Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1932, The British Commonwealth, Europe, Near East and Africa, Volume II

883.12/57

The Minister in Egypt (Jardine) to the Secretary of State

No. 400

Cairo, February 9, 1932.
[Received March 10.]

Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 354 of November 24, 1931, on the subject of American representation on the International Quarantine Board and to transmit herewith a copy of a note of February 4, 1932, which I have received from the Minister of Foreign Affairs on that subject in reply to my note of May 11, 1931,²⁶ which the Department authorized me to present to the Egyptian Government. There are also enclosed a suggested translation of the Minister’s note, as well as a copy of my acknowledgment.²⁷

Following my conference of November 21, 1931, with the British High Commissioner as reported in my despatch No. 354 of November 24, 1931, I had occasion a few days subsequently to see him on other subjects at which time he informed me that he had taken pains to go at some length into the question of the proposed abolition of the Board. In my conversation with him he gave me the impression that his Government did not envisage concurrence in the near future with the Egyptian Government’s expressed desire for the Board’s transformation into an Egyptian institution as it was not considered that the Egyptian authorities were as yet sufficiently competent to apply independently the measures of public health and quarantine now confided to the International Quarantine Board. The High Commissioner added that his Government would welcome American representation on the Board and that should he find an opportune occasion he would take the opportunity to intimate to the Egyptian Government the desirability of American representation.

A few days subsequently Major Gilmour, President of the Quarantine Board, called on me and stated that the High Commissioner had suggested that he call and give me such informal assistance as he might find possible and appropriate towards the obtainment of American representation on the Board.

Major Gilmour explained that he had always favored American representation but was precluded, as an Egyptian official, from taking any official action to that end. He suggested, however, that the Egyptian Government was not justified in considering the American request for representation in the same category with similar requests on the part of Germany and Turkey for the reason that Germany had renounced its title to representation by the Treaty of Versailles, while similar renunciation had been made by Turkey in the Treaty of Lausanne.²⁸

On December 26, 1931, I called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, by appointment, to discuss with him further the question of American representation which had been the subject of a previous conversation as reported in my despatch No. 354 of November 24, 1931. In reiterating the reasons which my Government had previously presented through me in justification of my Government’s desire for representation I added the further argument that my Government’s request for representation was properly distinguishable from similar requests of the Governments of Germany and Turkey which had severally renounced in formal treaties any right which they might have claimed to representation. For these reasons and in view, moreover, of the fact that the Foreign Office in its note of June 21, 1928,²⁹ had accepted in principle my Government’s request for representation on the Board, I stated that my Government was at a loss to understand the reason for further delay in the appointment of an American representative.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs sought to persuade me to request my Government to engage itself to support the Egyptian Government’s desire to suppress the international character of the Board in return for representation. He stated that both he and the Prime Minister were sympathetic to my Government’s request but unless it was possible for my Government to agree in advance to give its cooperation to the realization of the Egyptian Government’s purpose to transform the Board into an Egyptian institution it was doubtful if parliamentary support could be obtained in favor of American representation.

I referred to my Government’s note No. 124 of July 13, 1929,³⁰ in which my Government’s position had been clearly set forth in regard to a similar proposal, a position which I stated was still adhered to.

The Minister replied that the Foreign Office in its note of June 21, 1928, had exceeded its authority in according its agreement in principle to American representation since such an agreement should only have been given following approval by the Council of Ministers. It may be noted that this is included amongst other arguments presented in the enclosed note of February 4, 1932 of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

In my despatch No. 298 of September 14, 1931,³¹ in reporting on the subject under reference I noted particularly the increasing restiveness of the Egyptian Government towards the capitulatory regime and expressed the opinion that, in view thereof, American representation on the Board would only be conceded grudgingly, if at all. The present note of the Egyptian Government fully confirms the point of view expressed by me in September and I may add that a further consideration which has affected the present conclusions of the Egyptian Government has been, I have reason to believe, the knowledge that any decision to accord unconditional assent to American representation would subject the Government to the embarrassing criticism of Nationalist elements.

Moreover, as the Foreign Office has observed in its note of February 4, 1932, no new representatives have been added to the Board since its establishment, while a similar Board established at Constantinople has been abolished by the Treaty of Lausanne.

