Count de Sartiges

The interwar Count de Sartiges was Anne-Marie Louis de Sartiges. His full name appears in a sworn declaration submitted to an American federal court in July 1926, when he acted as chargé d'affaires during Ambassador Henry Bérenger's absence. He was a different diplomat from Eugène de Sartiges, who represented France in the United States in the nineteenth century. ¹

Before Washington, he served as France's high commissioner in the Baltic region. He arrived in Riga in July 1920, with responsibility for French interests in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. His instructions included promoting French economic and cultural interests and countering Britain's commercial advantage while the new Baltic states sought international recognition. ²

His July 1926 affidavit asserted French sovereign immunity for the vessel Secundus, although the court rejected the submission as procedurally and substantively insufficient. In February 1927 he asked the State Department to clarify proposed American restrictions on foreign seamen, warning of burdens on French shipping and difficulties involving colonial crews. ^{1, 3}

He also carried messages during negotiation of the Kellogg–Briand Pact renouncing war. In April 1928 he delivered Aristide Briand's proposed treaty text and coordinated its public release with American officials. In July, while Paul Claudel was away, he transmitted the invitation for Secretary of State Frank Kellogg to attend the Paris signing on 27 August. ^{4, 5}