File No. 841.731/943
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
No. 2087]
London,
September 1 1915
[Received September 13]
Sir: With reference to my despatch No. 1711 of
June 30, 1915, enclosing a copy of a circular note from the Foreign
Office dated June 26, 1915, in regard to the notification to senders of
telegrams detained by the British censorship authorities, I have the
honor to enclose herewith a copy of a further circular note I have
received from the Foreign Office, pointing out that it is not the
intention of the British Government that the senders of telegrams should
be notified in every case when their messages are stopped.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure—Circular]
The British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Grey) to the
American Ambassador (Page)
No. 117496/15]
London,
August 28, 1915.
Your Excellency: My attention has been
drawn to the fact that some misconception has arisen as to the
precise meaning of the first paragraph of my
[Page 725]
circular note of June 26 last (No. 80052/15)
in regard to the notification to senders of telegrams detained by
the British censorship authorities.
I have the honour to explain that it is not the intention of His
Majesty’s Government that the senders of telegrams should be
notified in every case when their messages are stopped.
When telegrams are stopped on technical grounds (e, g., owing to the
omission of the sender’s name, insufficiency of address of sender,
or addressee, etc.) but are otherwise unobjectionable from the point
of view of the censorship, the senders will be notified of the
detention of their telegrams, in order to give them an opportunity
of setting the matter right. In the case of other telegrams, when
the sender learns from the addressee that a telegram has not reached
its destination, and applies for reimbursement under the conditions
laid down in my above-mentioned circular, the fact that
reimbursement is made will be equivalent to a notification that the
telegram in question has been stopped by the censors.
I have [etc.]
For
Sir Edward
Grey:
Maurice De Bunsen
