711.569/21
The Secretary of State to the Netherlands Minister (De Graeff)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of today’s date, in which you were so good as to inform me, in connection with the signing this day of the Convention between the United States and the Netherlands to aid in the prevention of the smuggling of intoxicating liquors into the United States, that the Government of the Netherlands understands that in the event of the adhesion by the Government of the United States to the Protocol of December 16, 1920, under which the Permanent Court of International Justice has been created at The Hague, the Government of the United States will not be averse to considering a modification of the said Convention, or the making of a separate Agreement, providing that claims mentioned in Article IV of that Convention which can not be settled in the way indicated in the first paragraph of that Article, shall be referred to the Permanent Court of International Justice instead of to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Complying with your request for confirmation of this understanding, I have the honor to state that the Netherlands Government’s understanding of the attitude of the Government of the United States in this respect is correct, and that in the event that the Senate gives its assent to the proposal made by the President on February 24, 1923,75 that it consent under certain stated conditions to the adhesion by the United States to the Protocol of December 16, 1920, under which the Permanent Court of International Justice has been created at The Hague, the Government of the United States will not be averse to considering a modification of the Convention this day signed, or the making of a separate Agreement, providing for the reference of claims mentioned in Article IV of the Convention which can not be settled in the way indicated in the first paragraph of that Article, to the Permanent Court of International Justice instead of to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Accept [etc.]