File No. 841.731/874
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Page)
Sir: The Department transmits, herewith, copy of a letter dated August 24, 1915, with accompanying enclosures, from the Acting [Page 723] Secretary of the Navy, concerning the refusal of the British authorities at Shanghai and Hongkong to pass the official telegrams of this Government when sent in code.1
Please bring this matter most urgently to the attention of the Foreign Office and ask that steps be taken, with as little delay as possible, to obviate the difficulty complained of by the Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet, in order that the official telegrams of this Government, in code or otherwise, may be permitted to pass without being censored.
In your communication to the Foreign Office it is suggested that you refer to the complaint of the colonel commanding China Expedition, U. S. A., that his official telegrams to the commanding general, Philippine Department, were held up by the censors at Hongkong. This matter was brought to your attention in the Department’s telegram No. 269, of October 6, 1914, and your reply No. 892, of October 23, 1914, stated that the British Government had expressed its regret that the messages in question had been delayed and would do everything possible to facilitate the transmission of such telegrams.2
I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1914, Supplement, pp. 511 and 512.↩