2610.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Referente :-
11C.O. 885
TH
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
MY LORD,
No. 28.
(WESTERN PACIFIC.)
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice, January 20, 1893. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Sir Thomas Sanderson's letter of the 17th instant, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the papers noted in the accompanying list, relative to the rights claimed by the United States over the harbour of Pago Pago, in Samoa, under their Treaty with the Navigators' Islands of the 17th January, 1878.
That it would be seen that the United States Government, while disclaiming any desire to exclusively occupy that harbour to the inconvenience of other than American shipping, maintained that the Treaty gave them an exclusive right to use the port and shores for the purposes of a naval and coaling station.
That in support of that contention they appealed not only to the terms of the Treaty in question, but to those of the Treaty between Germany and Samos of the 24th January 1879, which they read as "distinctly respecting the cession of Pago Pago Harbour for the use of the United States by conveying to Germany like exclusive rights in another harbour, that of Saluafata, in, the Island of Upolu."
That the Treaty of the 28th August 1879, between this country and Samoa, contained the following clause :—
Article VIII. Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain may, if she think fit, establish on the shores of a Sainoan harbour, to be hereafter designated by Her Majesty, a naval station and coaling depôt, but this Article shall not apply to the harbours of Apia or Saluafata, or to that part of the harbour of Pago Pago which selected by the Government of the United States of America as a station under the may be hereafter provisions of the Treaty concluded between the United States of America and the German Government on the 17th January 1878."
That the United States Government took exception to any claim that might be put forward by Her Majesty's Government, under that provision, to a part of the harbour of Pago Pago, and declared that any attempt to occupy any portion of that harbour as a coaling or naval station “could not fail to be regarded by them as an unfriendly act. because tending to impair their vested rights therein."
That we should observe, on the other hand, that the Lords of the Admiralty, to whom inquiries on some of the points at issue had been addressed, stated that, as a matter of fact, the depôt actually established by the United States Government at Pago Pago consisted of a moderate sized plot of ground with a heap of coal on it, and urged that, whether in t.me of peace or war, it would be prejudicial to British interests to forego the possibility of using that harbour in the future.
That, before making any reply to the representation of the United States in the matter, your Lordship would be glad if we would take the papers transmitted with Sir Thomas Sanderson's letter into our consideration, and favour you with our opinion as to whether the claim to an exclusive right over the harbour of Pago Pago, as put forward by the United States Governinent, was a well-founded one.
That your Lordship would also be obliged by any observations of a more general nature with which we might. at the same time, be good enough to furnish you in connexion with the matter.
We have taken the papers into our consideration, and, in obedience to your. Lordship's commands, have the honour to
'Report
That the rights of the United States must be determined by the terms of the Treaty of the 17th January 1878, and the rights of Great Britain under the later Treaty of the 28th August 1879, must be subject to those granted by the former.
The question, then, is.. what rights were granted by the Treaty of the 17th January 1878 To this we answer that, although no exclusive right in Pago Pago Harbour is, in express terms, given to the United States by that Treaty, the latter portion of
0 74772.-8. 21--3, 93.