Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1880

No. 310.
Mr. May to Mr. Lowell.

Department of State,
Washington, July 7, 1880.

No. 35.]

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 17, of the 16th ultimo, inclosing a copy of the correspondence between your legation and the foreign office in relation to the case of John Anderson, who was tried in Calcutta for a crime alleged to have been committed on board a vessel of the United States on the high seas, which correspondence contains an expression of the regret of Her Majesty’s Government that the action of the authorities at Calcutta in the case in question should have been governed by a view of the law which, in the opinion of Her Majesty’s Government, cannot be supported.

In reply, I have to instruct you to convey to the proper quarter an expression of this Department’s appreciation of the candor and goodwill with which Her Majesty’s Government have considered this matter, and to say, moreover, that it has afforded this government great satisfaction to learn that the action of the authorities of Calcutta in the case of Anderson is to be attributed to a misconception, and not to any design to question the jurisdiction of the United States in that or any similar case.

I am, &c.,

JOHN HAY,
Acting Secretary.