CO885-(15-16) — Page 74

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SIR,

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

ய

Reference :-

MC.O. B

885

15 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

No. 60.

(SOUTH AFRICA.)

LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.

[Position of Her Majesty's Government with regard to obligations incurred by the late Republics.]

Royal Courts of Justice,

November 30, 1900.

We were honoured with your commands signified in Mr. Bertram Cox's letter of the 31st ultimo, stating that he was directed by you to request our consideration of certain questions which had arisen in consequence of the annexation to Her Majesty's Dominions of the South African Republic and Orange Free State.

That Mr. Bertram Cox was to transmit to us a copy of an opinion given by Mr. Wessels, the Legal Adviser to Lord Roberts, on the position of Her Majesty's Government with respect to obligations incurred by the late South African Republic. That it would be observed that Mr. Wessels, after a careful examination of the authorities on the subject, had come to the conclusion that Her Majesty's Govern- ment was justified in holding that all concessions granted by the annexed States had lapsed, and that the Concessionnaires had no legal claim which they could enforce against Her Majesty's Government; that Her Majesty's Government were free to determine what obligations they would take upon themselves, that they were not compelled as of right to acknowledge the obligations of the annexed States, though as a matter of policy they might promise to fulfil such obligations as they might think fit. That he was further of opinion that a complete refusal to be bound by the obligations of the annexed States was the stronger and more correct position to assume. That in this connection Mr. Bertram Cox was to draw our attention to a Notice issued by the High Commissioner on the 8th September, 1900, a copy of which No. 9, 1900. was enclosed, and to the case of Cook v. Sprigg (reported in L.R. 1899, A.C., at p. 572) referred to by Mr. Wessels.

That Mr. Bertram Cox was to enclose a letter from the Foreign Office, dated the 2nd October, 1900, covering a copy of a despatch received from Her Majesty's Consul-General at Frankfort, on the subject of the treatment by Germany of the existing claims against the French Government upon the annexation of Alsace Lorraine. That Mr. Bertram Cox was also to enclose a copy of a letter from Dr. Schneider, Legal Adviser to Her Majesty's Embassy in Berlin, and a Report Dr. Schnei- contained therein upon the same subject. That a translation of a communication der. received from the Italian Foreign Office in regard to the liabilities which accrued 17 Sept. to the Italian Government owing to the incorporation of other States, and of the Italian manner in which they were treated, was also transmitted with Mr. Bertram Cox's Foreign letter, together with a Memorandum prepared in the Foreign Office on the general Office, question of the liability of States in regard to territories acquired by conquest. Memo. A. That a despatch from Her Majesty's Ambassador at Washington, with enclosures, H. Oakes. regarding the treatment by the United States of claims against the Spanish Lord

That Mr. Bertram Cox Paunce-

fote, 1 Oot., Government in the late Spanish Colonies was also enclosed.

1900. was also to draw our attention to Book VIII. "De la Conquête" of Calvo's Droit International,

That it appeared to you that the precedents referred to in the enclosed Memoranda could hardly be regarded as completely authoritative, inasmuch as in the case of Alsace Lorraine the obligations which the German Government assumed were dependent upon the treaty of peace concluded with France, a portion of whose territory was being incorporated in the German Empire, whereas in the present case no treaty had been made, and the entire State had, in the case of the South African Republic and of the Orange Free State, been incorporated in Her Majesty's Dominions.

That the precedent would, however, be of value as an indication of the attitude which in modern times a conquering State had adopted towards the obligations of a conquered State, the territory of which was being taken over by the conqueror.

That the only modern instance of the complete absorption of the territory of a defeated belligerent, as to which you had been able to obtain detailed information,

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15 Sept.