Mr. Adee to Mr. Choate.
Washington, September 5, 1902.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch, No. 914, of the 11th ultimo, reporting a communication received by you from the foreign office stating that 10 prisoners of war of American nationality are still in the island of Ceylon, being unable to defray the cost of their passage home, and inquiring whether the United States Government wishes to let them remain to await their turn to be sent home or to make special arrangements for their conveyance.
I have also your later dispatch, No. 923, of August 21, inclosing a nominal roll of 13 prisoners of war at St. Helena, who are citizens of the United States. While no inquiry is made in this letter as to the wishes of the United States Government respecting these men, it may be presumed that they are in identical case with those in Ceylon.
You do not explain what arrangements for the return of these men are contemplated on the part of the British Government, although the inquiry as to whether they are to remain to await their turn to be sent home would suggest that some arrangement of that character is contemplated.
The reports we have received from the United States consul at Ceylon indicate that no arrangements for the return of these persons have been made. The instructions of the Department, and the communication addressed to you by the consul at Ceylon will have acquainted you with the conditions thereof, showing that the most the consul has been able to obtain is scanty subsistence for the men until he can make arrangements to send back those who are unable to provide for themselves. In one instance the person’s friends in the United States sent him money to defray his passage hither. This recourse, however, is not likely in the majority of the cases. The facilities on the part of the consulate for shipping these unfortunate men to their homes are very limited. I need scarcely suggest to you that they would be still more limited with respect to the persons at St. Helena, between which island and the United States there is practically no maritime communication.
[Page 497]The Government of Great Britain can not reasonably expect that the Government of the United States should provide transportation for these men to their homes, even if there were authority of law and appropriation available for such a purpose. It has not been able to do so in the case of men confined at Bermuda, although, happily, these latter, being near our shores, are not so hardly situated as those who, in accordance with the military interests of Great Britain, have been deported from South Africa to places remote from the scene of war and still more remote from the homes of the persons.
Under the circumstances, this Government deems it not unreasonable to entertain the hope that, as the present situation of these persons has been brought about in furtherance of the interested policy of the British Government, that Government will see its way to relieve them from the predicament which it has itself imposed and place the persons in some quarter from which they may enjoy the ordinary opportunities of returning to their homes, if, indeed, it be not equally reasonable to expect that their transportation home is contemplated in the communication made to you by the foreign office on the 8th instant. If the latter be the case, it is hoped that their turn to be sent home will not be long delayed, or, if delayed, that the delay shall not impose burdens upon the United States consulates for the maintenance and shipping of the men.
I have, etc.,
Acting Secretary.