I have not failed to notify the minister for foreign affairs of the favorable treatment accorded by the Federal Government to the request of the French company. Mr. von Chauvin communicates to me, on his part, his adhesion to the reservation stipulated in your note of November 10, under which the company will hold itself subject to such general meas-ures as Congress may be disposed to take in regard to submarine telegraphing. He requests me, at the same time, to express his gratitude to you for the facilities granted to the enterprise under his direction. Accept, &c.,

No. 13.

Mr. Outrey to Mr. Evarts.

[Translation.]

MAX OUTREY.

LEGATION OF FRANCE,

Washington, January 9, 1880. (Received January 12.)

Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE:

By way of supplementing my communication of the 7th of November last, relative to the landing of the French cable on the coast of the United States, I have the honor to transmit herewith to you—

1. An extract from the report of the Board of Management, showing that Mr. George de Chauvin was, at the above date, the delegate in the United States of the French Telegraph Company of Paris at New York, and that he was clothed with the necessary powers to make, in its name, the engagements which the said company was to ratify in order to obtain the authorization to land its cable from St. Pierre in the territory of the United States.

2. The English text of a declaration whereby the company adheres to the conditions laid down by the American Government.

In sending me these two documents, the minister of foreign affairs confirms the declaration which I have already had the honor to make to you in his name, that is to say, that it is understood that the authorization granted to the French Telegraph Company involves no exclusive privilege. The conditions which have been imposed upon it, and which are contained in the inclosed list, will be applicable to any other French or foreign company that may solicit the exercise of the same right.

Accept, &c.,

[Inclosure 1.-Translation.]

MAX OUTREY.

Extract from the report of the session of the Board of Management of the French Telegraph Company from Paris to New York, held October 30, 1879.

In the year 1879, at half past 10 o'clock a. m., the Board of Management met at its

roous.

The following gentlemen were present:

Vice-Admiral Bosse, president; Count de Circourt, Mr. Charles Le Cesne, Mr. de Rémy de Courcelles, Count Rémy d'Hespel, Count P. de Ségur, Mr. Durangel, Mr. Clement Simon, members; Count A. Dillen, director-general; Mr. E. Collinguon, secretary-general.

The minutes of the session of the day preceding were read and adopted.

The director-general laid before the board the conditions on which the American Government consents to the landing of the company's cable on the coast of the United States.

The board, after hearing all the conditions, examined each one of them successively, and decided that the conditions imposed by the American Government could be accepted. Consequently, the following resolution was adopted:

"The French Telegraph Company from Paris to New York hereby declares that it accepts, so far as it is concerned, the conditions established by the American Government for the landing of its cable from St. Pierre, Newfoundland, at Cape Cod, on the coast of the United States of America."

And according to Article 23 of the statutes, relating to firms, all powers are given to Count A. Dillon, director-general of the company, to inform the proper authorities of the adhesion of the company, or to give to Mr. G. Chauvin, the company's representative at New York, the necessary instructions and authorizations to inform the American Government of the said adhesion.

The business of the day being exhausted, the board adjourned at noon.
Read and approved.

CHAS. LE CHESNE,
A Member of the Board.

Conditions on which permission will be given to land a submarine cable on the French coast.

ARTICLE 1.

Mr. Pouyer Quertier, both in his own name and in that of the company which he proposes to establish in France under the title of the French Telegraph Company from Paris to New York, is authorized to land at a point, hereafter to be determined, one or more transatlantic telegraphic cables connecting France with North America.

ARTICLE 2.

This authorization involves no privilege, and it is granted with the reservation of all acquired rights, the party receiving it assuming all risks and dangers. The service of the transatlantic cable or cables remains, moreover, subject to the laws, regulations, or conventions now in force, or that shall hereafter be in force, in relation to international telegraphy. Besides, the party receiving the permission must furnish evidence that he has acquired the right to land his cable on the American coast.

ARTICLE 3.

Government will determine the points for landing on French soil according to the proposals that shall have been transmitted to it by the recipient of the concession.

ARTICLE 4.

The transmission of governmental dispatches shall be performed gratuitously. The exercise and the limits of this right of gratuitous transmission shall be determined by special orders.

