Lord Pauncefote to Mr. Hay.
Washington, January 2, 1902.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that Mr. Lowther duly brought to the knoweldge of the government of Canada the contents of Mr. Adee’s note, No. 2251, of September 7 last, relative to the removal of a British red ensign which had been hoisted over the office of the Canadian customs officer at Skagway, and that I have now received a dispatch from the governor-general in reply to that communication, stating that his excellency’s government note with due appreciation the expression of the regret felt by your Government for the offense committed against the flag of a friendly power, that they concur in the suggestion made in Mr. Adee’s note that in future the practice of flying flags over the custom-houses of the one power which are situated within the jurisdiction of the other should be discontinued, and that they consider the incident closed.
The Canadian government further call attention to the statements made in the report of the United State’s agent at Skagway referred to in Mr. Adee’s note, to the effect that it is generally understood there that the criminal proceedings instituted by the general manager of the White Pass and Yukon Railway against Mr. Miller, the person who cut down the flag, were discontinued in accordance with instructions from Ottawa, and though attaching no special importance to this subordinate question, observe that no instructions relative to these proceedings were, in fact, issued by them.
I have, etc.,