No. 313.
Mr. Francis to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Lisbon, June 20, 1884. (Received July 5.)
Sir: The ocean cable telegraph project between “the mainland of Portugal and the Azores, and from thence to America, Great Britain, and Ireland, France, and Spain,” which has been the object of numerous concessions during the past fifteen years, to seven different companies [Page 449] who have successively failed to take even the preliminary steps toward the realization of the measure, seems now about to be carried out by “The American, British, and Continental Gable Company, Limited.”
By Article 2 of the concession a monopoly is granted the company in the following terms:
The Government concedes to this concessionaire the exclusive right for twenty years to lay submarine cables from Portugal to the Azorean Islands, and such as may connect these islands with Great Britain and Ireland, France, Spain, and any country mentioned in Article 4.
Article 4 reads as follows:
The cable from Portugal to America may consist of five or six sections, as follows: First, from Portugal to any one of the Azorean Islands, at the choice of the company; second, from thence to Bermuda; third, from Bermuda to the Bahama Islands; fourth, from Bermuda to the United States of America of the North; fifth, from the Bahamas to the Island of Cuba.
The monopoly thus granted is in violation of the principle that the Government of the United States should not permit the landing of an ocean cable on its shores; the concession for which involves a monopoly. It is with reference to this principle that the attention of the Department is called to this enterprise.
It is stipulated by the terms of the concession that the cable from the Island of St. Michael’s, Azores, to Lisbon, “or to the mouth of the river Minpo,” shall be ready for use by the month of September next, while that “connecting the Islands of Flores and Fayal with Falmouth and America” is to be completed by the month of March, 1885. The project further involves a system of cables between the more important islands of the Azorean archipelago, as well as the establishment of land lines in such of the islands as seem to require them.
Article 8 stipulates that the cable shall be opened for traffic between the Island of St. Michael’s and “one of the American States” within eighteen months after date of the concession.
The company has made a deposit with the Portuguese Government of £3,600 as a guarantee for the completion of its work as above set forth. The capital of the company, as stated in its prospectus, is 6,750 contos ($7,290,000).
The promoters of the enterprise express the fullest confidence of their ability to assure its success, doubtful as it is regarded by many as respects any promise of pecuniary profits.
I have, &c.,