Mr. White to Mr.
Hay.
American Embassy,
London, October 29,
1901.
No. 694.]Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith the
copy of a telegrama
which I sent you on the 26th instant, after an interview with Mr. R.
Newton Crane, whom, as you are aware, has represented our Government
[Page 218]
before the commission
appointed by His Majesty’s Government to inquire into the claims of the
subjects of friendly powers who were deported by order of the military
authorities from South Africa.
Mr. Crane called to inform me that he had received from Sir John Ardagh
an intimation to the effect that the British Government would be willing
to pay us £6,000, in full satisfaction of all the claims, to this date,
of American citizens for wrongful arrest, imprisonment, and deportation
from South Africa by the military authorities, and he strongly advised
acceptance of the offer. Mr. Crane added that, from the amounts which he
understood had been accepted by certain other powers, whose claimants
are much more numerous than ours, he was satisfied that this proposal
was 50 per cent better, in proportion, than that made to any other
government; and he expressed a desire to be placed in a position, when
the commission met yesterday, to state that our claims had been
settled.
Upon the receipt of your replya to my telegram on the 26th instant, of which a copy is
inclosed, I wrote Mr. Crane a note, whereof I transmit a copy herewith,
together with that of his reply. From the latter you will perceive the
amounts which have been accepted by Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany,
Italy, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, in settlement of the
claims of the subjects and citizens of those countries. You will also
observe that a settlement has not yet been effected with France or the
Netherlands.
I had an interview to-day at the foreign office with Lord Lansdowne, who
informed me that His Majesty’s Government is prepared to pay £6,000 to
ours in settlement of the American claims, and I replied that I had, in
accordance with your instructions, authorized Mr. Crane to inform Sir
John Ardagh that our Government is willing to accept the amount in
question.
I ought to add that Mr. Crane, when I saw him on the 26th, said that it
was particularly desired that nothing should at present be made public
as to the amount which we had agreed to accept, but merely that it
should be known that our claim had been settled. Before the commission
met, however, another course appears to have been adopted, and the
amounts accepted by the powers whose claims have been settled were made
known, at the request of the chairman, to the commission.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Mr. White to
Mr. Crane.
6 Whitehall Gardens, S. W.,
London, October 27,
1901.
My Dear Crane: I have heard from Mr. Hay,
and you are hereby authorized to accept the offer of £6,000, which
you told me on Saturday has been made by His Majesty’s Government,
in full settlement of all our South African deportation claims to
this date.
Yours, etc.,
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[Inclosure 2.]
Mr. Crane to
Mr. White.
1 Essex Court, Temple, E. C.,
October 28, 1901.
Dear Mr. White: In accordance with the
authority contained in your letter of the 27th instant, I informed
Sir John Ardagh, the representative of His Majesty’s Government
before the South African deportation claims commission, that the
United States Government was willing to accept the sum of £6,000 in
full satisfaction of the claims, to this date, of citizens of the
United States for wrongful arrest, imprisonment, and deportation
from South Africa by the military authorities, and a settlement has
been arrived at upon this basis.
At the resumption of the sittings of the commission this morning Sir
John Ardagh announced that all of the foreign Governments, with the
exception of France and the Netherlands, had settled for the claims
of their respective subjects with His Majesty’s Government in a
similar manner, and upon the following terms:
| Austria |
£15,000 |
| Germany |
30,000 |
| Belgium |
800 |
| Belgium |
800 |
| Denmark |
250 |
| Russia |
4,000 |
| Italy |
12,000 |
| Spain |
150 |
| Sweden and Norway |
1,000 |
| Switzerland |
250 |
| The United States |
6,000 |
The settlement, so far as the United States Government is concerned,
is, in my opinion, an extremely favorable one, as it will afford
generous compensation to the claimants whose claims have merit. The
sum agreed upon is also very much larger in proportion than that
received by any other Government. The total amount awarded is
£69,550, and the total number of claimants among whom it is to be
divided is 1,100, which gives an average of £63 4s. 6d. for each
claimant. As there were only 15 claims presented by the American
Government, and the sum awarded to the United States is £6,000, the
average is £400 for each claimant, including the good, bad, and
indifferent. Some, you will remember, are obviously entitled to no
compensation, as certain of them were not American citizens, while
others took up arms against the English troops. The settlement
averages, roughly, a gross sum of $2,000 for each American claimant,
as against $316 for each claimant a subject of other
Governments.
In the course of a few days I will make a precis of each case and
suggest in what manner the award may equitably be distributed among
the claimants.
Sincerely, yours,
