No. 2. Count de Taverney to Mr. Fish. [Translation.] WASHINGTON, July 16, 1869. (Received July 17.) Mr. SECRETARY OF STATE: I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of the note which you did me the honor to address me on the 10th of July with regard to the laying of the Franco-American transatlantic cable. I have not failed to transmit this document to my Government, and to give information thereof to the agent of the telegraph company, Mr. Watson. Without entering into any discussion touching the basis of the question treated of by your excellency, I allow myself, in consideration of the amount of French capital invested in this enterprise, to express the hope that it may terminate to the mutual satisfaction of the parties interested. Receive, &c., No. 3. COUNT DE TAVERNEY. Mr. Berthemy to Mr. Fish. [Personal.-Translation.] WASHINGTON, April 8, 1870. (Received April 8.) DEAR SIR: Agreeably to the desire which you expressed to me, I have the honor to send herewith, for your personal consideration, an extract from the dispatch of Count Daru, dated March 26 last, relative to the French transatlantic cable, which extract you yesterday expressed the wish to read. I annex a copy of the telegram mentioned in the same dispatch, although its contents are already known to you. Accept, &c., [Inclosure 1.-Translation.} Count Daru to Mr. Berthemy. BERTHEMY. MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SIR: The information which you have transmitted to me touching the state of the French cable question has permitted me to insist, near the administration to which this especially belongs, upon the necessity of expediting this matter. I entertain the hope of soon being able to announce to you that we are ready to renounce the retention of the privilege granted, and to come to an understanding with the Government of the United States, in order to arrange, on a common basis, the conditions for the laying of cables which are to connect the coasts of the two countries. It would, moreover, seem proper to me for us likewise to come to some agreement to prescribe to the companies receiving grants (as is proposed by Mr. Summer in his plan) a maximum above which the rates for dispatches are not to be raised. Finally, we would engage to put our telegraph lines into free communication with such cables as should be authorized to land in France; but it is quite evident that we should remain free, as regards the transmission of dispatches from our territory, to choose the cable which might suit us best, the American companies having, on their part, the privilege of transmitting their communications to France by whichever line they might consider as entitled to the preference. I intend to confirm these indications, by telegraph, as soon as the minister of the interior shall have informed me of his adhesion to the bases of this arrangement. You will judge, without doubt, like myself, sir, that it will be possible to separate this special question from the projected negotiation, in order to determine, with one accord, among all the maritime powers, the conditions for the establishment, and for the neutrality of submarine cables. Receive, &c., DARU. [Inclosure 2.-Telegram.--Translation.] Count Daru to Mr. Berikemy. PARIS, March 31, 1870. The Government of the Emperor consents to the modification of its contract with the French Cable Company in the sense of the relinquishment of the privilege (i. e., consents to relinquish the privilege), agreeably to the views of the Washington Cabinet. It likewise desires, in arranging this matter, to come to an understanding with the Government of the Union, in order to fix a maximum of thirty-seven francs, fifty eentimes, as the price of a dispatch of ten words, and to impose this condition on all the companies. My dispatch sent by the packet of March 26, contains fuller details. No. 4. Mr. Fish to Mr. Berthemy. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, MY DEAR MR. BERTHEMY: I have received your note of the 8th instant, and I thank you for the extract of a letter of the 26th of March, and copy of a telegram of the 31st of that month, addressed to you by Count Daru on the subject of the transatlantic cable, which accompanied that note. The President is gratified to learn that the French Government have adopted the views prescribed by him on the subject, and that they have revoked the grant of exclusive or monopoly privileges. He understands the relinquishment of the exclusive character of the grant made to the projectors of the present cable to involve the concession and acknowledg ment of the full and equal right of any cable which may be established by authority of this Government to land upon the French shore, and to connect with and enjoy the same privileges and facilities for forwarding, transmitting, and delivering its messages over the lines established in French territory, and of connecting with extra-territorial lines, &c., that are or may be enjoyed by the present French line, or by any other hereafter to be established. In case the intent and effect of the relinquishment be other than as above, or in case it is not to be construed as granting or contemplating entire reciprocity and equal facilities, the President desires to be so informed. He approves the idea of fixing a maximum rate of charge; possibly that suggested may be proper, but on this point he reserves an opinion. He will be glad to co-operate to produce such a result, but either legislation by both Governments, or an arrangement by treaty, or both, may be necessary to effect this. Yours, very faithfully, HAMILTON FISH. No. 5. Mr. Berthemy to Mr. Fish. [Translation.] WASHINGTON, June 15, 1870. (Received June 18.) MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Referring to my verbal communications on this subject, I have the honor to inform you that the company in whose favor I have been directed by my Government to ask for authorization to land, on the coast of the United States, the submarine cable designed to connect this country by telegraph with France, has renounced the exclusive privilege which was insured to it by its first contract. The treaty establishing this new situation has just been signed by the minister of the interior and Mr. Erlanger. Accept, &c., BERTHEMY. No. 6. Mr. Fish to Mr. Berthemy. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 15th instant, notifying this Government that the company in whose favor you have been directed by your Government to ask for permission to land, on the coast of the United States, the submarine cable designed to connect this country by telegraph with France, has renounced the exclusive privilege which was conferred upon it by its first concession, and that the agreement establishing these new relations has just been signed by the minister of the interior and by Mr. Erlanger. Understanding this relinquishment in the sense expressed in my letter to you of the 14th of April last, I have to say that in consequence of this, the opposition which the executive department of this Government has hitherto made to the landing of this cable is now withdrawn, and that I shall transmit the information which you have communicated to me to the appropriate committees of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, to which those bodies have respectively referred the proposed legislation on this subject. Accept, &c., HAMILTON FISH. GENERAL GRANT'S VIEWS CONCERNING CABLES. No. 7. [Extract from President's annual message of December, 1875.] The electric telegraph has