File No. 841.731/707
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
No. 1711]
London,
June 30, 1915.
[Received July 13.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith a
copy of a note I have just received from the Foreign Office to the
effect that the British Government have decided upon the principles of
an arrangement whereby notification will be made to the senders of
telegrams detained by the British censors, and the whole or part of the
charges paid for transmission will be refunded under certain conditions
which are set forth therein.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure]
The British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Grey) to the
American Ambassador (Page)
Sir: I have the honour to inform you that
His Majesty’s Government have decided upon the principles of an
arrangement whereby notification will be made to the senders of
telegrams detained by the British censors, and the whole or a part
of the charges paid for transmission will be refunded under the
following conditions:
- 1.
- No reimbursement will be made if the unexpended balance is
less than five francs per telegram.
- 2.
- Reimbursement will be made only on application by the
senders through the administration of the country of origin,
and every application must be accompanied by a written
statement from the addressee that the relative telegram has
not been delivered.
- 3.
- No Information will be given as to the method in which the
amount reimbursed is arrived at, and no enquiry on this
point will be entertained.
- 4.
- Reimbursement will be admitted only in the case of
countries which apply the same method of treatment to
telegrams originating in the United Kingdom.
- 5.
- Reimbursement will not be admitted in the case of
telegrams which do not conform to the conditions laid down
in the British notification of August 3, 1914.
- 6.
- The foregoing arrangements will be applied only in the
case of telegrams forwarded on or after June 15, 1915, and
in no circumstances will it be applied to telegrams sent
prior to that date.
In making the concessions in question His Majesty’s Government are
actuated solely by a desire to mitigate as far as possible the
inconvenience to commercial and private interests inseparable from
the exercise of the censorship over British-controlled cables, and
they therefore consider it desirable to make it clear that these
concessions in no respect diminish the rights of censorship secured
to them under international agreements, which they claimed at the
beginning of the present war, and that no admission of liability is
involved thereby.
I have the honour to suggest that correspondence respecting any
further details of the arrangement above mentioned should, for the
sake of greater despatch, be made the subject of direct
communication between the United States and British postal
administrations.
I have [etc.]
For the Secretary of State:
Maurice De Bunsen
