Mr. Day to Mr. Hay.
Washington, July 14, 1898.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 438 of the 25th ultimo, in which you convey the purport of your conversation with the Marquis of Salisbury in relation to the passage of the Suez Canal by ships of war.
Your action in merely referring to the convention of Constantinople of October 29, 1888, in relation to the free navigation of the Suez Canal, as defining the attitude of the contracting parties on the subject, is approved.
The object of the Department in telegraphing to you was threefold:
- 1.
- It was desired to avoid even the possibility of objection being made to the use of the canal by our ships of war at a time when the need for such use might be immediate and imperative.
- 2.
- The Department, while recognizing the general and unrestricted purpose of the convention of October 29, 1888, was not disposed wholly to rely upon it or formally to appeal to it, since the United States is not one of the signatory powers.
- 3.
- The Department was not disposed, by a formal appeal to the convention, to recognize a general right on the part of the signatories to say anything as to the use of the canal in any manner by the United States.
So far as the Department is advised, Great Britain is the only Government that owns any stock, or at any rate a considerable amount of stock, in the canal, and therefore the only one in a position to assert any claim of control on that ground.
The Department is gratified with the response made by Lord Salisbury to your inquiry.
Respectfully yours,