15746/98.
MY LORD,
No. 86 (1),
(NIGER.)
LAW OFFICERS TO FOREIGN OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice,
June 7th, 1895. We were honoured with your Lordship's commands signified in Sir Percy Anderson's letter of the 23rd ultimo with reference to the visit of the French gun-vessel "Ardent" to the river Niger in December last.
We have considered the matter in connection with the papers submitted to us, and, . in obedience to your Lordship's commands, have the honour to
Report-
That from a legal standpoint, Her Majesty's Government would be entitled to maintain that the " Ardent," being a war-ship, is not at liberty to enter the Niger without the assent of Great Britain. Trading vessels of foreign Powers may unquestionably navigate this river by virtue of the Berlin Act, but that Act is wholly limited to commercial navigation, and there is in our judgment no warrant in international law for a claim on the part of France to send war-ships into the rivers of another Power, even though those rivers be the only access by water to French possessions.
In this case there are two peculiar features. The first is, that. as we understand the facts, it is impossible. because of the existence of rapids, for the Ardent " to reach French possessions by way of the Niger, which would make any claim on the part of that vessel, still more untenable. The second is, that the riparian territories through which the Niger flows south of the French possessions are in part, if not wholly, under the Protectorate of Great Britain, and therefore not, in a full sense, British dominions, do not, however, consider that this fact makes any difference for the purpose in hand. We A Protectorate, especially in uncivilized countries, involves a right in the protecting Power to exercise whatever military or naval authority may be needed for preventing foreign intrusion. And the Berlin Act in Article XXX. recognizes in Great Britain a right to make conditions for the navigation of rivers in her protected territories even as regards commerce.
2374-25 399 Wt 23147 DAS 5
We have, &c.,
R. T. REID.
FRANK LOCKWOOD.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
THI
C.O. 885
Reference -
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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