890G.01/317
The Chargé in Great Britain (Atherton) to the Secretary of State
No. 244
London, July 22, 1932.
[Received August
1.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the
Department’s instruction No. 84 of June 17, 1932, and to report that
the viewpoint of the United States Government as set forth therein
was duly brought to the attention of the British authorities by an
aide-mémoire which on July 8 was left
with Mr. G. W. Rendel, Chief of the Eastern
Department at the Foreign Office.
This afternoon there has been received from the Foreign Office, in
duplicate, a note12 enclosing a copy of a declaration by the
Iraqi Government13 which on June 27 was communicated to the League of
Nations through the British Government and a copy of the
report,14 dated May 7, 1932, of the
Committee appointed by the
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Council of the League in order to prepare the draft of a declaration
of guarantees. The duplicate copy of this note and its enclosures is
being forwarded herewith by to-day’s pouch, as I believe that the
Department would prefer to have it as promptly as possible rather
than that I should delay its transmission in order to make the usual
number of copies, especially as it appears that the Department has
already received the text of these enclosures from Geneva.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure]
The British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Simon) to the American Chargé (Atherton)
No. E 3644/408/93
[London,] 22 July,
1932.
Sir: In a semi-official letter (No. E
1431/9/93) of April 1st to Mr. Cox of the
United States Embassy on the question of the impending release
of Iraq from the Mandatory régime, it was stated that His
Majesty’s Government would be glad to communicate to the United
States Government, for their information, as soon as it was
possible to do so, copies of the Assurances to be given by Iraq
to the Council of the League of Nations, prior to the
termination of the Mandatory régime, in connexion with the
protection of racial and religious minorities and of legitimate
foreign interests in Iraq. These Assurances were incorporated in
a Declaration of Guarantees which was approved by the Council of
the League on May 19th,15 and the Declaration, having been
signed by the Iraqi Prime Minister and ratified by His Majesty
the King of Iraq, was duly communicated to the League through
His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom on June 27th. I
now have pleasure in enclosing (Enclosure No. 1) a copy of this
Declaration16 which I shall be glad if
you will communicate to the United States Government in
accordance with the undertaking of April 1st referred to
above.
- 2.
- You will observe that Article 12 of the Declaration of
Guarantees has the effect of prolonging for ten years, from
the date of the admission of Iraq to the League, the
Judicial régime instituted by the Anglo-Iraqui Judicial
Agreement of March 4th, 1931.17 You will recollect that, in your note No.
1255 of June 19th, 1931,18 you informed Mr. Arthur Henderson that the
United States Government,
[Page 681]
under the terms of Article 6 of the
Tripartite Convention of January 9th, 1930, consented to the
substitution of that Agreement for the previous Anglo-Iraqi
Judicial Agreement of March 28th, 1924,19 and to
the application of the new Agreement to nationals of the
United States in Iraq, upon its entry into force and in
accordance with its terms. The new régime to be established
under Article 12 of the Iraqi Declaration of Guarantees will
apply to all foreigners and Iraqis alike, and will involve
no modification to the detriment of foreign interests of the
régime set up under the Anglo-Iraqi Judicial Agreement of
1931.
- 3.
- I also enclose (Enclosure No. 2), for the information of
the United States Government, a copy of the Report20 of the Committee appointed by the Council
of the League in order to prepare, in consultation with a
representative of the Iraqi Government, the draft of a
Declaration of Guarantees. In recommending the Council to
approve the text of the draft Declaration of Guarantees, the
Committee pointed out, with particular reference to Article
12 of that Declaration in regard to the judicial régime,
that, in the absence of explicit renunciation, the
capitulatory rights possessed in the former Ottoman Empire
by certain States would automatically revive in Iraq on the
termination of the Mandatory régime. So far as concerns
States members of the League, those rights, as the United
States Government are aware, were suspended in the following
manner. By the Resolution of the Council of the League of
September 27th, 1924,21 certain undertakings set out in that
Resolution given by His Majesty’s Government in the United
Kingdom to the Council, together with the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty
of Alliance of October 10, 192222 were
accepted by the Council as giving effect to the provisions
of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League,23 and as
ensuring the observance of the principles which His
Britannic Majesty’s acceptance of the Mandate for Iraq had
been designed to secure. In the relevant part of that
Resolution, the Council decided “that the privileges and
immunities, including the benefits of consular jurisdiction
and protection formerly enjoyed by capitulation or usage in
the Ottoman Empire, will not be required for the protection
of foreigners, so long as the Treaty of Alliance (i.e. of
1922) is in force”. Capitulatory rights and privileges have
accordingly so far as these Powers are concerned been
suspended in Iraq during the
[Page 682]
continuance of the Mandatory régime,
the interests of foreigners in judicial matters being
safeguarded at first by the Anglo-Iraqi Judicial Agreement
of March 25, 1924, subsequently by the new Anglo-Iraqi
Judicial Agreement of March 4, 1931, and now by Article 12
of the Iraqi Declaration of Guarantees referred to
above.
- 4.
- The Committee’s Report was considered by the Council on
May 19, and in view of their statement regarding the
possibly automatic revival of the capitulatory rights
possessed in the former Ottoman Empire by certain States,
the Council recommended, in a Resolution dated May 19, a
copy of which is enclosed for convenience of reference
(Enclosure No. 3),24 “that the Powers concerned, whose
nationals enjoyed capitulatory rights in the former Ottoman
Empire, renounce, before the admission of Iraq to the League
of Nations, the maintenance of these former jurisdictional
privileges in favour of their nationals in future”, and
requested the Secretary General of the League “to
communicate this recommendation to the Governments of
States, which the British Government, in accordance with the
present Resolution, will approach, with a view to the
proposed renunciation”. The Secretary General of the League,
in view of this Resolution, and in accordance with the
Council’s request, duly approached the Governments of the
Powers members of the League which formerly possessed
capitulatory rights in the Ottoman Empire, and His Majesty’s
Government have now approached those Powers officially with
a similar request.
- 5.
- The position of the United States in the matter is
regulated by the Tripartite Convention of January 9, 1930.
Article 7 of that Convention provides that the Convention
shall cease to have effect on the termination of the special
relations existing between His Britannic Majesty and His
Majesty the King of Iraq in accordance with the Treaty of
Alliance of 192225 and the Treaty of
1926.26 It further provides (1) that, on the
termination of the said special relations, negotiations
shall be entered into between the United States and Iraq for
the conclusion of a Treaty in regard to their future
relations and the rights of the nationals of each country in
the territories of the other and (2) that pending the
conclusion of such an Agreement United States citizens, and
United States interests in general, will enjoy
most-favoured-nation treatment. Consequently pending the
conclusion of a new agreement United States citizens in Iraq
will be entitled to enjoy the same
[Page 683]
judicial privileges as those enjoyed
by the nationals of the most favoured foreign
country.
- 6.
- In these circumstances, and in view of the impending
termination of the Mandatory régime, although the rights of
United States citizens in judicial matters, as indicated
above, are fully protected, not only by the arrangements
described in paragraph 2 of the present note, but also by
the most-favoured-nation rights secured to the United States
by Article 7 of the Tripartite Convention, the United States
Government will no doubt consider the desirability of taking
the necessary steps to negotiate the new Agreement, provided
for in paragraph 2 of Article 7 of the Tripartite Convention
with the Iraqi Government direct.
I have [etc.]
(For the Secretary of State:)
G. W.
Rendel
