File No. 1229/5.
The Acting Secretary of State to the British Ambassador.
Washington, April 6, 1907.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note No. 59, of the 20th ultimo, in which with reference to the condition laid down in Article I of the treaty between the United States and the British Governments of February 25, 1905, to the effect that the renunciation by the Government of the United States of its right of extraterritoriality in Zanzibar should not take effect until similar rights enjoyed there by other nations had been likewise renounced, you advise the department that the Portuguese Government has obtained the sanction of Parliament to the renunciation of these rights, [Page 572] and that Germany is the only other country now remaining which possesses such rights under a definite treaty.
You add that by the convention between Germany and Great Britain of November 14, 1899, the former powder is bound to renounce extraterritorial rights in Zanzibar as soon as similar rights enjoyed there by other nations are abolished, and that accordingly the German Government has been requested to give effect to the undertaking entered upon by it in the convention in question.
You request therefore under instructions from your Government, that the Secretary of State bring this matter to the consideration of this Government with a view to effect being given to the undertaking embodied in the treaty of February 25, 1905.
Article I of the treaty between the United States and Great Britain, signed at Washington, February 25, 1905, by which the United States relinquishes extraterritorial rights in Zanzibar, provides as follows:
The jurisdiction exercised thereunder by consular courts of the United States shall absolutely cease and determine, it being understood, however, that this renunciation shall not take effect until such time as the rights of extraterritoriality enjoyed in Zanzibar by other nations shall have been likewise renounced.
Article VIII of the convention between Great Britain and Germany, signed at London, November 14, 1899, reads:
Germany renounces her rights of extraterritoriality in Zanzibar, but it is at the same time understood that this renunciation shall not effectively come into force till such time as the rights of extraterritoriality enjoyed there by other nations shall be abolished. (British and Foreign State Papers, vol. 91, pp. 73–74.)
The United States agrees that extraterritoriality “shall absolutely cease and determine;” Germany “renounces her right to extraterritoriality.” The United States stipulates that “this renunciation shall not take effect until;” Germany stipulates that “this renunciation shall not effectively come into force till.” The happening of the event which is to make the renunciation of the United States effective is the arrival of the time when the “rights * * * shall have been likewise renounced.” The contingency for which Germany waits is the time “the rights * * * shall be abolished.”
In this situation it would appear that the meaning of the two treaties is identical, the effective renunciation or abolition of extraterritoriality by each being dependent upon the fact of renunciation or abolition of the other.
The technical difficulty thus presented would appear to be susceptible of ready adjustment by the expedient of agreeing upon a date when the extraterritorial rights of the United States and Germany shall respectively and coincidently cease.
The state being agreed upon, it would seem proper that the United States and Germany should each address identical notes to the British Government, each recognizing the fact that the other does, on the given date, cease to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction on account of the effective renunciation by the other on the same date.
If this view be taken, the Secretary of State will be very happy to consider any date which may be agreeable to His Majesty’s and the German Governments.
I have, etc.,