Source Documents - Diplomatic.If we assume that our hypothesis is correct, that gold purchased by French banking interests for the Russian Loan was lost aboard the REPUBLIC, diplomatic correspondence to this effect between France, the United Kingdom and the United States should have occurred and should be available through the respective national records depositories. An examination of the U. S. Department of State records in the National Archives, Washington, D. C. follows: This is in reply to your letter of October 20, 1984, regarding the vessel REPUBLIC. Within the series of numerical and minor files of the Department of State, two numerical case files relate to this vessel. One, 18102, contains but a single item, as well as another [several] sheet[s] bearing the notation that other documentation was missing when bound [marked "Missing when papers were bound"]. We have been unable to locate the remainder of file 18102 among the records in our custody. The second file, 19788, deals with the award of a medal by the French government to the vessel's wireless operator. This file is reproduced on roll 1073 [file 18102 is on roll 1026] of National Archives Microfilm Publication M862. ... J. Dane Hartgrove, Legislative and Diplomatic British Foreign Office records, contained within the Public Records Office, also index an item for the REPUBLIC (with the same file number for the FLORIDA); file number 118[and 7?] 13101 09 is not shelved. Copies of a series of telegrams dealing with U. S. to France gold export engagements, from the French Consul General at New York to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, American Section, France, were located at the French National Archives, Paris. The copies were provided to the Ministry of Finance and were located within that department's record group. Each telegram relayed one or more of the following pieces of information: amount of money to be shipped, name of engaging institution, and the name of the transporting vessel. All of the information relayed by the consular dispatches was information that was public knowledge on or prior to the date of each dispatch. The totals for shipments reported by the Consul General replicate those reported in the newspapers, primarily the New York Commercial and the Journal of Commerce, and differ from the actual amount exported as reported by U. S. Customs Service; the Consul General's information was apparently derived from the newspapers! They are sequentially numbered from the beginning of each year. However, the six (6) dispatches dated between January 12th and April 24th 1909, numbers 2 through 7, have not been located. | |
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