File No. 881.00/531.
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador.
Washington, January 22, 1913.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of the 8th instant transmitting the text of the Franco-Moroccan Protectorate Treaty, signed at Fez on March 30, 1912, and asking the adhesion of the Government of the United States thereto.
[Page 906]Following the traditional American foreign policy, which forbids participation by the United States in the settlement of political questions which are entirely European in their scope, the Government must refrain from any expression of opinion for or against such part or parts of the Franco-Moroccan Protectorate Treaty as may be deemed of a political nature.
Paragraph I of Article I of this treaty provides that “the Government of the French Republic and His Majesty the Sultan mutually agree to establish in Morocco such administrative, judicial, educational, economical, financial and military reforms as the French Government may deem it desirable to introduce in Moroccan territory”, and further, paragraph II, Article V, provides that “the French Commissioner Resident shall be the sole intermediary of the Sultan in all foreign relations.” By the terms of article I the Government of the French Republic practically assumes all the powers of government in Morocco, and as a natural corollary thereto it assumes also the obligations of the Moroccan Government in its relations with foreign Governments insofar as existing treaty rights between Morocco and foreign Governments are concerned. As your excellency is aware, adhesion on the part of the Government of the United States to any treaty, under our Constitution, can only be given by and with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, and, after careful consideration of the Franco-Moroccan Protectorate Treaty, this Government is of the opinion that it is not sufficiently detailed and concrete in its provisions to permit of submission to this country’s treaty making power.
Provided, however, the Government of the French Republic is willing to give its assurance that American interests and rights in Morocco, as are at present safe-guarded by existing treaties, shall continue to receive the same consideration in the future as they have been entitled to and have enjoyed in the past, on such an understanding the Government of the United States would be inclined to view with favor the reforms which the French protectorate contemplate introducing into Morocco as provided for in the treaty in question. Accept [etc.]