[Inclosure 1 in No. 764.]
Mr. White to Lord
Salisbury.
Legation of the United States,
Washington, May 4,
1888.
My Lord: I have the honor to acquaint you that
the Secretary of State has been informed by the United States minister
at Honolulu that Sir William Wiseman, commanding
[Page 728]
Her Majesty’s ship Caroline, had, daring a recent cruise of that vessel, taken
possession, in “behalf of Great Britain, of the three islands known as
Fanning, Christmas, and Penrhyn, lying from 1,000 to 1,800 miles from
Oahu; and I beg to add that, in view of this intelligence, my Government
deems it proper to recall to your lordship’s recollection the note
addressed on the 29th of January, 1879, by Sir Edward Thornton, Her
Majesty’s minister at Washington, with regard to the possessory rights
to Christmas Island, to Mr. Evarts, at that time Secretary of State of
the United States, and the latter’s reply to the same dated April 1,
1879.
The Christmas Island referred to in this correspondence is “situated in
1° 40’ 30” north latitude, and 157° 14’ 77” (sic)
west longitude,” and is presumed to be the island bearing that name of
which the British occupation is now reported.
I have, etc.,
[Inelosure 2 in No. 764.]
Lord Salisbury to
Mr. White.
Foreign
Office, May 24,
1888.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your communication of the 14th instant! in regard to the
recent annexation by Great Britain of Christmas and other islands in the
Pacific, and in reply thereto I beg to furnish you with the following
statement of facts in connection therewith.
I would observe that it appears from the correspondence to which you
refer as having passed in the year 1879 between Sir E. Thornton and Mr.
Evarts, upon the subject of Christmas Island, in connection with the
right of extracting guano therefrom, that the United States Government
were then asked, in a friendly manner, whether they had finally
abandoned and withdrawn their claim to the island in question. The reply
made was that, as the American company to whom the grant had originally
been made in 1858 to take possession of this island, “in conformity with
the act of Congress of the 18th of August, 1856” (that is to say, for
the sole purpose of extracting guano), “had not notified their
abandonment of the island, they were still considered to be entitled to
the protection guarantied by the laws of the United States in their
possessory rights, so far as such occupation might be necessary to
secure to the company, or their assigns, the deposits of guano found
thereon.”
But although the American company would appear to have omitted to notify
officially to the United States Government the fact that they had
abandoned Christmas Island, it is evident that it had been abandoned
before the 17th of April, 1882, now six years ago, for when the master
of the ship Regno, belonging to Messrs. Henderson
& Macfarlane, of Auckland, landed on the island on that day they
found it unoccupied, and accordingly proceeded to hoist the British flag
and to take possession of it in the name of the firm.
Again, when, in October, 1884, the captain of Her Majesty’s ship Constance visited Christmas Island, he reported
that it was then owned by Messrs. Henderson & Macfarlane, of
Auckland, and he described it as “English.” So again in November, 1885,
when the captain of Her Majesty’s ship Satellite
then visited it, he reported that he had, on his arrival, communicated
with the only white man there, Mr. Freeman, agent of Messrs, Henderson
& Macfarlane; and in conclusion I am to say that Capt. Sir W.
Wiseman reported, on the 3d of April last, that he had not taken formal
possession of the island on the 17th of the preceding month until he had
communicated with the agent of Messrs. Henderson & Macfarlane and
had satisfied himself that there was no evidence on the spot of the
island being still claimed by the United States or that it was occupied
by United States citizens.
I have, etc.,
