711.5612a/41
The Netherlands Legation to the Department of State
The Netherlands Legation had the honor to receive from the State Department the note of November 23, 1929, No. 711/5612/A, concerning the treaty of arbitration proposed by the Secretary of State.
In the second paragraph of that note the State Department refers to the request of the Netherlands Government, that at the time of the signature of the arbitration treaty an exchange of notes be signed to the effect, that the words “which have not been adjusted as a result of reference to the Permanent International Commission constituted pursuant to the treaty signed at Washington, December 18, 1913” in Article I of the arbitration treaty do not have the intention of altering the meaning of the language in Article I of the treaty for the advancement of peace of 1913 between the United States and the Netherlands, defining the matters to be submitted to the Permanent International [Page 632] Commission “to the settlement of which previous arbitration treaties or agreements do not apply in their terms or are not applied in fact.”
In the third paragraph of that note the Department informs the Legation, that it is glad to state, that it does not construe the language quoted in the second paragraph from the draft of the arbitration treaty under negotiation as altering the meaning of the language quoted in that second paragraph from Article I of the treaty for the advancement of peace of 1913, contemplating that disputes involving questions of a juridical nature shall as a rule be referred to arbitration. The Department states, that it construes the clause under consideration merely to imply that disputes of a legal nature may first be submitted to the commission in the event that the parties to the two treaties agree in any particular case to make such submission.
The Netherland Legation has lost no time in transmitting these statements to the Government at The Hague.
Pursuant to instructions now received, the Legation begs to inform the State Department, that the Netherland Government will regard these statements as a sufficient assurance of this interpretation and does not insist upon the proposed exchange of notes at the time of the signing of the treaty.
After having received, the necessary authorization from the Queen, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at The Hague will forward to the Netherlands Minister, as soon as possible, the full power which will enable him to sign the treaty. Jonkheer Beelaerts van Blokland will send at the same time the text in the Dutch language of that instrument.