781.003/256b
The Secretary of
State to President Roosevelt
Washington, July 21, 1939.
My Dear Mr. President: In recent
negotiations with the French Embassy concerning the abrogation of
American capitulatory rights in French Morocco the French Government
has raised the question of the possible abrogation by this
Government of its rights under the Act of Algeciras.
The French Government proposes that, in return for the abrogation by
the United States of that Act in relation to French Morocco, by
which the United States is assured of the open door in that country,
the most complete guarantees will be given American commercial
interests in French Morocco for a period of at least thirty
years.
In view of the many disputes which have arisen between the American
and French Governments in the past over the application of the
principle of the open door in French Morocco, I am of the opinion
that the acceptance of this revised basis of negotiations would be
in the interest of this Government. I enclose a memorandum on the
subject in the event you may care to consider the matter in more
detail.
The French Embassy has requested us to consider this proposal as
ultra-confidential.
Faithfully yours,
[Enclosure]
Memorandum by Mr. J. Rives Childs of the
Division of Near Eastern Affairs
Following the conclusion of the Montreux Convention by which this
Government agreed to relinquish its extraterritorial rights in
Egypt,
[Page 661]
the French
Government approached the United States with regard to similar
action with respect to the like rights exercised by this
Government in French Morocco. The extraterritorial rights of the
capitulatory powers in French Morocco were, with the exception
of those enjoyed by the United States and Great Britain,
renounced at the beginning of or during the World War. In 1916
[1917] when this Government
recognized the French protectorate over Morocco,34 it was agreed to enter into
negotiations subsequently with the French Government for the
abrogation of our extraterritorial rights in that country. In
accordance with this obligation and following the relinquishment
by Great Britain as of January 1, 1938 of its extraterritorial
rights in the French zone of Morocco, discussions were began
between this Government and the French Government looking to the
negotiation of new treaties defining the rights of American
nationals, ships, and goods incident to the abrogation of the
extraterritorial rights enjoyed by us.
The rights of the United States in Morocco generally are defined
in the following instruments:
- (1)
- Treaty of Friendship concluded in 1836 with the Sultan
of Morocco which is subject to denunciation upon one
year’s notice;
- (2)
- Multilateral Convention of Madrid of 1880, with no
terminable date, defining the right of protection in
Morocco; and
- (3)
- General Act of the International Conference at
Algeciras signed April 7, 1906, with no terminable
date.
The Act of Algeciras is of particular importance
as it affirms the principle of the open door in Morocco.
In the present negotiations the French Government has been
disposed to grant this Government guarantees equivalent to those
recently accorded Great Britain. Accordingly the French
Government has been prepared to grant adequate guarantees for
American nationals and ships but it has been unwilling to accord
guarantees with respect to goods for a period longer than seven
years. Moreover, the French Government, while admitting its
obligation under the Act of Algeciras to maintain the open door
in Morocco, refuses to reaffirm or reinterpret that principle in
any new treaty with any power.
The French position is that the principle of the open door in
Morocco was forced upon France at the beginning of this century
under the threat of war by Germany. It is represented that the
development of the North African Coast comprising Algeria,
Tunisia, and Morocco has become a matter of vital necessity to
France if that
[Page 662]
country
is to maintain its position as a world power. Algeria is a part
of metropolitan France and no treaty obligations now stand in
the way of the full exercise by France of its protectorate over
Tunisia. The treaty obligations contracted by France in relation
to French Morocco under the Act of Algeciras before the
establishment of a French protectorate over that country,
however, have made impossible the binding of Morocco to France
in the manner in which Algeria and Tunisia are now bound to
France.
The difficulties in our present negotiations with the French have
been further complicated by reason of our nonadherence to the
Franco-German Accord of 1911 concerning Morocco to which all
other powers signatory of the Act of Algeciras have adhered.
That accord granted France a certain liberty of action in
respect to the application of the Act of Algeciras. France has
found it impossible to exercise that liberty, however, without
violating our treaty rights.
In view of these difficulties and in view of the fact which has
become apparent during our negotiations that any new treaty
instruments considered in conjunction with the Act of Algeciras,
would give rise to endless disputes with the French authorities,
the French Government has proposed an alternative basis for our
negotiations. The French propose that in return for the
abrogation by this Government in French Morocco of all of its
rights under the Act of Algeciras, including the principle of
the open door, the French Government would be prepared to grant
us the most explicit and binding guarantees in respect of the
treatment of our particular economic interests in French Morocco
for a period of at least thirty years. The treaty would be
framed, however, with a view to giving France the same general
economic liberty of action, outside of our particular economic
interests, which that Government has enjoyed in the political
sphere in French Morocco since 1912. At the end of thirty years
France would possess both complete economic as well as political
liberty of action in French Morocco.