So far as I am aware no charges have ever been raised against any acts of discrimination on the part of the Board against American interests in the application of its public health measures, since such charges might well afford the strongest possible argument for American participation in the decisions of the Board. In the event the Public Health Service of the Treasury Department is desirous of establishing more intimate and direct contact with the Board I am of the opinion the Egyptian Government would be most receptive to the approval of any suggestions on the part of the Public Health Service looking to the fullest possible cooperation on the part of the Board as now constituted with the competent American authorities.

With the growing realization of all capitulatory Powers of the increasingly anachronistic character of the capitulatory regime, and with the example of Turkey constantly adduced by Egyptians as affording an all too painful contrast with the régime to which Egypt is compelled to submit, and in consideration of the deepening sensitiveness of Egypt to any extension of any institution suggestive of the limitation of Egyptian sovereignty, I am of the opinion that further action on the subject of American representation on the International Quarantine Board would be ill-advised and that the results which might be obtained would be incommensurate with the loss of that good will which further insistence might well entail. Moreover, there is the additional consideration that such insistence is calculated, however mistaken the interpretation, to provoke an imputation of motives foreign to the reputation for sympathetic consideration of the aspirations of non-autonomous nations now and long enjoyed by the United States in Egypt.

So long as the Board is functioning efficiently, and of that I do not believe there is any question, I consider far more may be gained in good will by refraining from any further pressing of the question of American representation than from any advantages which might possibly be acquired by the appointment of an American representative.

Respectfully yours,

W. M. Jardine

[Enclosure—Translation]³²

The Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Yehia) to the American Minister (Jardine)

No. 14

Cairo, February 4, 1932.

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to refer to the Legation’s note dated May 11, 1931,³³ as well as to the conversations which I have had with Your Excellency, on the subject of representation of the United States of America on the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board.

The relations which I have had the pleasure of maintaining with Your Excellency have convinced you, I am persuaded, of the friendship which I personally have for you and for the great country which you have the honor to be representing here, and of my eagerness to settle in this spirit of cordiality the questions capable of disturbing directly or indirectly the friendly relations which have always existed between our two countries. I may add in this connection, that I have only followed in the footsteps of my predecessors, all animated to the same degree by the desire faithfully to reflect the sentiments which His Majesty the King, my August Master, and the Egyptian Nation feel towards the Government of the American people.

Nothing could better illustrate the efforts of the Royal Government in this matter than its attitude towards the question of the representation of the United States on the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board of Egypt concerning which permit me to remind Your Excellency of the following phases:

In the first part of 1924 (January 3, to be exact), the Minister of the United States at Cairo informed my Department of the desire of the Government of the United States to be represented on the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board of Egypt, with a view on the one hand, of assuring protection for its maritime commerce which continued to increase in the Eastern Mediterranean and, on the other hand, to help protect the country against the risk of infection from diseases which might be introduced into its ports by the numerous vessels coming from the Near East.

The request of the United States having been transmitted to the Ministry of the Interior for decision, my Department was able to reply, on June 21, 1928, to the American Legation that the Royal Government would be pleased to consent, in principle, to representation of the United States on the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board.

Now, it is the duty of the Council of Ministers to decide definitely on the acceptance of representation of the United States, as well as to the form of such representation. In fact, the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board was created in 1881, by Decree,³⁴ in accordance with a decision of the Council of Ministers. It was by Decree that the General Sanitary Administration, predecessor of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board, was established in 1843. It was likewise by Decrees, in accordance with decisions of the Council of Ministers, that changes have been made in the bylaws and composition of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board (Decrees of June 19, 1893, December 25, 1894, and December 28, 1898).

And it was for the purpose of obtaining the approval of the Council of Ministers, with a view to a Royal Rescript according American representation, that on October 14, 1928, the Minister of the Interior presented to the Council of Ministers a proposed rescript in this sense. In the explanatory note accompanying the proposed rescript, the Minister of the Interior stated, that, in order to reconcile the acceptance of American representation with the point of view of the Egyptian Government looking to the suppression of the Board and the transfer of its duties to the Egyptian Department of Public Health, he proposed to indicate clearly to the American Government at the time of the notification of the Royal Rescript, that the Egyptian Government, in complying with the American request, although it had received several similar requests from other Powers, gave proof of a very particular friendship for the American Government,—counted upon that Government for its support when the suppression of the Board should come up for discussion. On October 27, 1928, the said Note and the proposal were submitted to the Council of Ministers, which decided to postpone the matter in order to make a new examination of the question.

