No. 578.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Aristarchi
Bey.
Washington, December 4, 1882.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 25th ultimo, wherein you present certain reasons which lead your Government to ask that this Government, in common with other powers, consent to a general prohibition of the passage of the Dardanelles or the Black Sea by vessels carrying dynamite.
In the form in which the request is presented, this Government would not feel justified in giving this measure its unqualified sanction, inasmuch as it is founded not so much on the inherent danger to life and property of the explosives named while in transit as on the possible ulterior wish to which they may be put. I need scarcely adduce argument to show that such a course is tantamount to enlarging the international definition of contraband of war, and making the substances in question contraband also in time of peace. To this proposition the United States could not assent, either as a general principle or in its practical application to a class of explosives whose employment is widely extending in all operations of mining and tunneling, and which, rightly used, plays an important part in the internal development of the natural resources of nearly all countries.
If, however, the question presented were one of regulating the conveyance of a dangerous detonating or inflammable substance, so that its transit might be uuaccompanied by peril to life, this Government could find no objection to such a course. Our own laws (sections 4472, 5353, and 5354 of the Revised Statutes) prohibit the carriage of such explosives [Page 893] upon any vessel or vehicle whatever used for the conveyance of passengers to the United States or between the States and Territories; and section 5354 especially considers the death of any person when caused by the transit or attempted transit of such explosives as entailing upon the offenders the penalty for manslaughter. Our statutes, however, do not absolutely prohibit, but simply regulate the conveyance of explosives.
This Government will be happy to consider any scheme for the regulation of the conveyance of explosives through the straits of the Porte, and if it shall not appear that the rights of peaceful and legitimate commerce or of transit through waters by which the world’s commerce must necessarily pass are interfered with or prohibited, your Government may rest assured that no objection will be made to the enforcement of such legislation.
Accept, &c.,