Benj. P. Avery to W. Raasloff , Danish, June 25, 1875

No. 167. Mr. Avery to Mr. Fish.

Sir.: I have the honor to inform you that on the 15th instant General Raasloff, the Danish minister, having completed the special business on which he came to Peking, took his departure from this capital, en route to Japan, to which country he is also accredited as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. Before going he addressed to his colleagues of England, Russia, the United States, Germany, and France an identical note upon the subject of the joint action had for the protection of the submarine-telegraph cables, asking them to report what had been the instructions to and responses from their respective consuls, conformably to the protocols of December 20 and January 27 last, and intimating that he would have further measures to suggest. Doubtless his main object was to ascertain what steps had been taken by the English minister and French chargé, whose earnestness in the business be thought he had reason to doubt; and indeed there does appear to have been some hesitancy and lukewarmness in following up the agreement entered into under the protocols mentioned. The Russian and German representatives had sent satisfactory instructions to their consuls, and were willing to co-operate in such further measures as might be necessary; but they doubted their power to issue the specific regulations which they thought General Raasloff contemplated, and were averse to lending themselves to what they deemed a kind of pressure on two of their colleagues. They therefore urged the policy of replying to General Raasloff in an identical note, very general and guarded in its terms. Although I did not have quite the same feeling in this matter as themselves, and was willing to follow up in a decided manner the action already taken, I deemed it best, for the sake of maintaining complete harmony, to join them in the proposed note which I accordingly did, reserving for a separate communication my independent views, and understanding that some of my colleagues would also address General Raasloff in the same way. In this communication, after sketching what has been done through this legation and various consuls of the United States to secure favorable action by the native authorities, I suggested what should be done to protect the cables against foreigners in China, both on the part of our respective consuls and of the owners of the cables. It seems to me there ought to be no difficulty in proceeding against foreign trespassers on the cables, when committed within a marine league of the shore, where they chiefly lie and are most exposed to injury. A recent occurrence in the harbor of Hong-kong shows the necessity of the telegraph company itself taking precautions that have been heretofore neglected. The Great Northern Telegraph Company brought an action for $15,000 against the owners of the steamer Yesso, which had dragged up the cable with her anchor and cut it to free herself, under circumstances of some peril. The defense set up, that the locality of the cable was unmarked, either upon the charts or by buoys in the water, was held by the British chief-justice to be sufficient, and the company lost the case. Heretofore the company has purposely abstained from marking the localities of its cables in any manner, through fear of attracting the attention of the Chinese, and inviting the very acts of interference sought to be avoided. Since, however, the government at Peking has accorded some degree of recognition and protection to the cables, it is clearly safe and necessary for the company to take those measures on its own behalf which are calculated to prevent trouble, and I have no doubt they will do so.

I have been glad to co-operate with General Raasloff to the best of my ability in the interesting object of his special mission, which he has pursued with ability and success. His short stay in China has been marked by two events of striking importance, namely, the recognition and protection of submarine cables by the Peking authorities and the making of a contract to erect the first land-wires for and on behalf of the Chinese government.

These are steps of decided progress.

I have, &c.,