Mr. Gresham to Baron Saurma.
Washington, December 21, 1893.
Excellency: I have the honor to apprise you of the receipt of a note from the British ambassador of the 12th instant, in reference to the proposition of Her Majesty’s Government that the wives of Mataafa [Page 697] and his banished followers should be permitted to rejoin their husbands in their exile. In his note of the 19th ultimo, to the British chargé d’affaires at Berlin, copy of which Sir Julian incloses, Baron Marschall concurs in the proposition of Her Majesty’s Government, but adds 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 actuated the British Government in the premises, but before giving the assent of the Government of the United States, he would be glad to learn how long a time, approximately, it is proposed to keep these deported chiefs in exile.
Awaiting an expression of the views of His Imperial Majesty’s Government on the subject, and adding that a note in this sense has been addressed to your colleague, the British ambassador,
Accept, etc.,