ARTICLE 5.

The transatlantic line must be established and in working order within two years from the date of the acceptance of the proposals. Otherwise this authorization shall become null and void, without the necessity of any previous notification, and the security specified in article 10 hereafter shall be forfeited to the Treasury.

ARTICLE 6.

The price for transmission by the new transatlantic line shall not exceed 3 francs, 75 centimes per word between any point in France and those localities in America where telegrams are now received at that rate. And the company shall pay to the French Government a percentage of all sums so received equal to that which is collected by the French Government on the transmission of dispatches by the cable of the AngloAmerican Company.

S. Ex. 51--2

ARTICLE 7.

The line of this company shall be subject to the rules of the St. Petersburg telegraphic convention and regulations, or to those of any other international instruments that may hereafter be adopted instead thereof, and especially as regards the enforcement of any modification of the tariff, the rule fixed by Article XIV, paragraph 31 of the regulations.

ARTICLE 8.

The Government reserves the right to exercise, at the expense of the recipient of the concession, such control (or surveillance) over the service of the line as it may think proper. The department of posts and telegraphs shall be the medium between the company and the public in everything having reference to the operations of the service. The company shall retain the exclusive management of the cable, but all other operations, such as the collection of the tax when a telegram is transmitted, the delivery of telegrams on their arrival, the resending of telegrams in transitu, shall be performed solely by the French department at the expense of the recipient of the authorization.

ARTICLE 9.

The recipient of the authorization, or the company that shall be formed by him, shall not transfer any of the rights hereby conferred, or rent its lines, or unite its interests with those of any other company, either French or foreign, that has received authorization to lay transatlantic submarine cables without the express written consent of the Government.

ARTICLE 10.

The recipient of the concession shall, within one month from this date, under penalty of having this concession rendered null and void, deposit the sum of 300,000 francs by way of security, which shall be refunded to him immediately after the submersion of the cable, but the provisions contained in article 5 must be rigorously observed.

ARTICLE 11.

The recipient of the concession pledges himself to furnish evidence, within four months from the date of the acceptance of his proposals, of the legal constitution of his company. In case of failure on his part to fulfill this condition, the deposit required by the foregoing article shall be wholly forfeited to the treasury.

ARTICLE 12.

The telegraphic engineers designated by the department shall be admitted to the factories or workshops in which the transatlantic cable or cables shall be manufactured whenever a request to that effect shall be made to the recipient of the concession by the department of posts and telegraphs.

The department may likewise designate engineers to inspect the cable or cables when completed and placed on board, and to examine in all its details the work of laying the cable. The expense of such inspection shall, like that of the permanent inspection provided for by article 8, be defrayed by the company receiving the con⚫ession.

ARTICLE 13.

The authorization contained in these presents shall be null and void: (1) If, after the opening of communication as provided for in Article 5, an interruption of correspondence by cable between France and America shall occur, and last for more than two years, provided that the company, having been duly notified, shall fail to show that it has made proper efforts to put an end to the interruption; (2) in any and every case, provided the interruption shall last for more than three years; and (3) in case of a failure to execute the other essential clauses of this concession, especially those of Articles 9 and 11.

ARTICLE 14.

All disputes that may arise between the Government on the one hand and the recipient of the concession or the company and its assigns on the other, with regard to the interpretation or execution of these presents, shall be decided by the board of prefecture of the Department of the Seine, but an appeal may be taken from its decisions to the Council of State.

ARTICLE 15.

The recipient of the authorization, if he shall not have had the cable manufactured in France, shall pay customs duties on that portion of the cable that shall be landed on French soil or submerged in French waters.

I acknowledge that the authorization to land on the French coast the cable or cables connecting France with the United States is granted to me on the above conditions, which I pledge myself to eause to be executed by the company which is to be formed.

PARIS, January 7, 1879.

[Inclosure 2.]

POUYER QUERTIER.

Acceptation of conditions imposed by the United States.

PARIS, le 4 Novembre, 1879.

