File No. 763.72111/4023

The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador ( Spring Rice )

My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I am advised by the Treasury Department that the British steamship Crewe Hall is having constructed at the Brooklyn docks, a base and mount for a 4.7 rapid-fire gun, together with a wooden platform on which the gun is to be operated and reinforcements for the deck. It appears from the statement of the chief officer the gun for which these preparations are being made is in the Admiralty warehouse at Gibraltar and will be mounted as soon as the vessel reaches that port.

I am bringing this matter immediately to your attention in order that you may be advised of the view of my Government that this vessel should not be allowed to make preparations for carrying armament in an American port and that accordingly, if clearance is requested by the S. S., Crewe Hall, my Government will be under the necessity of declining to grant it until the constructions in place have been removed and the vessel is put in the same condition as when she arrived in port. I regret that this matter had not come to my attention at an earlier date in order that this necessary delay and inconvenience might have been avoided. I am sure that when this matter is called to your Government’s attention, they will perceive that in the interest of maintaining the neutrality of the United [Page 757] States, my Government could not well reach a different decision in this case.

I am [etc.]

Robert Lansing