File 2249/1915 Pt 4 ‘Oil: Mesopotamia & Persia. (General File) 1920–24’ [‎66v] (132/484)

Enclosure in No. 4.
Mr Bainbridge Colby to Earl Curzon.
Department of State, Washington,
My Lord, , November 20, 1020. -
I HAVE the honour to refer to your note of the 9th August regarding tht
application of the principle of equality of treatment to the territories of the Near East
to be placed under mandates and specifically to the petroieum resources of those
territories as affected by that principle. . , , ,1 ,
Before considering the observations of His Majesty s Government on the general
principles advocated by the United States and agreed to by the Allied Powers for
application to the mandates over former Turkish territory as outlined in the
notes of the 12th May and of the 28th July addressed to you ori behalf of this
Government, I think it will clarify the discussion to indicate certain of your state
ments and assurances which this Government has been pleased to receive, thus 1 note
that the assignment to Great Britain of the mandate for Mesopotamia was made and
accepted subject to no friendly arrangement whatever with any third Government
regarding economic rights, which of course would have been wholly at variance with
the purpose and contemplation of any mandate. . . „ n ,,
It is also gratifying to learn that His Majesty’s Government is in full sympathy
with the several propositions formulated in the note of the 12th May above
referred to, which embody or illustrate the principles which this Government believes
should be applied in the mandated regions and which are essential to the practical
realisation of equality of treatment. ^ i
The statements of your note, to the effect that the British Government has
refrained from exploiting the petroleum resources of the mandated territories in
question; that the operations referred to have been conducted for purely militaiy
purposes under the immediate supervision of the army authorities and at army expense;
and that no private interests whatever are in any way involved, are accepted witti a full
sense of the good faith of the British Government.
The Government of the United States notes that His Majesty s Government has
found it necessary to suspend, during the period of occupation, the grant oy facilities
and opportunities to British as well as to other private interests to investigate the
natural resources of the country, either for the purpose of acquiring new claims or
strengthening old ones, and that there is no reason for assuming that the Administration,
either of Mesopotamia or of Palestine, has at any time failed to carry out the assuiances
of His Majesty’s Government.
This Government welcomes your pledges to the effect that the natura. resouices
of Mesopotamia are to be secured to the people of Mesopotamia and to the future Arab
State to be established in that region and that it is the purpose of the British Govern
ment, fully alive to its obligation as a temporary occupant, not only to secure, those
resources “to the Mesopotamian State, but also its absolute freedom of action in the
control thereof, and in particular that it is far from the intention of the Mandatoiy
Power to establish any kind of monopoly or preferred position in its own interest.
The Government of the United States appreciates likewise the concurrence with
its view that the merits of all claims to rights alleged to have been acquired in t e
mandated territories before the outbreak of hostilities must be duly established before
recognition of such claims will be accorded.
Adverting, at this point, to the views of His Majesty’s Government regarding the
nature of the responsibilities of Mandatory Powers under the League of Nations, !
desire to call to the attention of His Majesty’s Government the fact that, while the
draft mandate, form “A,” was not adopted *at Paris, it was the understanding of the
American representatives there present, that the British Government entertained and had
expressed convictions favourable to said form, and that, presumably, its representatives
would exercise their influence in conformity with those convictions.
I need hardly refer again to the fact that the Government of the United btates
has consistently urged that it is of the utmost importance to the peace of the
world that alien territory, transferred as a result of the war with the Central Powers,
should be held and administered in such a way as to assure equal treatment to the
commerce and to the citizens of ail nations. Indeed, it was in reliance upon an under
standing to this effect, and expressly in contemplation thereof, that the United btates
was persuaded that the acquisition under mandate .of certain enemy territory by the
victorious Powers would be consistent with the best interests of the world.