Mr. Blaine to Mr. Anderson.
Washington, June 7, 1889.
Sir: Since writing my instruction No. 130 of the 6th instant it has been suggested to the Department by the Danish minister in this city that his Government may find difficulty in communicating with Sir Edmund Monson through its representative at Athens, who has no regular diplomatic, but only a consular capacity. If such difficulty should be found to exist you are authorized to sign with the Danish minister for foreign affairs a joint note to Sir Edmund, or to write a separate but identic note of invitation to be sent from Copenhagen. In either case some alteration of the phraseology of the drafts inclosed in my No. 130 would be required. This, however, is a matter of little importance so long as one point, which is made clear in the two drafts inclosed in that instruction, is understood. This point is, that the date of the receipt of notice, from which the seventy-five days allowed for the submission by each Government of its case to the arbitrator are to be counted, is the date of the receipt by the department for foreign affairs of such Government of the notice of the arbitrator’s acceptance. This is thought to be clearly stated in the treaty, but it is desirable that it should always be understood.
Should the invitation to Sir Edmund be sent by yourself and the Danish minister for foreign affairs you are instructed, upon the reception of his acceptance, to send notice thereof to the Department by cable, in order that unnecessary delays in the execution of the treaty may be avoided.
I am, etc.,