Mr. Eustis to
Mr. Adee.
Embassy of the United States,
Paris, August 7, 1895. (Received August
19.)
No. 349.]
Sir: With the view of completing the
records of the Department in the case of Mr. Waller, I have the
honor to send herewith copies and translations of correspondence
exchanged between this embassy and the foreign office, viz: Note to
Mr. Hanotaux of date July 18, 1895, with reference to access to
Waller; note to Mr. Hanotaux of August 2, again asking for evidence
and access to Waller; note from Mr. Hanotaux, August 5, granting
access; note from Mr. Hanotaux, August 6, stating that evidence has
been telegraphed for and would likely be received at the end of the
month.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
349.]
Mr. Eustis
to Mr. Hanotaux.
Embassy of the United States,
Paris, July 18, 1895.
Sir: In answer to my renewed request to
he informed whether a representative of this embassy would be
permitted to communicate personally with Mr. Waller, your
excellency wrote, on the 6th of June last, that my request had
been called particularly to the attention of the minister of the
interior, and that you would at once communicate his answer when
received by you.
I venture to remind your excellency that I am still uninformed as
to the matter, and to again urge your excellency to give it your
immediate attention.
My Government has been advised that Mr. Waller is ill in prison.
If the information be correct, it considers it an additional and
cogent reason why a representative of this embassy should be
permitted to visit and converse with him. I should be pleased if
you would ascertain the fact and inform me, that in that event
he is receiving medical treatment.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
349.]
Mr. Eustis
to Mr. Hanotaux.
Embassy of the United States,
Paris, August 2, 1895.
Sir: I am instructed by a cable from
the State Department to immediately and urgently represent to
the French Government that the delay in furnishing official
evidence in the case of John Waller and denial to me of access
to him are not only unjust and oppressive to him, but
discourteous to the Government of the United States.
I am instructed to again call for the official evidence in the
case, and if not furnished to ask for a specific statement of
reasons why it is not furnished; and if steps have been taken to
furnish it, that a time be fixed when it will be furnished.
I am further instructed to again request access to Mr. Waller,
and if the same be denied, to ask for a specific statement of
grounds upon which such denial is based.
Hoping that this urgent communication will receive your
excellency’s immediate attention,
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 3 in No.
349—Translation.]
Mr. Hanotaux to Mr. Eustis.
Mr. Ambassador: As I had the honor to
inform your excellency, I made known to the minister of the
interior the importance you attached to obtaining that one of
the members of your embassy should be authorized to communicate
freely with Mr. Waller, ex-consul of the United States at
Madagascar, condemned to twenty years’ [Page 275] imprisonment by the
court-martial at Tamatave, actually imprisoned in the Maison
Centrale at Clairvanse.
My colleague has just made known to me that he was quite disposed
to give satisfaction to the desire expressed by your excellency.
Still, the authorization in question having to be nominative, it
will be necessary that the penitentiary administration be first
informed of the name and standing of the person who will be
designated by your excellency to visit Mr. Waller. As soon as
this information shall have reached the minister of the interior
orders will be issued so that your envoy will be allowed to
converse with the above named.
I will be grateful to your excellency to kindly put me in the way
to answer M Leygues.
Accept, etc.,
[Inclosure 4 in No.
349—Translation.]
Mr. Hanotaux to Mr. Eustis.
Mr. Ambassador: You have kindly made
known to me again the importance you attach to having made known
to you the evidence in the case brought against Mr. Waller,
ex-consul of the United States at Madagascar, condemned by the
court-martial at Tamatave to twenty years’ detention for
correspondence with the enemy. You expressed to me, at the same
time, the desire to know on what date these documents could be
communicated to you.
As I had the honor to inform your excellency on the 10th of July
last, I had, at the beginning of the same month, asked the
minister of war to request by cable the general commander in
chief of the expeditionary corps of Madagascar to give orders
that the dossier of the affair should be sent to Paris with the
briefest delay possible.
In reply to the last communication which I have addressed him on
this subject, General Zurlinden has just made known to me that
he has asked of General Duchesne by a telegram of the 14th of
July the dossier in question and that he will not fail to
transmit it to me as soon as it reaches his department.
There is reason to believe that the papers mentioned above will
reach Paris at the end of the present month. I hope, in
consequence, to be able in a measure at that time to give an
answer to the demand of your excellency, and I am confident that
you will recognize that the Government of the Republic has done
every ting which was possible, by reason of the difficulty of
communication with Madagascar, to give satisfaction to the
desire expressed by your excellency.
Accept, etc.,