Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay.
Sir: By my note of the 28th of April, I had the honor to inform you that I had duly communicated to Her Majesty’s principal secretary of state for foreign affairs a copy of your note (No. 1422) of the 27th of April, respecting the legislation passed in certain States of the Union unfavorable for foreign insurance companies.
I am now in receipt of a further dispatch from the Marquis of Salisbury on the subject, in which his lordship states that there was no question of the violation of any treaty existing between the United Kingdom and the United States, but that Her Majesty’s Government merely desired to point out that British insurance companies would be placed at a disadvantage in certain States as compared with those of the United States themselves or even with those of certain foreign countries. Her Majesty’s Government consequently suggested that an arrangement should be concluded between the two Governments which would prevent British companies from being subjected to unfavorable treatment by discriminatory legislation.
I am therefore instructed to renew the representations on this subject contained in Sir Julian Pauncefote’s note of the 5th of April, and to again propose that a treaty “ad hoc” shall be concluded between the United Kingdom and the United States.
I have, etc.,