890D.00/858: Telegram
The Consul General at Beirut (Engert) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 8—3:46 p.m.]
405. I have today handed General Catroux a note containing the substance of the Department’s 182, October 6, 5 p.m.
He said he entirely understood the Department’s points of view and would reply in writing. He particularly appreciated the friendly [Page 792] tone of the Departments observations and would do what he could to see that the treaty rights of the United States and other powers were protected.
I then asked him if he would be so good as to bring the note to the attention of the Syrian and Lebanese authorities and he said that he would be glad to do so.
I am also giving a copy of my note to the British authorities.
In my conversation with Catroux I took the occasion to refer to the Mixed Courts—see my 392, October 2—and informed him that I naturally was obliged to reserve all rights on behalf of American citizens whose interests might be affected by the new legislation. He replied it was a purely temporary measure and gave me his personal promise that if an American case should come up he would see that a majority of judges was French even if he had to send to Egypt to obtain them.