711.562/3
The Secretary of State to the Netherland Minister (De Graeff)
Sir: Following conversations which you recently had with officers of the Department and conversations which the American Minister at The Hague has had with officials of the Netherlands Government, I have the honor to inform you that this Government is cordially disposed to enter into negotiations with the Netherlands Government for the conclusion of a treaty of friendship, commerce and consular rights. As appropriate to that end there is submitted to you here with [Page 479] the draft of a proposed treaty8 of which the text is self-explanatory.
You will observe from the preamble that the document embodies a treaty of friendship as well as of commerce and of consular rights. It is designed to promote the friendly intercourse between the peoples of the United States and the Netherlands. Through the text submitted it is sought to lay the foundation for a comprehensive arrangement responsive to the modern and exacting requirements of important maritime states. To that end the several Articles are expressed in terms which definitely and clearly set forth the principles involved. It is sought by this means to avoid as far as possible danger of conflicting interpretations.
You will be interested in noting that Article VII makes full provision for the enjoyment of the most favored nation clause in its unconditional form, as applied to persons, vessels and cargoes, and to articles the growth, produce or manufacture of the Contracting Parties. It will be seen, moreover, that the most favored nation clause is applied to duties on imports and exports and to other charges, restrictions and prohibitions on goods imported and exported.
It is provided by Article XXX of the draft that the Convention of Commerce and Navigation, concluded by the United States and the Netherlands on August 26, 18529 and the Consular Convention concluded January 22, 1855,10 will be supplanted from the date of the exchange of ratifications of the proposed treaty. This Government is hopeful that this proposal will meet with the approval of your Government.
The document in its present form may, of course, be subject to minor changes by the United States in the course of negotiations.
This Government is gratified to learn that it is agreeable to your Government that the negotiations shall be carried on at this capital.
Accept [etc.]
Not printed; the draft treaty submitted to the Netherland Minister was the same, with a few modifications, as the draft treaty transmitted to the Ambassador in Spain in instruction no. 162, May 18, 1923, printed in Foreign Relations, 1923, vol. ii, p. 831. The one important difference was the insertion in the draft treaty for the Netherlands of a paragraph in article VII reading as follows:
“All articles which are or may be legally imported from foreign countries into ports of the United States in vessels of the United States may likewise be imported into those ports in vessels of the Netherlands, without being liable to any other or higher duties or charges whatsoever than if such articles were imported in vessels of the United States; and, reciprocally, all articles which are or may be legally imported from foreign countries into the ports of the Netherlands in vessels of the Netherlands, may likewise be imported into these ports in vessels of the United States without being liable to any other or higher duties or charges whatsoever than if such articles were imported from foreign countries in vessels of the Netherlands.”
↩- Malloy, Treaties, 1776–1909, vol. ii, p. 1248.↩
- Ibid., p. 1251.↩