638.5131/181: Telegram
The Chargé in Haiti (Finley) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:20 p.m.]
89. President Vincent informs me that the French Minister acting apparently without instructions has suggested that the impasse in negotiations for a Franco-Haitian commercial treaty could probably be overcome by a renewal of the Haitian offer to pay the French $500,000 on account of the 1910 question. He states that he told the Minister that the two questions had been divorced. I said that while Monsieur Delbos had apparently been unable to discuss the Haitian question lately with our Embassy at Paris my unofficial information was that we were not at all convinced that an impasse had been reached [Page 593] and I begged him not to reconsider any payment or reunion of the two questions.
The President then said that the French Minister had come to offer him the Grand Cross of the Legion. He said he told the Minister that its presentation ought to be delayed until a satisfactory solution could be found to the commercial question.