By their aid, however, and with a view of giving Lord Salisbury such
information as I had received, I have to-day prepared and sent to him a
note referring to our interview, and adding such details as I had, of
which note I inclose a copy. I have assumed that these very small
shipments are but a small part of the goods belonging to American
citizens which are involved in the seizures, and have made my request
for restitution broad enough to cover all there are.
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Choate to
the Marquis of Salisbury.
American Embassy, London, January 4,
1900.
My Lord: Since our interview of yesterday,
in which I stated the views of my Government in regard to the
seizure by H. M. S. Partridge of certain
flour shipped by American citizens on the British vessel Mashona for Delagoa Bay, I have received
certain papers throwing further light on the case.
Your Lordship will remember that upon the understanding which you
confirmed that the Mashona was seized by the
British authorities for a violation of the municipal laws of Great
Britain, for trading with the enemy, and that the seizure or
detention of the flour was incidental to the seizure of the vessel,
my Government’s view was that the flour, to which no such offense
could be imputed, could not under the circumstances of the case, as
understood by it, be admitted to be subject to capture because not
contraband of war, and I therefore asked for its prompt restitution
to the American owners.
[Page 544]
Your lordship seemed much impressed by the supposed fact that the
flour was marked Z. A. R., which might mean the South African
Republic, but you courteously took my request under consideration. I
also represented to your lordship that if the seizure had been made
on account of the flour carried by the ship my Government could not
recognize the validity of the seizure under any belligerent right of
capture of provisions and other goods shipped by American citizens
in ordinary course of trade to the port of a neutral State. So that
in any aspect of the case, so far as the circumstances have been
communicated to my Government, nothing appeared to justify the
seizure of the goods complained of. The seizure not being of the
flour as contraband, your lordship very naturally refrained for the
time being from formulating your views on the subject of provisions
as contraband.
The papers which. I have now received show that Flint, Eddy &
Co., a very reputable firm of merchants, doing business in New York,
American citizens, shipped on the Mashona,
property belonging to them, consisting of 400 bags of flour, 5 cases
canned soup, and 25 cases Quaker oats, marked on the invoice F. B.
& Co., Delagoa Bay—no mark Z. A. R. appeared thereon—consigned
to order and invoiced to F. Bridler & Co., a firm of merchants
doing a large local business there, believed by the shippers to be a
German firm and not citizens of either the Transvaal Republic or the
Orange Free State. The value of this particular invoice is not
large, but the interruption to the business of the shippers is very
serious.
The same firm shipped on the Maria, which your
lordship understood to be in the same category as the Mashona—a British vessel, seized for a
violation of the municipal law of Great Britain, for trading with
the enemy—65 cases canned goods and libbys, 40 cases lard, 20 bags
peas and beans, and 1 case containing lemon squeezer and nail
pullers, and 1 case hardware—all marked on the invoice in the same
way, F. B. & Co., Delagoa Bay, no mark Z. A. R. appearing
thereon, invoiced to the same firm here described as of Lourenço
Marquez, and also consigned to order.
These goods are drawn against, and are invoiced for account and risk
of the consignees, but the goods not being delivered, the loss will
naturally rest upon the American shippers, the actual owners
thereof.
Messrs. Flint, Eddy & Co. shipped other goods belonging to them
on the Mashona for account of Fowlie &
Boden, London, of which I have no particulars, but they are probably
included in the seizures, and there may be other American shippers
having goods on the Mashona and Maria, and also involved. I of course make
the same request for the restitution of Flint, Eddy & Co.’s
goods by the Maria as for those upon the Mashona.
By the Beatrice, according to my information
just received, Mr. R. W. Geldart, of New York City, an American
citizen, shipped an invoice of beer and lard belonging to him to a
Portuguese firm in Lourenco Marquez, and that the same, by order of
Her Majesty’s Government, has been discharged into lighters at East
London without Mr. Geldart’s consent, whereby the liability of the
ship and of the insurers of the goods ceased, and in respect to this
transaction I am instructed to request a statement of the facts and
of the grounds for taking the cargo out of the ship. Mr. Geldart’s
shipment was one of a series under a monthly order commencing last
March.
Your lordship will be so kind as to regard my request for restitution
to embrace all merchandise shipped by American citizens on the Mashona and Maria
which may have been detained or seized, and as I receive further
particulars I will transmit them to you.
I have, etc.,
