File No. 763.72112/2536
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador (Spring Rice)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I have just received a message from the Commander in Chief of the American Asiatic Fleet stating that since April 5 six instances have been reported of visit and search of American vessels engaged in the coastwise trade of the Philippine Islands by belligerent vessels which are believed to be British ships. The boarding officer, he states, invariably refused to give the name of the vessel from which he came, and to make entries in the log books of the vessels boarded; and the boarding parties exceeded the [Page 685] customary limit as to arms and number of men. One of these visiting cruisers has been identified as H. M. S. Fantome. The Commander in Chief believes that these searches are being conducted for the purpose of finding particular Indians or Germans.
As I am under the impression that His Majesty’s ships that are patrolling in the vicinity of the Philippine Islands are auxiliary cruisers officered perhaps by inexperienced men, I believe it is only necessary for me to call attention to these non-observances of the customary rules regarding the display of colors by men-of-war while exercising belligerent rights, the entry in the log of the vessel searched of appropriate items, and the boarding of merchantmen by an officer and perhaps a few men instead of an armed force, to have your Government promptly instruct its naval officers in question to observe the recognized rules applicable to the exercise of visit and search.
I can not close this note, however, without calling your particular attention to the supposition of the Commander in Chief that the object of these visits by His Majesty’s ships is to apprehend certain Indians or Germans, and to the definite stand which has been recently taken by my Government in the China case in regard to the removal of non-combatants from American ships on the high seas—a practice which your Government, contrary to the position which it took in the Trent case, appears to be endeavoring to rejuvenate with a semblance of legality, but which remains to-day as obnoxious to this country as in the early days of the Republic.
I am [etc.]