File No. 312/65.

The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister of Panama.

No. 56.]

Sir: Referring to your note of the 22d ultimo and the department’s reply of the 3d instant in regard to the landing of the cable of the Central & South American Telegraph Co., I have the honor to say that the department, as stated in its note of August 3, transmitted a copy of your note to the Secretary of War, who, under date of August 16, advises me as follows:

Under the terms of the treaty [between the United States and Panama] and under the provisional delimitation agreement of June 15, 1904, the waters of Manzanillo Bay below mean low-water mark should be regarded as territory of the Canal Zone, and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The cable of the Central & South American Telegraph Co. was laid pursuant to a permit granted by the President of the United States, and has been laid through the waters of Manzanillo Bay beyond the mean low-water mark, and landed within the city of Cristobal.

As will be seen from this statement of the Secretary of War, the cable of the Central & South American Telegraph Co. has been laid in waters which, by the terms of Article II of the convention of November 18, 1903, are comprised in the grant to the United States for its use, occupation, and control.

Accept, etc.,

Alvey A. Adee.