711.7412A/2
The Minister in Bulgaria (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 4.]
Sir: When I was in Washington in 1921, Mr. Panaretoff, who was then Bulgarian Minister to the United States, told me that he was going to suggest to his Government the negotiation of an arbitration treaty between Bulgaria and the United States, and I believe I mentioned this fact to the then Director of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs. However, the internal situation of Bulgaria became such that the matter was apparently dropped, and later came the resignation of Mr. Panaretoff. I heard nothing more of the proposed arbitration treaty until 1924 when the Bulgarian-American Extradition and Naturalization Treaties were being negotiated. At that time an official from the Foreign Office asked me if I could let him have copies of some of the arbitration treaties which the United States had negotiated with other countries. A number of these were furnished to him but nothing more was heard of the matter at that time.
A few days ago the Secretary General of the Foreign Office telephoned me to say that he intended to telegraph the Bulgarian Minister in Washington that Bulgaria was willing to negotiate an arbitration treaty with the United States, and he inquired whether I knew if any suggestion along this line had ever been made by the Legation to the Bulgarian Government. I replied that I was certain that the Legation had never received any instruction to approach the Bulgarian Government on this matter, but that so far as I knew, the initiative had come as stated above, from Mr. Panaretoff, the Bulgarian Minister in Washington.
Yesterday an official from the Political Section of the Foreign Office, spoke to me about the proposed treaty again and said that telegraphic instructions would shortly be sent to Mr. Radeff to inquire whether the United States would be willing to make such a treaty with Bulgaria. He also inquired whether I did not think it would be preferable to have such a treaty signed in Sofia, to which [Page 17] I replied that the place of signature could probably be best arranged between the State Department and Mr. Radeff.
I think, probably, the renewed interest shown in this matter of the Bulgarian-American proposed arbitration treaty may be attributed to the invitation on the part of the American Government to Mr. Hadji-Mischeff to be the non-national American member on the commission provided for in the American-Norwegian Arbitration [sic] Treaty.1 As already reported, this choice of a Bulgarian as a member of the Commission has given the greatest satisfaction and pleasure to Bulgarian officials to whom it is known.
I have [etc.]
- Presumably the Bryan Treaty for the Advancement of General Peace, signed June 24, 1914; Foreign Relations, 1914, p. 971.↩