5898.
. No. 563.
(SIERRA LEONE.)
QUEEN'S ADVOCATE to COLONIAL OFFICE.
Temple, May 24,*1869. MY LORD,
I AM honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Sir F. Rogers' letter of the 13th March last, stating that I should learn from the papers enclosed in his letter that a Protocol was signed on the 13th January by Her Majesty's Minister at Lisbon and the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs referring the question of the claims of Great Britain and Portugal to the Island of Bulama on the west coast of Africa to the arbitration of the President of the United States, and that the President has accepted the proposed arbitration. That with a view to the preparation of a case for the arbitrator, the correspondence and documents relating to this matter have been gone through, and those papers which appear to have any material bearing upon the question in dispute have been printed. A copy of these papers, and of a confidential paper prepared by Mr. Elliot, the late Assistant Secretary, was also enclosed, and Sir F. Rogers was pleased to request that I would prepare the case for the arbitration in accordance with the terms of the Protocol. Sir F. Rogers was pleased to add that if I should desire any further materials or information for the preparation of this case, Mr. Holland, the legal adviser of the Colonial Office, would be ready at any time to communicate with me.
In obedience to your Lordship's commands, I have prepared a case on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to be laid before the President of the United States, which I humbly submit for your Lordship's consideration.
I have thought it advisable that the case of Her Majesty's Government should be stated in the first place briefly and simply as a substantive case, with as slight a reference as possible to the conflicting claim of the Portuguese Government, and to the grounds upon which it has sought to establish its claim, reserving the considera- tion of such grounds for the second and definitive statement on the part of Her Majesty's Government, after the case of the Portuguese Government will have been communicated to it.
With regard to the documents which it will be proper to annex to the case, I propose, after the case has been finally approved by your Lordship, to make a selection from the documents which have been printed for the use of the Colonial Office, and which have been submitted for my consideration, and to add a few historical passages from well known writers which have been referred to in the side notes of the case,
I have, &c. and which are not at present amongst the printed documents.
(Signed) TRAVERS TWISS. The Right Hon. the Earl Granville, K.G.
o 16278,-165.
25.-5/86.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
11 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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