383.0063/15

The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Egypt (Hare)

No. 478

Sir: The Department has received your despatch no. 2123 of June 3, 1940, with further reference to the draft law under consideration by the Egyptian Parliament on religious propaganda.

The Department has carefully considered the facts reported in this and in previous despatches, including particularly the views expressed by the Legal Counselor of the British Embassy in Cairo. While it is of course admitted that the activities of any person or group of persons which endanger the peace and good order of the community in which they reside cannot be permitted, the Department cannot recognize as valid the suggestion that the preservation of public order in Egypt may necessitate restrictions upon the lawful activities of American educational institutions in Egypt, which have been conducted for many years with definite and admitted benefit to that country. It is the Department’s view that any attempt to justify interference with the lawful activities of those organizations on the ground of the preservation of public order would rest on extremely tenuous legalistic grounds.

The fact is indisputable that activities which would be forbidden by the proposed law have been lawfully performed for many years by the American institutions concerned with the full knowledge and approval of the Egyptian Government and the primary purpose of the assurance obtained from the Egyptian Government in the Montreux [Page 503] Convention was to insure continued recognition of their right, at least during the transition period provided for in that Convention, to “continue freely to carry on their activities in Egypt.”

The purpose of the Egyptian Government’s assurance is confirmed by the express terms of the letter dated May 8, 1937, now forming part of the Montreux Convention, delivered to the American Delegate by the head of the Egyptian Delegation, particularly the paragraph which reads as follows:

“They (educational, medical and charitable institutions) shall retain their legal status and shall, as regards their organization and operation, be governed by their charters or other instruments under which they were created and also in the case of educational institutions, by their own curricula.”

The Department, therefore, is still of the opinion that if the proposed bill should be enacted and applied to American educational institutions in Egypt, its practical effect would be the repudiation by the Egyptian Government of its commitment respecting the institutions mentioned.

While the provisions of Article 2 of the Montreux Convention stipulating that legislation to which foreigners will be subject “will not be inconsistent with the principles generally adopted in modern legislation” might be invoked against the enactment of the proposed bill, the Department believes that the difficulty of interpreting the term “modern legislation” renders that provision of the convention less definitely applicable to the proposed legislation than the assurance of the Egyptian Government that educational, medical and charitable institutions would be permitted to continue freely to carry on their activities.

While it seems not improbable from your despatch under acknowledgment that the proposed bill may not be enacted, at least in the near future, you are authorized in your discretion informally to bring the Department’s views to the attention of the Foreign Office in the event the bill in substantially its present form seems likely to be enacted into law. The Department recognizes that the existing situation may render inexpedient any strong protest against the enactment of the pending legislation, particularly if it does in fact apply to all educational institutions irrespective of their racial or religious status and, accordingly, the manner and form of your representations in the circumstances indicated are left to your discretion.

You will, of course, continue to maintain close contact with your British colleague on the subject of the proposed legislation and it is expected that you will continue to keep the Department informed of all pertinent developments concerning it.

Very truly yours,

For the Acting Secretary of State:
R. Walton Moore