783.003/299
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Egypt (Morris)
Sir: The Department has received the Legation’s despatch No. 1072 of September 10, 1937, submitting for the Department’s consideration a list of the American institutions which may be entitled to the free exercise of their activities in Egypt. This list is conformable with the terms of the letter of May 8, 1937, addressed to the American Delegate to the Capitulations Conference by the President of the Egyptian Delegation.
The Department has noted your observations in respect of the Evangelical Synod of the Nile and particularly the statement that the Synod is an entirely Egyptian organization and legally independent of the American Mission in Egypt. In view of these considerations it is not apparent that the schools of the Evangelical Synod of the Nile may properly be considered as within the purview of the assurances of the President of the Egyptian Delegation at Montreux relating to “the educational, medical and charitable institutions (associations and foundations) of the United States of America in Egypt.” For this reason, as well as for others, the Department is not disposed to raise with the Egyptian Government the question of the inclusion of such schools in the list under consideration.
It is believed that it would be, on the whole, desirable to defer the drawing up of a definitive list of American institutions for the purposes of the letter of May 8, 1937, of the President of the Egyptian Delegation, until other Powers, including in particular France and Great Britain, have reached agreement with the Egyptian Government concerning the lists of their respective institutions. Accordingly, the Department desires that you take no action in respect of the drawing up of a final list of American institutions in agreement with the Egyptian Government until the lists of those Governments have been completed. In the event you may be approached on the subject by the Foreign Office you may state that a tentative list may be furnished the Egyptian Government under reservation of the right of this Government to revise it pending the framing of a final and definitive list. Should the Egyptian Government express a desire for the submittal of such a tentative list you are authorized to present the list enclosed in your despatch under acknowledgment with the omission of any reference to the schools maintained by the Evangelical Synod of the Nile and with an explicit indication of the list as a wholly tentative one.
You will, of course, keep the Department currently informed of the progress made by the other interested Powers in the compilation [Page 665] of the lists of their institutions in Egypt so far as such information may come to your knowledge, including, in particular, the lists finally agreed upon with the Egyptian Government.
Very truly yours,