711.684/20
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Greece (MacVeagh)
Sir: Reference is made to your despatch No. 1208 of June 12, 1936,39 stating that the Legation is prepared to propose to the Greek Government [Page 331] the negotiation of a treaty embodying the following article as its fundamental provision, after receiving the approval of the Department:
“A person possessing the nationality of both the High Contracting Parties who habitually resides in the territory of one of them and who is in fact most closely connected with that Party shall not be held liable for military service or other acts of allegiance during a temporary stay in the territory of the other Party.
“Provided, that, if such stay is protracted beyond a period of two years, it shall be presumed to be permanent, in the absence of sufficient evidence showing that return to the territory of the other Party will take place within a short time.”
You state that you are submitting the proposed draft to the Department for approval, as the above text differs from that authorized by the Department’s instructions No. 295 of May 15, 1936 and No. 256 of January 14, 1936, by the inclusion of the phrase “during a temporary stay” in the last sentence of the first paragraph. You further state that these words appear to have been inadvertently omitted from the article as quoted on page three of the Department’s instruction of January 14, 1936.
The draft of the article as quoted in your despatch is approved. It may be observed that the draft of the article, as quoted on page three of the Department’s instruction of January 14, 1936, was based essentially on Article I of the treaty of January 31, 1933, with Sweden (treaty series No. 890), and that this treaty does not include the phrase “during a temporary stay” as the fact of the stay being temporary is implicit in the context of the article considered as a whole. The phrase “during a temporary stay” is used in Article I of the treaty of November 1, 1930, with Norway (treaty series No. 832), and as it is more explicit, the Department approves its inclusion in the draft of the article to be proposed to the Greek Government.
Very truly yours,
[In despatch No. 1787, July 23, 1937, the Minister in Greece explained that he did not proceed further with these proposals because of the political changes within Greece and the establishment of the Metaxas dictatorship. Because of the attitude of the new Government, he felt that the treaty proposals would find very little chance of acceptance. (711.684/30)]
- Not printed.↩