Mr. Lincoln to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
London, January 17, 1891.
(Received January 27.)
No. 387.]Sir: Referring to your instruction numbered 350, of
September 2 last, I have the honor to inclose herewith copies of a note
which I addressed to the foreign office relative to the claim of Mr. Webster
against the authorities of New Zealand, and of a communication in reply
thereto which I have just received from Her Majesty’s Government.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 387.]
Mr. Lincoln to Lord
Salisbury.
Legation of the United States,
London, October 11,
1890.
My Lord: Referring to your lordship’s note of
the 7th of December, 1887, to mypredecessor, Mr. Phelps, transmitting
copies of a memorandum of Sir Robert Stout, the governor of New Zealand,
on the subject of certain American land claims in that colony, I have
the honor to recall to your lordship that in that memorandum Sir Robert
Stout reviews the history of the claims and makes an extended reply to a
report of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate of the United
States, who have for some time had the subject under consideration. The
committee were furnished with a copy of that reply and gave it careful
consideration. The result of that consideration is that on the 11th of
June last the chairman of the committee, by their direction, advised the
President of the adoption by the committee of the following
resolution:
“Resolved, That the papers in the case of William
Webster be transmitted to the President with the statement that the
committee respectfully recommend this matter to his attention, with the
accompanying papers, as a claim that is worthy of
[Page 539]
consideration, and with the request that
it he made the subject of further negotiation with the Government of
Great Britain.”
I am therefore instructed to acquaint your lordship that my Government
has made the matter the subject of careful examination, with a desire to
arrive at a just determination, and finds itself unable, for the reasons
which are set forth in a memorandum, of which I have the honor to
inclose copies in duplicate* for the consideration of Her Majesty’s
Government, to accept the conclusions stated in Sir Robert Stout’s
memorandum.
It is believed by my Government that Her Majesty’s Government, upon the
perusal of the document inclosed, will find that the above-mentioned
conclusions of the governor of New Zealand, and the arguments and
allegations, some of them injurious to the claimant, by which those
conclusions are reached, are not justified by the facts as disclosed in
the documents furnished by the governor; and it is hoped that a way may
be found by friendly consultation between the two Governments to afford
Mr. Webster the fair and impartial disposition of his claim to which it
is thought he is entitled.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 387.]
Mr. Sanderson to
Mr. White.
Foreign
Office, January 16,
1891.
Sir: In his note of the 11th of October last
Mr. Lincoln forwarded, for the consideration of Her Majesty’s
Government, a memorandum in regard to the claim of Mr. William Webster
for further compensation on account of certain lands purchased by him
from native chiefs, in New Zealand before the annexation of that country
by Great Britain.
I have now the honor to state that, in pursuance of the assurance given
in my reply of the 21st of the same month, this memorandum and all the
previous papers and circumstances of the case have been most carefully
examined in consultation with the law officers of the Crown.
The result of that examination has, however, been unfavorable to the
claim, as it is clearly shown that Mr. Webster in the first instance,
when bringing his case before the commissioners under the colonial land
claims act of 1856, waived his right to be treated as an alien, and so
debarred himself from the right to claim anything beyond what was
awarded to him by those commissioners.
Under these circumstances Her Majesty’s Government regret that they are
unable to reopen the case or to entertain Mr. Webster’s claim for
further compensation.
I have, etc.,
T. H. Sanderson,
For the Marquis of
Salisbury.
