Mr. Gresham to Sir Julian Pauncefote.
Washington, December 21, 1893.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 12th instant in regard to the proposition of Her Majesty’s Government that the wives of Mataafa and his banished followers should be permitted to rejoin their husbands in their exile. In his note of the 19th ultimo, copy of which you inclose, the German minister for foreign affairs states that “before definite instructions on the subject are issued to the consuls it will be necessary to obtain the concurrence of the Government of the United States to the proposed action.”
The President recognizes the humane motives that prompted Her Majesty’s Government in the premises, but before giving the assent of the Government of the United States he would be glad to learn for how long a time, approximately, it is proposed to keep these deported chiefs in exile.
Awaiting the further views of Her Majesty’s Government upon the subject, and adding that a note in this sense has been addressed to your colleague, the German ambassador,
I have, etc.,