Mr. Hay to Mr. Eddy.
Washington, December 23, 1904.
(Mr. Hay instructs Mr. Eddy to inform the Russian Government that the United States Government is deeply interested in the seizures of American-owned goods as contraband of war by the Russian naval authorities; that all possible assistance in taking their appeals from the decisions of the Vladivostok prize court to the council of admiralty has been rendered to the claimants by this Government; that on account of the great distance and the difficulty of communication by reason of warlike operations and the unfamiliarity of Americans with Russian judicial procedure, claimants desiring to take such appeals have found it impossible to do so within the prescribed time limits, and that the United States Government requests that the Russian Government extend the time limits in order that all American claimants may be enabled to take effective appeals and have a decision of each case on its merits. It is expected that the importance of the questions at issue and the interest of the United States Government in a just and satisfactory solution of them will lend all possible weight to this request.)