Mr. Roustan to Mr. Frelinyhuysen.
Washington, February 5, 1885. (Received February 5.)
The undersigned has the honor to communicate to the Secretary of State, by order of his Government, the following information touching the operations of the French squadron in the waters of China.
Heretofore the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, while recognizing that a state of war exists between France and China, had not deemed it due to impose upon the vessels of the belligerents the strict observance of the rules of neutrality. Equally desirous not to aggravate the situation and to make its consequences less onerous to neutrals, the Government of the French Republic had endeavored to confine the action of its naval forces within local limits, and abstained from exercising on the high seas the right of search and capture. Recent orders sent from London to the authorities of the English colonial possessions have modified, to the disadvantage of the French cruisers, this “modus vivendi.”
The new situation created in their regard by the rigorous application of the rules of neutrality constrains the Government of the Republic to anticipate the hour it would have chosen for asserting the full and entire exercise of the rights which international laws recognize to belligerents. Orders in this sense have just been sent to the commander-in-chief of the French naval forces in the waters of China.
The undersigned is charged with giving notice thereof to the Government of the United States, and informing it, at the same time, of the firm intention of the French Government to scrupulously observe towards neutrals the prescriptions of international law, and especially the declaration of the congress of Paris of April 16, 1856. Nevertheless, express recommendations have been made to the commanders of the French cruisers, to the end that they shall continue to show all regard and moderation compatible with the legitimate interests of neutral commerce, and with the necessity of preventing the importation into China of contraband of war.
The undersigned, &c.,