become an essential and indispensable agent in the transmission of business and social messages. Its operation on land, and within the limit of particular States, is necessarily under the control of the jurisdiction within which it operates. The lines on the high seas, however, are not subject to the particular control of any one Government. In 1869, a concession was granted by the French Government to a company which proposed to lay a cable from the shores of France to the United States. At that time there was a telegraphic connection between the United States and the continent of Europe (through the possessions of Great Britain at either end of the line), under the control of an association which had, at large outlay of capital and at great risk, demonstrated the practicability of maintaining such means of communication. The cost of correspondence by this agency was great, possibly not too large at the time for a proper remuneration for so hazardous and so costly an enterprise. It was, however, a heavy charge upon a means of communication which the progress in the social and commercial intercourse of the world found to be a necessity, and the obtaining of this French concession showed that other capital than that already invested was ready to enter into competition, with assurance of adequate return for their outlay. Impressed with the conviction that the interests, not only of the United States, but of the world at large, demanded, or would demand, the multiplication of such means of communication between separated continents, I was desirous that the proposed connection should be made; but certain provisions of this concession were deemed by me to be objectionable, particularly one which gave for a long term of years the exclusive right of telegraphic communication by submarine cable between the shores of France and the United States. I could not concede that any power should claim the right to land a cable on the shores of the United States, and at the same time deny to the United States, or to its citizens or grantees, an equal right to land a cable on its shores. The right to control the conditions for the laying of a cable within the jurisdictional waters of the United States, to connect our shores with those of any foreign state, pertains exclusively to the Government of the United States, under such limitations and conditions as Congress may impose. In the absence of legislation by Congress, I was unwilling, on the one hand, to yield to a foreign state the right to say that its grantees might land on our shores, while it denied a similar right to our people to land on its shores; and, on the other hand, I was reluctant to deny to the great interests of the world and of civilization the facilities of such communication as were proposed. I therefore withheld any resistance to the landing of the cable, on condition that the offensive monopoly feature of the concession be abandoned, and that the right of any cable which may be established by authority of this Government to land upon French territory, and to connect with French land-lines, and enjoy all the necessary facilities or privileges incident to the use thereof upon as favorable terms as any other company, be conceded. As the result thereof the company in question renounced the exclusive privilege, and the representative of France was informed that, understanding this relinquishment to be construed as granting the entire reciprocity and equal facilities which had been demanded, the opposition to the landing of the cable was withdrawn. The cable, under this French concession, was landed in the month of July, 1869, and has been an efficient and valuable agent of communication between this country and the other continent. It soon passed under the control; however, of those who had the management of the cable connecting Great Britain with this continent, and thus whatever benefit to the public might have ensued from competition between the two lines was lost, leaving only the greater facilities of an additional line, and the additional security in case of accident to one of them. But these increased facilities and this additional security, together with the control of the combined capital of the two companies, gave also greater power to prevent the future construction of other lines, and to limit the control of telegraphic communication between the two continents to those possessing the lines already laid. Within a few months past a cable has been laid, known as the United States Direct Cable Company, connecting the United States directly with Great Britain. As soon as this csble was reported to be laid and in working order, the rates of the then existing consolidated companies were greatly reduced. Soon, however, a break was announced in this new cable, and immedi ately the rates of the other line, which had been reduced, were again raised. This cable being now repaired, the rates appear not to be reduced by either line from those formerly charged by the consolidated companies. There is reason to believe that large amounts of capital, both at home and abroad, are ready to seek profitable investment in the advancement of this useful and most civilizing means of intercourse and correspondence. They await, however, the assurance of the means and conditions on which they may safely be made tributary to the general good. As these cable-telegraph lines connect separate states, there are questions as to their organization and control, which probably can be best, if not solely, settled by conventions between the respective states. In the absence, however, of international conventions on the subject, municipal legislation may secure many points which appear to me important, if not indispensable, for the protection of the public against the extortions which may result from a monopoly of the right of operating cabletelegrams, or from a combination between several lines: I. No line should be allowed to land on the shores of the United States under the concession from another power, which does not admit the right of any other line or lines, formed in the United States, to land and freely connect with and operate through its land-lines. II. No line should be allowed to land on the shores of the United States which is not by treaty-stipulation with the Government from whose shores it proceeds, or by prohibition in its charter, or otherwise to the satisfaction of this Government, prohibited from consolidating or amalgamating with any other cable-telegraph line, or combining therewith for the purpose of regulating and maintaining the cost of telegraphing. III. All lines should be bound to give precedence in the transmission of the official messages of the Governments of the two countries between which it may be laid. IV. A power should be reserved to the two Governments, either con jointly or to each, as regards the messages dispatched from its shores, to fix a limit to the charges to be demanded for the transmission of messages. I present this subject to the earnest consideration of Congress. In the mean time, and unless Congress otherwise direct, I shall not oppose the landing of any telegraphic cable which complies with and assents to the points above enumerated, but will feel it my duty to prevent the landing of any which does not conform to the first and second points as stated, and which will not stipulate to concede to this Government the precedence in the transmission of its official messages, and will not enter into a satisfactory arrangement with regard to its charges. |