Mr. Choate to Mr.
Hay.
American Embassy,
London, March 11,
1902.
No. 806.]Sir: Referring to Mr. White’s dispatch No. 687,
of October 19 last, to your instruction No. 839 of February 14, and to
previous correspondence, I have the honor to inclose herewith the copy
of a note which I addressed to the Marquis of Lansdowne on the 3d
instant relative to the case of H. McGaw Wood.
I also inclose the copy of a private note which Mr. White has received
to-day from the Right Hon. St. John Brodrick, His Majesty’s secretary of
state for war, in reply to the appeal made by the former in Wood’s
behalf, and from which you will see that His Majesty’s Government is not
disposed to make any concessions with respect to this prisoner of
war.
Upon receipt of Lord Lansdowne’s reply to my note of the 3d I shall lose
no time in communicating a copy of the same to you.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Mr. Choate to
Lord Lansdowne.
American Embassy, London, March 3,
1902.
My Lord: With reference to the memorandum
of October 26 last, which you were good enough to communicate to Mr.
White, and particularly to the final paragraph thereof, setting
forth the circumstances under which His Majesty’s secretary of state
for war is prepared to consider applications for the release of
prisoners of war, i. e., dangerous or serious illness, I have the
honor to bring again to the attention of your lordship the case of
Harry McGaw Wood, an American citizen, who is a prisoner of war in
Ceylon, and in respect to whom I had the honor of writing to you on
the 14th of last May.
[Page 484]
It now appears from information received lately from Wood that his
health has suffered seriously at Ragama, and during his detention at
Wellikade convict establishment, where he would seem to have lost 6
pounds during a period of three weeks and to be 25 pounds below his
normal weight.
He asserts that for two months preceding and one month following his
capture he was suffering from enteric fever and his condition was
such that the medical officer at Barberton promised to recommend his
release; that he was removed to hospital, Barberton, to hospital,
Pretoria (general hospital No. 2), thence to barracks and thence to
Cape Town, whence he embarked for Ceylon; that he was, from leaving
general hospital No. 2 to his embarkation, continually being treated
for stomach and mild dysentery; that he landed, after a week’s
illness on the Catalonia, in general
hospital, Colombo, whence he was sent to Diyatalawa and thence to
Ragama; that two weeks’ parole in June built him up very much; but
he put in a week of August in Ragama hospital, and on recovering was
sent to where he now is.
My Government’s attention has been called to this case by one of the
Senators from Wood’s State, who appeals to me on behalf of Wood’s
widowed mother, who is over 70 years of age, and who is suffering
great anxiety for him, and I am instructed by the Secretary of State
to inquire of your lordship whether the condition of his health is
not sufficiently serious to bring him within the category mentioned
in your memorandum aforesaid of prisoners whose release the
secretary of state for war is prepared to consider; and, if not,
whether it may not at least be possible to cause him to be
transferred from Ceylon to a more salubrious place of detention,
such as Bermuda.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Mr. Brodrick to
Mr. White.
Wak
Office, March 8,
1902.
My Dear White: My appeal to Lord Kitchener
on behalf of H. M. Wood, now a prisoner of war, has failed, as I
feared it would.
He objects, as was to be expected, to making concessions to men in
such a position as Wood’s in contradistinction to those who are our
bona-fide enemies.
Yours, truly,
