No. 312.
Mr. Lowell
to Mr. Blaine.
London, March 12, 1881. (Received March 25.)
Sir: Referring to my No. 138, I have the honor to report that on receipt of Mr. Evarts’s telegram on the 7th of March, I had an interview with Lord Granville at the foreign office, the result of which I communicated to you by cable. I have very little to add except that I ascertained that Lord Granville’s ideas of a lump sum for the Fortune Bay claims, and those in your 109, did not rise above £6,000. He considered the £15,000 already offered, so “excessive” that it would be impossible to go before Parliament with it except as a payment in full.
I represented to him as strongly as I could that it looked much smaller to us than to him, and that it would promote a cordial understanding if these old claims could be got out of the way. I suggested that he should offer a larger sum for a full receipt up to that time, a few thousand pounds being of little importance compared with the amicable relations of the two nations. The justice of this view I have also endeavored to impress upon other members of the cabinet, as I chanced to meet them. I found them all very friendly and anxious to arrive at a final settlement of a delicate question, but apparently all of one mind as to the adequacy of the sum offered to cover the claims.
On the morning after my interview with Lord Granville, I sent him at his request a copy of such parts of your telegram as could properly be communicated to him.
On the arrival of your telegram, received on the 9th of March, I had another interview with Lord Granville at the foreign office and explained to him the passage about “advertising for claims,” which had puzzled him in Sir Edward Thornton’s dispatch. The result of our conversation I have already forwarded by cable. I have nothing of importance to add except that I insisted that up to the 26th of February my distinct understanding was that the £15,000 were offered for Fortune Bay claims and the two in your No. 109.
I omitted to mention in my former dispatch that Lord Granville, at one of our earlier interviews, wished me to inquire whether my government, in case it should become necessary, as suggested in your No. 109, to take measures for the protection of our fishermen, would have any objection to the sending of joint cruisers with joint orders. I have already stated this in my last telegram.
I have, &c.,