Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part I

No. 533.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Phelps.

Department of State,
Washington, July 30, 1888.

No. 937.]

Sir: Referring to my instruction of this date, touching the invitation to the Government of Great Britain to be represented at an international marine conference, to secure greater safety for life and property at sea, to be held at Washington on the 17th day of April of next year, I inclose herewith for your information copies of the act of Congress in pursuance of which such invitation was given, and of the President’s message to Congress commending the subject to their favorable attention and transmitting numerous documents in relation thereto.

I also inclose for your information copies of the circular invitation addressed to our ministers in the other maritime nations, which, as you will observe, is similar in tone to that addressed through you to the Government of Great Britain, but emphasizes rather the alacrity and unanimity with which the maritime powers have responded to ascertained needs of navigation, than the particular initiative of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government in bringing about desirable reforms, upon which it has been thought well to lay stress in inviting the concurrence of Great Britain in a more extended scheme of revision.

It has also seemed advisable in the general invitation to omit reference to the load-line question, inasmuch as it is not included in the purposes for which the conference is called as enumerated in the act; but in view of the great interest felt in Great Britain in regard to this subject of legislation, and the numerous efforts there made to deal effectively with the general question of sending ships to sea in an un-seaworthy state, it is hoped that the question shall be brought before the conference through the initiative of the British delegates and exhaustively considered.

It will be well for you to bear in mind, in such negotiations as you have in regard to this matter with Her Majesty’s Government, that the invitation addressed to it has been much more specific than that addressed to other Governments, in view, of course, of the very peculiar importance of securing the cordial co-operation of Great Britain in the proposed conference.

I am, etc.,

T. F. Bayard.

For circular instructions July 30, 1888, see Doc. No. 1131 post, page 1659.

For act of Congress approved July 9, 1888, see Doc. No. 1131 post, page 1662.

Ex. Doc. House of Representatives No. 62 not printed herewith.