Mr. Anderson to Mr.
Blaine.
[Extract.]
Legation of
the United States,
Copenhagen, July 1, 1889.
(Received July 13.)
No. 311.]
Sir: Referring to your dispatches Nos. 130 and 131,
dated June 6 and 7, I have the honor to report as follows:
Both the above dispatches were received on June 26, and the same day I had an
interview with the director-general of the Royal Danish ministry for foreign
affairs. I suggested to him that my Government [Page 155] preferred that I should sign a joint note. In reply
the director-general urged that it was a delicate point in diplomacy as to
who should sign first, and to avoid the raising of this and possibly other
questions his Government preferred that we should send separate identical
notes simultaneously, the Danish note to be written in the French language.
In accordance with your instructions I agreed to his proposition, and on the
next day (June 27) I sent a note to the Royal Danish minister for foreign
affairs, inclosing copies of the two drafts of a note suggested by you, but
still urging, as you will see by the copy thereof inclosed, the adoption of
the joint note in preference to separate identical notes. On the 29th I
received a reply from the Royal Danish minister for foreign affairs, in
which he repeats the preference of his Government for two identical notes,
and incloses a copy of the one in French, which he proposes to send to Sir
Edmund Monson to-day. I have carefully compared it with the separate note
transmitted by you to me, and find the two identical in all important
respects. I have this day mailed a note to Sir Edmund Monson in behalf of
the Government of the United States, inviting him to accept the task of
arbitrator in accordance with the treaty of December 6, 1888. I have made
such alterations in the draft you sent me as the case required, but none of
the changes are essential. I inclose herewith copies of my note to the Royal
Danish minister for foreign affairs, dated June 27, of my note to Sir Edmund
Monson, and, finally, of a note sent by me this day to the Royal Danish
minister for foreign affairs.
I shall look for an answer from Sir Edmund Monson in about two weeks.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 311.]
Mr. Anderson to
Baron O. D.
Rosenörn-Lehn.
Legation of the United States,
Copenhagen, June 27,
1889.
Excellency: The honorable the Secretary of
State at Washington informs me in a dispatch dated June 6 that the
ratifications of the treaty for the settlement of the claim of Carlos
Butterfield were exchanged at Washington on the 23d ultimo; and that it
was duly proclaimed by the President of the United States on the
following day.
The next step to be taken is the extension to Sir Edmund Monson, the
arbitrator named in the treaty, of a formal invitation to accept the
power therein conferred upon him.
I have the honor to inclose herewith two drafts, one of a joint and the
other of an identic note to be written to Sir Edmund Monson, and also a
printed copy of the treaty in question.
The joint note secures absolute uniformity of language in the invitation,
and avoids the raising of any question at to the effect or intention of
variant phraseologies; but in a conversation which I had with the
director-general of the Royal Danish ministry of foreign affairs
yesterday I was led to believe that your excellency prefers that we
should send identic notes separately, and I am authorized by my
Government to sign either a joint or an identic note.
Hoping the inclosed documents may be found satisfactory, and adding that
I am ready to sign and transmit either one of the notes mentioned at any
time that may suit your excellency’s convenience, I seize, etc.,
[Page 156]
[Inclosure 2 in No. 311.]
Mr. Anderson to Sir
Edmund Monson.
Legation of the United States,
Copenhagen, Denmark, July 1, 1889.
Excellency: The Government of the United States
of America and the Government of His Majesty the King of Denmark have,
by a treaty concluded on the 6th day of December, 1888, of which the
ratifications have been duly exchanged, agreed to submit to the decision
of an arbitrator the claim of Carlos Butterfield and Company of which
Carlos Butterfield, now deceased, was the surviving partner, presented
by the Government of the United States against the Government of Denmark
for an indemnity for the seizure and detention of the two vessels, the
steamer Ben Franklin and the bark Catherine Augusta, by the authorities of the
Island of St. Thomas, of the Danish West India Islands, in the years
1854 and 1855, for the refusal of the ordinary right to land cargo for
the purpose of making repairs; for the injuries resulting from a shot
fired into one of the vessels, and for other wrongs. A copy of the
treaty is hereto annexed.
Both Governments having, as stated in the treaty, entire confidence in
the learning, ability, and impartiality of your excellency, I have been
instructed by the honorable the Secretary of State to express the great
satisfaction of my Government in agreeing upon you as the proper person
to whom to submit for decision the questions involved in the claim
referred to.
In performing the grateful duty of inviting your excellency in behalf of
my Government to accept the power conferred upon you by the treaty, I
have the honor to express the hope that I may have the pleasure, as soon
as it may suit your convenience to communicate your wishes to me, of
sending a notice to my Government that you have accepted the task now
tendered by me in its behalf.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 3 in No. 311.]
Mr. Anderson to
Baron O. D.
Rosenörn-Lehn.
Legation of the United States,
Copenhagen, July 1,
1889.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your esteemed note of June 29, informing me that you propose
to send the note of which you had the goodness to inclose a copy to Sir
Edmund Monson to-day. This note being identical with the one proposed by
my Government, I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have
this day mailed to Sir Edmund Monson at Athens, in behalf of my
Government, a note, of which I transmit inclosed a copy,
I avail, etc.,
