotiations is to establish normal relations with the Spanish in the Spanish Zone through formal recognition in exchange for a satisfactory settlement of outstanding American claims, we should be exceedingly reluctant to attach any reservations, oral or otherwise, to the agreement regarding recognition and settlement of claims, such as conceding that other points, the nature of which are unknown to this Government, raised by the Spanish subsequent to the consummation of the agreement in question, will have to be considered.
- See telegram No. 1, January 19, 2 p.m., to the Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Tangier, infra. ↩