Baron Moncheur to Mr. Hay.
Washington, April 8, 1902.
Mr. Secretary of State: I have transmitted to my Government the communication that your excellency was pleased to address to me [Page 79] on the 11th of January last, and in which you advised me of the grounds upon which the claim of the Compagnie Générale Beige des Philippines for the restitution of a fine imposed on the owners of the steamer Belgika was rejected.
My Government, after a perusal of that document, has no idea of contesting the strict right of the authorities of the United States to impose a fine on the steamer Belgika, but it directs me to point out to your excellency the many circumstances that make for the Belgian society. In the contract it had entered into with the firm Mendoza & Co. there was a formal clause inhibiting the said charterers from infringing in anyway the provisions of law governing the coastwise trade in the Philippines. It did not participate, whether directly or indirectly, in the offense committed by Mendoza & Co. by means of the Belgika, but the bankruptcy of the said firm puts the Belgian society under a severe hardship, since its legal remedies in the case are now rendered worthless.
My Government therefore hopes that the Government of the United States will kindly take into consideration the circumstances which place on innocent parties the penalty incurred by others, and that it will consent, in a spirit of equity, to reduce appreciably the amount of the heavy fine of $30,000 Mexican, which is a severe burden on the company.
Remissions of this kind are frequently granted by Governments when they are, as in this case, satisfied of the claimants’ good faith.
By thus graciously conceding a similar favor to our fellow-countrymen, the Government of the United States would prevent an unmerited loss from compromising the outset of an enterprise worthy of being encouraged, and will secure the gratefulness of honorable men who intend to comply under all circumstances with the laws and regulations of the country.
Ever since the occurrence which occasioned the fine, the Belgian company has maintained excellent relations with the American authorities in the Philippines, and has constantly striven to render every service that they wished for.
Its steamers have very frequently been used for the transportation of troops and army supplies; more than once have they gone out of their regular course for that purpose. They have repeatedly declined to take cargo of private persons in order to give entire satisfaction to the American authorities.
The minister for foreign affairs at Brussels, in sending me the foregoing communication, adds that the favorable reception of the request I am instructed to lay before your excellency, and to which he attaches great importance, would be taken as a flattering token of the good will of the United States toward our fellow-countrymen.
I eagerly embrace this opportunity, etc.,