Mr. White to Mr. Hay.
London, October 19, 1901.
Sir: Referring to your instruction No. 735, of the 30th ultimo, I have the honor to inform you that I attended the Marquis of Lansdowne’s reception at the foreign office yesterday and called his attention to the cases of the three prisoners of war of German nationality who are alleged to have been released in Ceylon and allowed to return to their homes. I also left with him a copy of the dispatch from our consul at Colombo on the subject, with its inclosure. His Lordship naturally had no personal knowledge of the matter, but promised at my request to cause inquiry to be made on the subject and to let me know the result. I said to him that if it should turn out that prisoners of German nationality, in good health, had been released from Ceylon and allowed to return to their homes, I felt sure that my Government would expect the same treatment to be accorded our fellow-citizens similarly situated, and would doubtless reopen the cases of the American citizens whose release has hitherto been refused.
I shall no fail to transmit promptly to the foreign office any information which may reach this embassy from our consul at Colombo, tending to prove the circumstances under which the liberation of the German prisoners took place.
I may add that upon the receipt, several weeks ago, of urgent letters from Mrs. Wood, mother of Harry McGaw Wood, one of the signers of the letter to Consul Morey, and from his brother, asking me to bring any personal influence which I might possess to bear in favor of the release on parole—“parole of the island” they called it—of that [Page 479] prisoner, I communicated on the subject with Mr. Secretary Brodrick, who is a friend of mine, and afterwards wrote him a private letter, asking him to do what he could toward granting to Mr. Wood the desired privilege. He promised to have inquiry made on the spot and then to see what he could do in the matter, but there has not yet been time enough for him to hear from Ceylon, and I have consequently heard nothing from him yet in reply.
I have, etc.,