No. 40.
Mr. Fish to
Mr. Delfosse.
Washington, November 9, 1874.
Sir: At the last session of the Congress of the United States a joint resolution was adopted, which was approved upon the 1st of June, providing for the termination of the treaty between the United States and His Majesty the King of the Belgians, concluded at Washington upon the 17th of July, 1858; a copy of which is herewith inclosed.
The minister of the United States at Brussels was thereupon instructed, pursuant to the terms of the resolution, and in accordance with the seventeenth article of the treaty, to communicate to the government of the Kingdom of Belgium a copy of said resolution, and a declaration of the intention of the United States to terminate the operation of the treaty at the expiration of twelve months from the date upon which the notice should be given.
The minister of the United States was at the same time instructed to assure the government of His Majesty that this action had been taken solely because it had become necessary to abrogate the 4th and 13th articles of the treaty, which, in their practical operation and under the “favored-nation clause” in other treaties, worked a discrimination against our own marine in favor of foreign vessels, and of the readiness of this Government to enter upon a new treaty, retaining all the other provisions and excluding these objectionable clauses.
The minister of the United States at Brussels has transmitted to this Department a copy of his note, dated July 1, 1874, addressed to Count d’Aspremont Lynden, minister of foreign affairs, inclosing a copy of the resolution above referred to, and giving the notice provided for by the 17th article of the treaty, and has informed the Department that upon the 1st day of July last the note in question was delivered to Count de Borchgrave, in the absence of the minister of foreign affairs. He has also informed the Department that at the same time he informed Count Borchgrave, in pursuance of the instructions to him, that the notice was given for the reasons above stated, and that he was authorized to sign a new treaty embracing the other articles, in case such course was agreeable to the government of Belgium.
The Department is also in possession of & copy of a note addressed by Count d’Aspremont Lynden to the minister of the United States, bearing date the 7th of July, in reply to the notification addressed to him acknowledging its receipt, and agreeing in fixing the date for the termination of the treaty as the 1st of July, 1875.
The minister of the United States not having personally seen the minister for foreign affairs at the time that he expressed the readiness of this Government to execute a new treaty embodying all the clauses of the present one except the 4th and 13th, and as it appears that no reply has been made to such expression, I take this occasion to assure you of the desire of this Government to cultivate and maintain in the future the same friendly relations that have hitherto marked the intercourse of the two governments, and also of the belief on the part of this Government that, with the exception of the two articles to which reference has been made, the treaty of 1858 has been found to be reciprocally beneficial to the two governments and to their commercial interests, and that the passage of the resolution and the notice which has been given by [Page 73] the minister of the United States became necessary solely in order to abrogate the 4th and 13th articles of the treaty, as working a discrimination against the marine of the United States, and that this Government had no desire to change the other provisions of the treaty; and, should it comport with the views of the government of His Majesty the King of the Belgians to enter into a new treaty which shall exclude the two articles referred to and retain the others, such course will be eminently satisfactory to the Government of the United States.
I desire to further say that in such event, should the government of His Majesty so desire, the minister of the United States at Brussels will be authorized to execute such new treaty on the part of the Government of the United States, or that it would be entirely agreeable to the Government of the United States to enter upon the negotiation of such new “treaty with the representative of His Majesty at Washington.
Accept, sir, &c.,