Roustan to Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, September 23, 1882

Mr. Roustan to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Communication to the honorable Secretary of State of the United States of a memorandum containing a brief notice of the questions which will be the object of the deliberations of the conference for the protection of submarine cables.

The conference will meet at Paris, October 16, 1883.

The memorandum in question is as succinct as possible, the Government of the French Republic considering that it is not in its province to fix in a detailed manner the programme of the proceedings of the conference, its duties being limited, in the proposition which it has submitted to the different maritime states, to acting as the interpreter of the desire expressed by the congress of electricians in the month of September, 1881.

The conference is free to give to its deliberations as little or as much extent as it sees fit; at the same time, in the opinion of the Government of the French Republic, the deliberations should be restricted to the protection of cables in time of peace.

The conference in question being called—if an agreement is established—to formulate and consummate the conditions in an international act, it is suitable that among the delegates of each state there should be some provided with the lull powers of their governments.