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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

PILLC.O. 885

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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in sight, bound north, apparently towards Cuba. It is believed that they are part of the Cape Verde squadron." ("Standard," May 14.)

Thus the messages of one of the belligerents were openly accepted on the terri- tories of Great Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and the Republic of Hayti, and no diplomatic remonstrance, so far as is known, was made by the other belligerent in any case.

Moreover, the messages were sent indiscriminately by the operating forces of the United States, by Consuls of the same Power, and by private individuals or represen- tatives of the press.

As regards the telegrams sent by the forces of the States, they certainly were not 'narratives of past events bona fide intended for publication as news," nor were they handed in by despatch-boats as distinguished from war-ships. The "Harvard" and Yale," which are reported to have cabled important despatches from Kingston and St. Thomas, were powerful armed cruisers.

At Cap Haytien (Republic of Hayti) the despatches were taken to and from the port by a torpedo-boat.

It appears, therefore, that the authorities of Jamaica, St. Thomas, and Hayti made no endeavour to restrict the use of the cables at their ports, even to the extent and in the manner indicated by the Law Officers, and, in the case of Jamaica, the rules laid down by Mr. Chamberlain must have reached the Governor while the cables were being extensively used in the manner described.

So, again, it is clear that the Spanish naval forces used cables at Martinique (and probably also at Curaçoa) for communication with Madrid-

"Madrid, May 13.

Great excitement has been caused in official centres by the news of the arrival of the Cape Verde squadron at Martinique. It is now said that the squadron went there purposely to coal, and two large trans-Atlantic steamers waited in Martinique laden with the necessary coal to transfer to the bunkers of the war-ships. The other object of the visit of the Cape Verde fleet to Martinique was to be able to communicate with the Government, and to ascertain the whereabouts of the American squadron. Ad- miral Cervera now knows everything which has transpired since his departure from Cape Verde. He has full instructions, and will leave Martinique immediately for an unknown destination." ("Standard," May 14.)

"Madrid, May 14.

"A telegram from Martinique states that only one Spanish torpedo-boat destroyer, and not the whole squadron, as at first reported, entered the harbour of Port de France. This destroyer carried despatches." ("Standard," May 16.)

Note.-

In the east, after the cutting of the Manila-Hong Kong cable by Admiral Dewey, This ap-

all telegrams had necessarily to be sent by both belligerents from some neutral port, plies also

and the cables at Hong Kong and Labuan were freely used for the purpose; the to the west. See ex-

despatches cabled were sent indiscriminately by vessels forming part of the navy of the United States and by trading steamers. The despatches were known by the British amples at Jamaica, authorities directly to concern the conduct of the war (and not to be merely "narratives of past events bona fide intended for publication as general news"), since the officers dispatching them, whether on board a despatch-boat or a trading-steamer, were al- lowed to remain in port for the express purpose of receiving an answer from Washing. ton or Madrid, as the case might be. The Spanish Commander also communicated through the Spanish Consul at Singapore.

on p. 12 of "Inci- dents."

The vessel which conveyed some of the most important of Admiral Dewey's de- spatches to Hong Kong-the "Hugh McCulloch "-though generally described as a despatch-boat, and said to be unarmed, is reckoned, in President McKinley's Message to Congress announcing the victory at Manila, as a unit in the squadron which engaged the enemy, and, at a later stage, she is stated to have taken part in the final bombard- ment of Manila. It is difficult, therefore, to avoid considering her as a war-ship, and, in any case, her use for the purpose of cabling despatches shows how difficult it would be to enforce the distinction between a war-ship and a despatch-boat, suggested by the opinion of the Law Officers.

Another neutral country-Egypt-was also used during the war as the terminus ad quem of the messages of a belligerent addressed by the Central Government to its This appears from the following reports: officers engaged in the operations of the war.

"Madrid, June 27. "Orders have been sent to Admiral Camara's squadron to proceed through the canal to Suez." ("Times," June 28.).

"

An official despatch says that the last vessels of Admiral Camara's squadron have passed the Suez Canal.'

"Madrid, July 4.

*

Port Said, July 5.

"Later.

"The Spanish torpedo-boats have been ordered to Messina."

Admiral Camara's torpedo-boats have left here to return to Spain." ("Daily Telegraph," July 5.)

Not only were cables passing over, starting from, and arriving at neutral territory used during the war by one belligerent without protest from the other, but there were instances in which new arrangements, favourable to a belligerent, and involving the transmission of telegrams over the territory of a neutral, were made, with very slight, if any, objection from the other party.

The most remarkable case related to the cables of the Compagnie Française des Câbles Télégraphiques. A cable of this Company connecting Guantanamo, in Cuba (Spanish territory), with Cap Haytien, in Hayti (Republic of Hayti), was at one time cut by the Americans. Subsequently Guantanamo came into the hands of the Ameri- cans, and the French Company were allowed to restore and work the cable from San- tiago to Guantanamo and thence to Cap Haytien, where it was connected with a direct cable to New York. At the Cuban end the cable was led first into a cable ship of the American fleet at Guantanamo, and afterwards into a telegraph station at the head- quarters of the American army at Santiago; and the line was worked under a military censorship established by the American operating forces. Thus, a Company of neutral nationality became the instrument of conveying telegraphic despatches between the forces and the headquarters of one of the belligerents, and the territory of another neutral was used for the transmission of such despatches. The case was carried even further, for an intermediate office (Mole St. Nicholas, on the territory of the Republic of Hayti) was cut out to expedite communication for the benefit of the belligerent; and a number of new offices were opened on the line worked for the benefit of the belli- gerent on the territory of the other belligerent, viz., in Cuba. The opening of these offices was communicated to the International Telegraph Bureau at Berne by the North Atlantic Cable Companies, as though it were a perfectly regular proceeding. Not till this was done was any protest elicited from Spain, and then it related only to the Spain is not known to opening of new offices on her territory without her consent. have made any representation to the French Government as to the action of the French Company, or any representation to the Republic of Hayti as to the use of its territory for the transmission of telegrams by a cable which had been placed, by exceptional means, at the disposal of the United States.

The other case is less striking. The West India and Panama Cable Company-- an English Company-had, when the war commenced, a cable working from Jamaica (British territory) to Martinique (French territory) through Ponce, in Porto Rico (Spanish territory); but Ponce itself was not a telegraph office, the two cables being When the forces joined in the Telegraph Hut and through communication afforded.

of the United States occupied Ponce, a telegraph office was opened by the Company at that place, and thus a Company of a neutral State and the territories of two neutral States were used to transmit telegrams from an office opened especially for the con- venience of one of the belligerents. No protest was, however, made by Spain, the other belligerent.

No doubt, however, the weakness of the belligerent whose interests were preju- dicially affected by these novel telegraphic arrangements must be taken into account in estimating the value of the incidents.

At the commencement of the war General Greely, the Chief Signal Officer of the United States, issued an order to the Transatlantic Cable Company working in the United States. This order (dated the 12th May, 1898, and printed at p. 28 of the paper entitled "Incidents of the Spanish-American War ")* forbade the transmission of telegrams falling within certain specified classes, on the ground that they were, in fact, messages of an enemy, and consequently contraband of war. The order is some- what ambiguous in some of its expressions, but it appears to be governed by the con- cluding paragraph, which refers to " the propriety of American and foreign corpora- tions abstaining from the transmission within American jurisdiction of information, contraband of war, to the enemy of the United States," and the order seems to have

• This paper accompanies this Case,

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