No. 507.
Mr. Phelps
to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States.
London, February 4, 1888.
(Received February 15.)
No. 673.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith copies of
a telegram which I received from you on the 31st ultimo* and of my reply to the
same,† together
with those of my note to the Marquis of Salisbury respecting the refusal of
the Canadian authorities to allow the cargoes of the two American vessels to
be landed at Halifax, and of the answer thereto which I received from the
foreign office.
Yesterday morning your telegram of the 2d reached me, and I thereupon
addressed to the Marquis of Salisbury, in pursuance of your instructions
therein contained, a note, of which I inclose a copy herewith.
I am gratified by the promptitude with which Her Majesty’s Government has
caused this matter to be satisfactorily settled.
I have the honor, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 673.]
Mr. Phelps to Lord
Salisbury.
[Immediate.]
Legation of the United States,
Washington, February 1,
1888.
My Lord: I have the honor to acquaint you that
I have just received a cable dispatch from my Government informing me
that the consul-general of the United States at Halifax has reported
that two American vessels laden with fresh fish have been compelled to
put into that port for repairs, and that their cargoes will rot unless
allowed to be landed, which the Canadian authorities have forbidden as
being a violation of the treaty and of British statutes. The
consul-general adds that if this refusal be persisted in the fish must
be thrown overboard, serious loss being thereby inflicted upon the
owners of the vessels.
I am instructed to bring your lordship’s attention to this transaction,
which is regarded by my Government as afresh violation of the provisions
of the existing treaty between Great Britain and the United States as
well as of the ordinary comity that
[Page 698]
should subsist between two friendly nations. It is
made more pointed by having occurred while the representatives of the
two countries are actually engaged at Washington in an effort to adjust
the questions in dispute touching the fisheries And it is felt by my
Government to be an attempt on the part of the Canadian authorities to
bring to bear upon the negotiations a pressure similar to that which
they have previously employed to obtain from the United States an
alteration of its revenue laws.
I venture to add, my lord, the expression of my opinion that this
transaction, if persisted in, will have very grave consequences in its
probable effect on the negotiations now pending at Washington.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 673.]
Sir J. Pauncefote
to Mr. Phelps.
[Immediate.]
Foreign
Office, February 1,
1888.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter this day, relating to the refusal by the Canadian
authorities at Halifax to permit two American vessels with fresh fish on
board to land their cargoes at that port.
I beg leave to assure you, in reply, that this matter shall receive
immediate attention.
I have, etc.,
J.
Pauncefote.
(For the Marquis of
Salisbury.)
[Inclosure 3 in No. 673.]
Mr. Phelps to Lord
Salisbury.
Legation of the United States,
Washington, February 3,
1888.
My Lord: I am instructed by my Government to
express to your lordship the satisfaction it has felt with the prompt
and effectual interposition of Her Majesty’s Government in the matter of
certain American fishing vessels at Halifax, mentioned in my note to
your lordship of February 1, and in Sir Julian Pauncefote’s note of the
same date, in reply.
And I have the honor to be, etc.,
