452.11/275
The Ambassador in Spain (Laughlin) to the Secretary of State
Madrid, January 21, 1931.
[Received
February 7.]
No. 268Sir: With reference to the matter of the
Moroccan claims now pending with the Spanish Government, I have the
honor to report that after some preliminary conversations I was able to
discuss it yesterday at length with Señor de las Barcenas; Acting Head
of the Foreign Office, in the absence of the Duke of Alba.
I left with Señor Barcenas an Aide-Mémoire, of
which the copy will be found attached, that will give you the substance
of my conversation with him, and I attach also a pertinent extract from
notes from the Embassy’s files which I made after this interview.
I send on this preliminary report of what I have done pursuant to the
consultations I had at the Department last November, for your present
information. I now await the result of the Spanish Government’s
consideration of the proposals I made to report to you further.
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I beg leave to add that the way in which Señor Barcenas received my
representations gives me good reason to expect that a satisfactory
settlement may soon be reached.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure 1]
The American Embassy
to the Spanish Ministry for Foreign
Affairs
Aide-Mémoire
In the question of the claims of Protégés of the United States in
Morocco which form the subject of the note of the 22 January, 1930
from His Catholic Majesty’s Foreign Office15 it
appears that His Majesty’s Government is willing to settle the first
and third group of claims in the sum of 197,039.85 pesetas.
The claims contested by His Majesty’s Government are those in the
so-called second group, which reduce themselves effectively to two:
| a) |
The Singer Sewing Machine Company, |
6,412.50 |
Pesetas |
| b) |
Dris-El-Quettani (Kittani), |
400,000.00 |
“ |
As to the claim (a) of the Singer Sewing
Machine Company, which is a very small one, it appears that Mr.
Maxwell Blake, the Diplomatic Agent of the United States at Tangier,
agreed with his Spanish colleague, Señor Pla, in their negotiations
during 1929 that it should be submitted for the consideration of the
two Governments following the American recognition of the Spanish
Protectorate. This claim is, however, so small that it might perhaps
be covered by the present negotiations.
As to the claim (b) of Dris-El-Quettani
(Kittani), His Catholic Majesty’s Government is of the opinion that
the claimant should resort to the Spanish Courts at Law in that part
of Morocco claimed as a Spanish zone for the purpose of determining
his title to the property, and His Majesty’s Government refers, in
justification of its position, to provisions of the Madrid
Convention of 188016 and to the Act
of Algeciras of 1906.17 The pertinent articles in
these two instruments are No. 11 in the former, and No. 60 in the
latter.
Now the tribunals contemplated by the Madrid Convention and the Act
of Algeciras were the native Courts of Morocco, whereas the Courts
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suggested by His
Catholic Majesty’s Government are Spanish Courts which seem in
effect to have supplanted the former native Courts. But it appears
that these native Courts have not in fact altogether ceased to
exist, and they are the only Courts which the Government of the
United States is able to recognize unless and until it finds itself
in a position to recognize the claim of His Catholic Majesty’s
Government to a protectorate in Morocco, which it holds itself
willing to do upon the conclusion of a mutually satisfactory
agreement for the settlement of these pending claims.
The Government of the United States is willing to assent to the claim
of that of His Catholic Majesty for the submission of this claim of
Dris-El-Quettani (Kittani) to legal determination in a competent
Court of Law, but such a Court must obviously be one which the
American Government can legally recognize.
Madrid, January 20,
1931.
[Enclosure 2]
Memorandum by the Ambassador in Spain (Laughlin)
In an interview with Señor de las Barcenas at the Spanish Foreign
Office on January 20, 1931, I discussed the Moroccan claims and left
an Aide-Mémoire. On this subject he was very
encouraging, assuring me that he was confident we should reach a
satisfactory agreement, and that I might depend on him to further it
conscientiously. He said he wished to have it dealt with not by the
people at present in chargé of the Moroccan Division at the Foreign
Office, but by a man now in Brussels who is under orders of transfer
to Madrid and who should be here by the middle of February; he would
hold the Aide-Mémoire until this man’s
arrival, studying it himself meanwhile, and would ask me to come to
see him as soon as their answer could be formulated.
I emphasized my wish to exchange no further notes until we had
arrived at a point where I could present to Washington a solution of
which my Government might approve.
Madrid, January 21,
1931.
