File No. 351.622a/71
The Chargé in France (Bliss) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 10.]
Sir: Referring to my telegrams regarding the release of Second Mate Miller of the S. S. Frederick Luckenbach , who was taken prisoner by the French naval authorities, near Saloniki, and whose liberation you directed this Embassy to request of the French Government in your telegram No. 16541 of August 12, I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy and translation of a note from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, stating that necessary orders were given by the Ministry of War on October 4 that Miller be set at liberty.2
As reported in my telegram No. 1646 of the 13th instant, Miller was released on October 10, and, through the good offices of the Consul General at Marseille, obtained opportunity to work his passage [Page 661] as fourth officer on board the American S. S. Satsuma which sailed the 12th instant. This vessel is expected to arrive at New York about the middle of November.
From the conversations I have had at the Foreign Office on this case and the repeated requests which were necessary in order to obtain the written confirmation of Miller’s release, I believe that the French Government was reluctant to make any written record of receding from the action taken by the naval authorities in Greek waters; the form in which this notification was finally sent the Embassy strengthens this belief. Without receiving instructions, however, I will not make further representations in the premises.
During the several interviews I have had at the Foreign Office on this matter, the reasons advanced for the arrest of Miller were that the vessel on which he was serving was acting suspiciously by not following the usual course in gaining the harbor of Saloniki to which she is said to have been bound, and especially that, after having been warned by a French torpedo vessel to follow the customary route, she persisted in altering her course as soon as she seemed free from observation. It was also contended that Miller having acquired American citizenship since the outbreak of war, his naturalization could not be recognized by the French Government.
I insisted upon the impropriety of the latter argument, and pointed out that in the arrest of Miller on board an American vessel, it was tantamount to claiming the right to arrest on neutral territory a citizen of that country who had obtained naturalization since the beginning of hostilities; that as regards the vessel not having complied with the requirements of the French naval authorities. Miller was not the officer of the vessel who could be held responsible in the circumstances and that his arrest and removal from the vessel was contrary to international law and to the rights of neutrals.
I have [etc.]