For the satisfaction of the Government of the United States of America, the "Compagnie Française du Télégraphe de Faris à New-York" hereby declares as follows: 1. That the company has received no exclusive concession from the Government of France which would exclude any other company or association which may be formed in the United States of America from obtaining a like privilege for landing its cable or cables on the shores of France, and connecting such cable or cables with the inland telegraphic system of France.

2. That the company will not consolidate or amalgamate with any other line, or combine therewith for the purpose of regulating rates.

3. That the company will, in the trausmission of official messages, give precedence to the messages of the Governments of France and of the United States of America. 4. That the rates charged to the Government of the United States shall be the same as those charged to the Government of France, and that the rates charged to the general public shall never exceed the present rates, viz, 3 shillings per word.

5. That the Government of the United States shall be entitled to the same or similar privileges to those which by law, regulation or agreement may be granted by the company to the French Government.

6. That the citizens of the United States shall stand on an equal footing with those of France so far as regards the transmission of messages over the company's lines. 7. Messages shall have precedence on the lines of the company in the following order: (a) Government messages; (b) service messages; (c) general telegraphic messages.

8. The line shall be open for business daily while in working order, and subject to the foregoing order of precedence. All senders of messages shall be entitled to have them transmitted in the order in which they are received.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of 9th January, in which you transmit an extract from the procés verbal of the council of administration of the Compagnie Française du Télégraphe de Paris à New York, showing that Mr. George dé Chauvin was the delegate of that company authorized to contract the engagements to be ratified by that company in order to obtain the authorization to land a cable in the territory of the United States, and also the English

text of a resolution by which the company adheres to the conditions imposed by the Government of the United States. I have carefully examined the text of the resolution referred to, and have compared it with the memorandum submitted to you in my note of the 27th October, and I find with some surprise that there is an essential divergence between the two documents. In the fourth paragraph of the memorandum submitted to you on the 27th October it is insisted that "charges to this Government shall be at the rate of those of the Government of France, and the general charges shall be reasonable." In the text which you now transmit to me as adopted by the Compagnie Française I find the following language:

4. That the rates charged to the Government of the United States shall be the same as those charged to the Government of France, and that the rates charged to the general public shall never exceed the present rates, namely, 3 shillings per word.

A divergence so wide as this cannot be accepted by the Government of the United States, as an adherence to the conditions proposed by the President as a requisite to the permission which was accorded to land the cable in the territory of the United States.

I beg to recall to your attention the memorandum communicated to you in my letter of the 27th October last, of the conditions laid down by the President of the United States in the precise form in which this Government required them to be accepted by the company. These you forwarded, as you inform me in your note of the 9th instant, on the 28th October to your Government, and as I learned from Mr. Chauvin personally on that day, the complete text was also transmitted by telegraph to the company's office in Paris on the same day.

In your note of the 7th November you advise me that Mr. Waddington had informed you by telegraph that the authenticated document expressing the acceptance by the direction of the company of these conditions had been filed in the ministry of foreign affairs, and that the extract of the proceedings which contained it would be forwarded to you by the earliest mail. In that note you communicated to me a copy of the conditions required by the Government of the United States, signed by M. de Chauvin and attested by the certificate of your legation. On the 10th November I therefore announced to you in a note from this Department that the privilege of landing the cable had been accorded upon the conditions agreed upon, subject to any future action of Congress on the general subject. I beg, therefore, to call your attention to the unexpected divergence which I find in the text of the conditions now transmitted to me as accepted by the company, from those which were transmitted through you to the management by this Department, and, as I was informed as above stated, had been accepted by them, and upon which the permission to land the cable was granted by the President. I need not point out the essential difference between an engagement to this Government that the charges of this company to the public should be reasonable, and an engagement that they should not exceed the charges of the cables already in operation, the unreasonableness of which had formed the main motive for the encouragement of a new and independent cable, that by just competition might reduce the existing oppressive rates. I have to beg that you will call the attention of the company to this matter, to the end that they may promptly conform their formal acceptance to the requirements of this Government, upon their acceptance of which, understood to be already in the hands of your Government, the permission to land the cable was given.

Accept, &c.,

WM. M. EVARTS.