881.00/11–2045

The Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Tangier ( Alling ) to the Secretary of State

No. 147

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegram No. 268 of October 26 [24], 1945 concerning the position of the United States in relation to the International Administration of Tangier and to enclose a copy of my note dated November 6, 1945, on that subject, addressed to the President of the Committee of Control. I also enclose a copy of the reply4 addressed to me by the President of the Committee.

The Department will observe that my note of November 6 repeats the reservations contained in the Department’s Note of September 22, 1945 addressed to the French Embassy at Washington accepting the invitation of the French Government to participate in the Tangier Administration. So far as I have been able to learn the French Government has not followed the suggestion contained in the final paragraph of the above-mentioned note and informed the governments concerned regarding the position of the United States in this matter. However, the President of the Committee of Control has now transmitted a copy of my note of November 6, 1945, to other members of the Committee, as will be observed from his note of November 17, 1945.

Respectfully yours,

Paul H. Alling
[Page 672]
[Enclosure]

The Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Tangier ( Alling ) to the President of the Committee of Control ( De Beauverger )

Mr. Minister and Dear Colleague: In reference to the acceptance by my Government of the invitation of the French and British Governments to participate in the administration of Tangier on the basis of the provisional regime provided for in the final act of the Conference of Experts held at Paris during August 1945, I have the honor to transcribe hereunder the reservations under which such participation is conditioned.

“In accepting this invitation, the United States Government wishes to point out that such collaboration on its part in the provisional regime so established does not imply adherence by the United States to the Paris Convention of December 18, 1923, or to the final protocol of July 25, 1928, which had as their object the creation of an international statute for the Tangier Zone in Morocco. The collaboration of representatives of the United States at Tangier in the provisional administration of the Zone shall not be deemed to modify or abridge in any manner: (1) the position of the United States, (2) the status of its representatives, (3) the establishment, authority and powers of its extraterritorial jurisdiction, and (4) any rights accruing to the United States and to its nationals and ressortissants from treaty, custom, and usage as they existed throughout the territories of the Shereefian Empire prior to the introduction into the Tangier Zone of the administration resulting from the above-mentioned convention of 1923 and the protocol of 1928.”

I shall be obliged if you will be good enough to bring the present communication to the attention of the Committee of Control at its next session and cause it to be recorded in the minutes of the proceedings.5

Please accept [etc.]

Paul H. Alling
  1. November 17, 1945, not printed; it was an acknowledgment of receipt of the Diplomatic Agent’s note of November 6.
  2. This letter was acknowledged on November 17, 1945.