838.00/3213
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Haiti (Armour)
Sir: The receipt is acknowledged of your despatch No. 352 of July 9, 1934, enclosing a draft of a note from the Haitian Government, together with a draft of an agreement to modify the agreement of August 7, 1933, relating to the withdrawal of the marine forces in Haiti.
The Department has duly noted your reference to the change made personally by President Roosevelt with respect to the wording “a fortnight later” instead of “on August 15, 1934”, as submitted in the Haitian draft enclosed with your despatch under acknowledgment. The Department has accordingly changed the wording at the end of the first paragraph in the draft note and redrafted the draft agreement to conform with the wording used by President Roosevelt, as well as eliminating any reference to treaties in Article III, as treaties cannot be modified by executive agreement.
You will please submit the redrafted note to the Haitian Government, together with the redrafted form of agreement and state that it is not the desire of this Government in any way to retard the withdrawal of the marine forces, but in view of the fact that President Roosevelt himself desired a change in the wording in the communiqué, it is highly desirable that the President’s wording be used. If the Haitian Government agrees to substitute the redrafted note and agreement for its original drafts, you may proceed to exchange notes and to sign the agreement immediately, using the principle of the alternat in the order of precedence in the texts and when signing.18
Very truly yours,
- The changes incorporated in the redrafted note and agreement transmitted with this despatch were accepted by the Haitian Government. See signed texts, infra.↩