[Memorandum left by the French chargé d’affaires December 26, 1899.]
The treaty recently concluded between the United States, Great Britain, and Germany, and which substitutes for the condominium of these three powers in the Samoan Islands a definite partition of that archipelago between the United States and Germany, stipulates besides that the question of indemnities for damages occasioned by acts of war in these islands should be regulated by an arbitral tribunal.
It would be difficult to deny that such French citizens as have been injured as the result of these troubles should have, as regards reparation, equal rights with those of the three powers which have been concerned in those regions. The Government of the Republic reserves to itself in consequence the right to ask that its nationals should be admitted to profit by the particular procedure whose exercise has been regulated by the understanding arrived at between the interested Governments. Although the Senate of the United States has not yet sanctioned this understanding, the chargé d’affaires of France has the honor to bring the preceding considerations to the attention of the honorable Secretary of State, and would be glad to receive from him the assurance that they are in harmony with the views of the Government of the United States on this question.