504.418B1/211
The Minister in the Netherlands ( Emmet ) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 17.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s Instruction No. 168, of August 2nd, 1935, concerning the attitude of the Netherlands Government towards the Roerich Pact.
In accordance with the aforesaid instruction, I called on Jhr. Snouck Hurgronje, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 21st, 1935, discussed the matter with him and gave him a copy of the Convention which the Department of State had sent me containing the text of the Roerich Pact, and requested him to advise me how the Government of the Netherlands is disposed to regard the Convention.
Jhr. Snouck Hurgronje said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knew something about the Roerich Pact already as it had been brought to their attention before; however, he wished to confer further with his advisers on League of Nations matters and with some of his other colleagues before expressing an opinion on behalf of the Government as to the attitude of the Netherlands. He said he would make an appointment with me shortly to discuss the matter further.
A few days ago, Mr. Snouck Hurgronje sent word that he would like to see me again concerning the Roerich Pact and this morning [Page 506] I called upon him. He pointed out to me that on October 23rd, 1934, the Association Française Nicolas de Roerich had approached the Minister of the Netherlands in Paris concerning the attitude of the Netherlands Government towards the Roerich Pact and that at that time the Netherlands Government had declared itself to be sympathetic to the idea but that it did not see its way clear to accede.
Again on April 24th, 1935, nine days after the pact had been signed at Washington by the President of the United States of America7a and representatives of 20 other Pan-American Countries the Director General of the Pan-American Union, through the Netherlands Minister at Washington, D. C., made an inquiry as to the view with which the Government of the Netherlands was disposed to regard the Roerich Pact and again the Government of the Netherlands replied that it was sympathetic to the idea, but at the time it did not see its way clear to take action.
Jhr. Snouck Hurgronje expressed some surprise that the American Government or the Pan-American Union did not know of these two earlier approaches to the Government of the Netherlands.
He thereupon made further inquiries as to whether the pact had actually been signed and as to whether the United States was actually a party to it. Upon my assuring him again that the United States of America had become a party to the pact on April 15th, 1935,7b at which time the 20 other Pan-American countries had also approved it he said that he wished to consult further with his colleagues. Provisionally he was prepared to say that the Government of the Netherlands was sympathetic to the idea. He wished, however, to find out something more of the attitude of other European Governments concerning the pact and intimated that it was not unlikely that the Netherlands Government might in the near future indicate its willingness to be invited to sign.
As matters were left, the Netherlands Government will make further inquiries and investigations and Jhr. Snouck Hurgronje has promised to notify me as soon as possible whether the Netherlands Government will now be prepared to accede and accept an invitation to sign the pact. I shall report further as soon as anything new transpires.8
Respectfully yours,
- The treaty was not signed by President Roosevelt but by the Secretary of Agriculture, Henry A. Wallace.↩
- The United States did not become a party to the treaty until August 26, 1935, the date on which the treaty came into force.↩
- No further communication on this subject from the Netherlands Government was reported by the American Legation.↩