CO885-(11-13) — Page 329

8980.

No. 103.

(LAG08.)

MY LORD,

LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.

We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Lord Tenterden's

Temple, 12th July 1876. letter of the 6th of July instant, stating that, with reference to the letter from the Foreign Office, 3rd instant, be was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the accompanying letters from the Colonial Office and from the Admiralty, relative to the blockade of the coast of Dahomey. That although the towns of Porto Seguro, Little Popo, and Aghwey, to which allusion was made with reference to the objections against the blockade, were doubtless independent of Dahomey as pointed out by the French authorities, his Lordship was to state that it would be useless to blockade Dahomey if those places were exempted from blockade; and your Lordship proposed therefore to inform both the Colonial Office and the Admiralty that the blockade should be enforced from the Eastern limits of the British protected territory on the Gold Coast at Adaffi, to the Western limits of the British possessions of Lagos in the neighbourhood of Badagry, which would include the three towns in questions. Cotenoo, his Lordship was to add that, until the receipt of the Marquis d'Harcourt's That as regards communication of the 9th of June last, Her Majesty's Government had no notice whatever of the intention of the French to have acquired possession of that place; on the contrary, so recently as the 26th of December 1875, a distinct disclaimer was received from the French Government of any pretension to sovereignty or protectorate over Porto Novo, of which Cotenoo was the shipping station. That under these circumstances your Lordship proposed to ignore the claim put forward on the part of the French until such time as your Lordship shall have received proofs of the bona fides of the transaction; and even then, as Her Majesty's Government had been kept in ignorance of the alleged acquisition of the place by the French, your Lordship would not propose to acknowledge the claim until after the difficulty with Dahomey had been settled. Lord Tenterden was therefore pleased to request that we would take the enclosed papers into our consideration, and favour your Lordship with our opinion as to the propriety of the communication which it was proposed to make to the Colonial Office and to the Admiralty, to the effect that the blockade should be enforced from the Eastern limits of the British possessions on the Gold Coast to the Western limits of the Lagos Lagoon, and thus include Porto Novo, Cotenoo, as well as Porto Seguro, Little Popo, and Aghwey. In obedience to your Lordship's commands, we have the honour to

Report

That a blockade of a line of coast which would include ports that are independent of the enemy would be illegal, and we are therefore of opinion that the blockade suggested, from the Eastern limits of the British protected territory to Western limits of British possessions, which would include the independent towns of Porto Seguro, Little Popo, and Aghwey, would be illegal, and cannot properly be enforced.

As regards Cotenoo and the French claim over Porto Novo, we suggest for your Lordship's consideration that the question is one of fact, and not of courtesy or want of faith on the part of the French Government. If, therefore, Porto Novo or Cotenoo be under the sovereignty or protectorate of France, any neutral power, for instance, the United States, Germany, or Russia,-would be justified in disregarding the blockade which purported to interfere with their trade to those places. And we are unable to advise your Lordship that you can properly ignore the claim put forward on the part of the French.

The Earl of Derby.

We have, &c.,

(Signed)

JOHN HOLKER. HARDINGE GIFFARD, PARKER DEANE.

▲ 12916.-108. 25.-12 84.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TELCO. 885

12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

བྷསར་

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