Mr. Eustis to Mr. Adee.

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.,

J. B. Eustis
.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 349.]

Mr. Eustis to Mr. Hanotaux.

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.,

J. B. Eustis
.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 349.]

Mr. Eustis to Mr. Hanotaux.

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.,

J. B. Eustis
.
[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.,

G. Hanotaux
.
[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.,

G. Hanotaux
.