File No. 763.72111/1181
The Chargé d’Affaires in Colombia (Harrison) to the Secretary of State
Bogotá, November 27, 1914.
[Received December 17.]
No. 117]
Sir: In confirmation of my telegram of November 21, 7 p.m.,1 relative to the explanation for delivery to the Colombian Government contained in your telegraphic instruction dated November 16, 6 p.m.,2 and in further reference to my despatch No. 116 of November 18, 1914,3 regarding the complaint made by the British and French Governments against the Government of Colombia for failure properly to maintain strict neutrality, I have the honor to enclose herewith for your information several clippings from local newspapers which contain various telegrams from Panama, London, Washington, and Buenos Aires, also editorial comments and the correspondence between the Foreign Office and the British and French Legations on this subject as well as my note communicating the message of your telegram of the 16th instant referred to above4
The first news of the complaint was received by the Gaceta Republicana from Panama and published on the evening of Friday the 13th. It was confirmed by telegrams from Buenos Aires and Washington published in El Liberal of the morning of the 17th. The evening papers of that day and of the morning of the 18th published editorials criticizing the step taken by France and Great Britain and expressing apprehension regarding the possible attitude of the United States in the matter.
The morning papers of the 19th published further telegrams from Washington even more misleading. That same morning, as I was unable to see the Minister on the 18th, I communicated verbally your message and since I had not had recourse to the Colombian Government for information as to whether it was maintaining strict neutrality, I had no difficulty in convincing Dr. Suárez that the purpose of your inquiry had been misconstrued and that the United States had no thought of attempting to control the action of other governments.
The Minister highly appreciated the spirit and friendliness of your message and asked me if I had no objection to put it in writing, as he desired to publish the correspondence which had passed between the Ministry and the British and French Legations on the subject. This I did that afternoon and a Spanish translation of my note was published in El Liberal of the 20th.
I have the honor to enclose copies of my note of the 19th to Dr. Suárez and of his reply dated the 23d with English translation.5
As reported in my telegram of November 21, 7 p.m., the publication of my note and the correspondence had an excellent effect and the incident was closed.
[Page 700]Among the correspondence published by Dr. Suárez, which is by no means all the dossier, I would respectfully invite the Department’s attention to the Minister’s note of November 14, informing the British Chargé that instructions had been issued to exclude the German employees from the wireless station at Cartagena and to Mr. Bowie’s private note of the same date expressing his appreciation of the attention given by Dr. Suárez to his numerous requests; also to tie French Charge’s note of the 17th to the effect that in the absence of instructions from his Government, he denied the truth of the newspaper report that he had been ordered to make a protest to the Colombian Government for failure to enforce neutrality.
The Department will note that by virtue of the contract between the Colombian Government and the German wireless company of May 23, 1912, the company has a right to continue working in time of war, on the condition that it submit to official censorship.
My French colleague tells me that he has now received telegraphic advices from his Government that the protest was made at the suggestion of the British Government, who complained that the Colombian Government had not paid sufficient attention to the protests made by the Legations here.
It would seem, however, as if the report made by Captain Gaunt to his Government from Cartagena at the end of October, in which he stated that the station was completely under German influence, although nominal censorship had been established, was the real cause of the complaint. But Gaunt at that time was under the impression that German wireless stations in the United States had been closed and did not know that the company had a contract right to remain open during war time. After his arrival here and especially after the German employees had been excluded from the station, he had no complaint to make.
As I had the honor to report in my telegram of the 21st, the manner of making the protest has caused unfavorable comment even amongst the friends of France and Great Britain.
In my conversation with the Minister when I conveyed your message and gave the explanation of the purport of the inquiry, especially as regards the request that the United States Government use its influence with Colombia, Dr. Suárez expressed his own and his Government’s endorsement of the principle that the United States, as the leader among the Republics of America, was called upon to use her moral influence with her sister Republics in just such cases as this, an attitude which I regret to say is not often reflected in the expressions of public men or encountered in the press of Colombia.
I have [etc.]