On February 11, 1929, the Ministry of the Interior informed this Ministry that His Excellency the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior was of the opinion that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs should take the necessary steps to obtain from the United States, previous to the obtainment of representation, an engagement in the sense above indicated. This opinion was transmitted to the Minister of the United States by letter dated March 4, 1929.³⁵

This decision of His Excellency the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior is in strict conformity with the attitude of the Egyptian Government as regards the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board, an attitude definitely held for the past thirty years. If the international character of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board and of similar organizations which have preceded it might have been justified in the past, it is at present an anomaly in that it no longer fits in with the progress of the country, and constitutes at the same time an unjustified mark of inferiority and incompetence, considering the important stages which we have so quickly passed through towards improvement in the department of sanitation, an improvement unanimously recognized by the Medical Conference held at Cairo in 1928.

Already in 1903 Egypt made itself heard in the International Sanitary Conference held in Paris,³⁶ by requesting the abolition of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board. This request was renewed in 1912,³⁷ and in 1926³⁸ at the International Sanitary Conference held in the same city.

The Council of Ministers had already decided on July 9, 1925, that “the existence of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board of Egypt is no longer justified by any necessity, inasmuch as the reasons which brought about its establishment have disappeared, and that the Egyptian Government can easily assume the responsibility of taking the necessary health and maritime quarantine measures for the protection of all commercial and maritime interests in Egyptian ports”.

This point of view of the Egyptian Government is shared by Parliament. The President of the Chamber of Deputies, on the occasion of considering the opening of an additional credit of L.E. 21, 230 in the budget of the Ministry of Public Works for quarantine buildings, addressed a letter, dated March 5, 1927, to His Excellency the Prime Minister, informing him that “the Chamber had decided to request the Government to take the necessary steps to discontinue the international character of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board, inasmuch as this character was no longer justified”.

Since the establishment of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board in 1881, that is to say for more than fifty years, no country which was not represented on the Board at that time, has been granted representation on the Board.

Furthermore, the Peace Treaties have already given particular recognition to the Egyptian point of view on this question, that is, the disappearance of the international character of the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board. Germany, Austria, Hungary have given up their representation on the Board (Treaties of Versailles,³⁹ St. Germain⁴⁰ and Trianon⁴¹). Turkfey likewise renounced its representation thereon by the Treaty of Lausanne. Russia is no longer represented because of the rupture of diplomatic relations with that country. It is equally to be noted that the new countries created by the Peace Treaties are not represented on the Board. Therefore, the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board has, in a great measure, lost the international character which constituted the direct object of its creation and justified its existence in the past.

Before concluding I would like to call the attention of Your Excellency to the fact that the Sanitary, Maritime and Quarantine Board of Constantinople was abolished by the Treaty of Lausanne, although the motives which occasioned its creation were the same as those which caused the establishment of a similar organization in Egypt.

I trust that I have made sufficiently clear the Egyptian point of view and that the American Government, in conducting a new examination of the question, will adhere to this point of view.

Please accept [etc.]

The Minister for Foreign Affairs:

A. Yehia

26. Note of May 11 not printed.
27. Acknowledgment not printed.
28. For the German renunciation, see sec. VI, art. 152, of the Treaty of Versailles, Treaties, Conventions, etc., vol. iii, pp. 3329, 3397; for the Turkish renunciation, see pt. I, sec. I, art. 17, Treaty of Lausanne, Great Britain, Cmd. 1929, Treaty Series No. 16 (1923), p. 21.
29. Foreign Relations, 1928, vol. ii, p. 777.
30. Not printed.
31. Not printed.
32. File translation revised.
33. Not printed.
34. Egypt, Bulletin des lois et decrets, année 1881. (Port-Said Imprimerie françhise J. Serrière, 1881), pp. 12–21.
35. Not printed.
36. See France, Ministère des affaires étrangères, Conférence sanitaire Internationale de Paris, 10 octobre–3 décembre 1903, Procès-verbaux (Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1904).
37. Ibid., 7 novembre 1911–17 janvier 1912, Procès-verbaux (Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1912).
38. Ibid., 10 mai–21 juin 1926, Procès-verbaux (Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1927); see also Foreign Relations, 1926, vol. i, pp. 174 ff.
39. See Treaties, Conventions, etc., 1910–1923, vol. iii, p. 3397.
40. See ibid., p. 3185.
41. See ibid., p. 3571.