884.113/11

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Harvey)

No. 707

Sir: The Department has received and has read with interest your despatch No. 1527 of July 27, 1922, transmitting a copy of a note of July 26 from the Foreign Office in reply to representations which had been made by the Embassy in the matter of a shipment of arms and ammunition from the United States to the Prince Regent of Abyssinia.

[Page 114]

It is noted that the Foreign Office dwells on the disturbed conditions said to exist in Abyssinia, stating that His Majesty’s Government has proposed to the French and Italian Governments as a remedy that a fixed number of arms should in the future be admitted annually into Abyssinia and that as soon as an agreement on the proposed plan has been reached, His Majesty’s Government will raise no objection to the inclusion in the quota for the first period, of the consignment in question. It is further noted that the Foreign Office, referring to a note of June 22 from the Department to Sir Auckland Geddes regarding the importation of arms into Central American countries, draws certain parallels, and expresses the hope that the United States will support the endeavor of His Majesty’s Government to place the importation of arms into Abyssinia on a basis adapted to the requirements of the country.

In this connection it may be added that the Department received a memorandum from the British Embassy at Washington under date of June 293 on the state of affairs in Abyssinia in reply to its note of March 20, a copy of which was sent to you with the Department’s instruction No. 467 of April 6, 1922.4 The memorandum contains the suggestion that, in view of the information furnished, this Government might be inclined to take steps to impose effective supervision of the export of arms to Abyssinia on the basis of a joint resolution to prohibit the exportation of arms or munitions of war from the United States to certain countries, approved January 31, 1922. The resolution provides:

“That whenever the President finds that in any American country or in any country in which the United States exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction, conditions of domestic violence exist, which are or may be promoted by the use of arms or munitions of war procured from the United States, and makes proclamation thereof, it shall be unlawful to export, except under such limitations and exceptions as the President prescribes, any arms or munitions of war from any place in the United States to such country until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress.”

A copy of the note of June 29 is enclosed for your information.

It is perhaps not altogether without reference to this correspondence that the Belgian Embassy in Washington has recently addressed a memorandum to the Department,3 stating that the Belgian Government has been informed of the existence of slavery in Abyssinia and asking whether the United States has received similar information, and, if so, what attitude has been adopted in the matter.

[Page 115]

Without the slightest disposition to question the statements which have been submitted respecting conditions in Abyssinia, it may be observed that no evidence has been adduced to indicate that there has been any considerable traffic in arms between the United States and Abyssinia or that such a traffic has been a factor in producing the situation which the governments having possessions in the immediate vicinity now seek to regulate. So far as the Department is aware, there has been no shipment of the kind other than the one now lying at Aden. As you have already been informed, the Department, in view of the limited size and of the fact that the consignee was the Prince Regent of Abyssinia, interposed no objection to the shipment. The Department is unable to perceive that this single shipment now lying at Aden, made under circumstances of which His Majesty’s Government is aware, would be likely to have such an effect upon conditions in Abyssinia as would justify this Government in invoking the provisions of the Joint Resolution of January 31, 1922. It might be observed also that the conditions under which the above shipment was made do not appear to depart materially from the plan proposed in the memorandum of June 29 from the British Embassy “as regards such small supplies of modern arms as are needed by the Central Government itself for the maintenance or order, the suppression of rebellion, and the general exercise of its legitimate authority.”

It is not desired that you should communicate these statements in any formal way to the Foreign Office. You may, however, take occasion to acquaint the Foreign Minister orally and in a friendly manner with the general substance of the foregoing statements. You are further instructed to submit a conciliatory reply to the note of July 26 from His Majesty’s Foreign Office, stating that your Government has received the note, as well as a memorandum, of June 29 from the British Embassy in Washington. You will also convey assurances that the Department having taken cognizance of the information thus received with regard to the domestic conditions in Abyssinia, has no disposition to interpose any obstacles to the due performance of the obligations assumed under the General Act for the Repression of the African Slave Trade, signed at Brussels July 2, 1890,5 by the governments whose territories border on Abyssinia. In this connection it may be stated that the Department will endeavor to keep closely informed of the conditions in Abyssinia, and should it become convinced that conditions of domestic violence exist which are or may be promoted by the exportation [Page 116] of arms from the United States, it will not hesitate to take appropriate steps in the premises. Finally, you will in particular express this Government’s appreciation of the courtesy shown by the Foreign Office in its note of July 26, indicating that His Majesty’s Government would raise no objection to the inclusion in the first quota for admission to Abyssinia of the shipment of arms to His Highness Ras Taffari.

I am [etc.]

Charles E. Hughes
  1. Not printed.
  2. Neither printed.
  3. Not printed.
  4. William M. Malloy (ed.), Treaties, Conventions, etc., between the United States of America and Other Powers, 1776–1909 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1910), vol. ii, p. 1964.