As to the claims of American citizens for compensation for lands alleged to As to Webster's New Zealand land claims, see For. Rel. 1890, 344-356; For. "I had the honor to receive in due course your note of the 6th ultimo, whereby you are pleased to inform me that, in virtue of a treaty engagement between a representative of the governor of the Portuguese possession of São Thomé and the Kingdom of Dahomey, Portugal has undertaken to exercise a protectorate over the entire seacoast of Dahomey and to administer Portuguese jurisdiction over Europeans residing in those regions. "In the absence of information as to how this change may affect the interests of any citizens of the United States domiciled or doing legitimate business in that part of Dahomey thus taken under the direct protection of Portugal, I am unable to do more than make a simple acknowledgment of the receipt of your note. I observe, indeed, that your note announces that your Government has pledged itself to respect the legitimate and preexistent rights of foreign powers to the territories embraced in this protectorate, and that, in consequence, jurisdictional rights as to the port of Cotomnu are left in abeyance pending the settlement of the claim of France thereto. The United States have no jurisdictional claims of sovereignty in that region which it might invite Portugal to respect, but it is to be assumed that the rights of any American citizens in the protected district will be respected as though they pertained to the Government of the United States. If citizens of the United States, equally with the citizens or subjects of other powers, establish themselves in uncivilized regions and acquire vested interests there in the same way as foreigners of other nationalities through good relationship with the natives, it is not to be supposed that, in the event of any one power (among the several represented by settlers there) assuming control of the country, our citizens will be discriminated against, in residence or trade, as compared with the subjects of the protecting power. "This point is therefore necessarily reserved.” Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to the Viscount das Nogueiras, Portuguese min., "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 22d ultimo, whereby you convey to this Government official informa tion that the groups known as the Marshall, Brown and Providence Islands, situated in the eastern part of the Caroline group, have been placed under the protection of His Majesty the Emperor and King, in pursuance of treaties concluded with the chiefs of those islands, in token of which possession has been taken under the imperial flag; it being understood that 'well-established rights of third parties are to be duly respected.' "In the absence of precise knowledge as to where and to what extent the interest of citizens of the United States are among those well-established rights of third parties, which the Imperial Government declares its purpose to cause to be respected, I am unprepared to determine the importance to be attached to this announcement, although I believe I interpret it rightly as a frank and voluntary declaration that those American citizens who already have established or may hereafter establish themselves on those islands, in peaceful accord with the natives, and on a footing of perfect equality with settlers of German and other nationality, will not be disturbed in their rights of residence and intercourse, or discriminated against as compared with German subjects, by reason of this establishment of a German protectorate. This Government has never claimed for itself any exclusive privileges or rights in those regions growing out of the prior or contemporaneous settlements of American citizens, and it can not, of course, anticipate that any such exclusive privileges or rights will be claimed on behalf of other nationalities to the prejudice of Americans." Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. von Alvensleben, German min., March 4, 1886, For. Rel. 1886, 333. For the German announcement of the regulation of the Solomon Islands, under the protectorate of the New Guinea Company, see Mr. von Alvensleben, German min., to Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, Feb. 15, 1887, For. Rel. 1887, 419. In 1899 Germany acquired from Spain the Caroline Islands, and all the Ladrones, except Guam, which had been ceded to the United States. ( (Ann. Reg. 1899 [334], 31.) See, as to the rights of American citizens in the Carolines, For. Rel. 1886, 831-834. In 1892 Captain Davis, H. B. M. S. Royalist, visited the Gilbert Islands and formally declared them to be under British protection. Citizens of the United States had during the preceding fifty years established themselves in the group, and on May 25, 1888, Mr. Adolph Rick was commissioned as United States commercial agent, accredited to the local authority, with residence at Butaritari. Captain Davis treated his commercial agency as having terminated on May 27, 1892, the day of the assumption of the British protectorate over the group, and declined to recognize him as a consular representative till he should be accredited to the Queen. With regard to this incident, and to the protection of the vested rights of American citizens in the islands, the Government of the United States said:" "In the course of the last few years foreign protectorates have been asserted over territories where this Government had established consular representation, without interruption thereof, until a new appointment required a new act of recognition. Were the British protectorate over the Gilbert Islands deemed to be of a different character, involving the substitutory credence of the United States commercial agent forthwith to Her Britannic Majesty, this Government would have cheerfully considered the point on due intimation being given by Her Majesty's Government through the regular channnels. I am unable to accept the action of Capt. Davis as such usual, timely, and friendly notice as is due from one power to another, nor can I suppose Her Majesty's Government desires or expects that it should be so accepted. 'As I have already said, the germs of civilization were planted in the Gilbert group by the zealous endeavor of American citizens more than half a century ago. The result of this work, carried on by American citizens and money, has been, in fact, to change the naked barbarism of the island natives into enlightened communities and to lay the foundations of the trade and commerce which have given those islands importance in the eyes of Europe to day. Wrought by the agents of a colonizing power, this development would have naturally led to a paramount claim to protection, control, or annexation, as policy might dictate. This country, however, has slept upon its rights to reap the benefits of the development produced by the efforts of its citizens; but it can not forego its inalienable privilege to protect its citizens in the vested rights they have built up by half a century of sacrifice and Christian endeavor. You will take an early occasion to make these views known to the Earl of Rosebery. You will say to him that this Government believes that it has a right to expect that the rights and interests of the American citizens established in the Gilbert Islands will be as fully respected and confirmed under Her Majesty's protectorate as they could have been had the United States accepted the office of protection not long since solicited by the rulers of those islands."a Lord Rosebery, on receiving these representations, gave "an assurance that the rights and interests of United States citizens established in the Gilbert Islands will be fully recognized and respected by the British authorities." Instructions were subsequently given for the recognition of Mr. Rick in his consular capacity, and regret was expressed that he did not receive provisional recognition, although it was stated that Captain Davis appeared “to have been technically correct in his view that Mr. Rick's appointment should be notified to the protecting powers before he could be formally recognized."e @ Mr. Foster, Sec. of State, to Mr. White, chargé at London, Nov. 5, 1892, For. Rel. 1892, 237, 239. For. Rel. 1892, 246. The military authorities of the United States in the Philippines were under no obligation to sustain or support arbitrary proceedings for the confiscation of the property of Spanish subjects on the ground of disloyalty, and when proceedings taken for that purpose had resulted, by abandonment or otherwise, in the original owners coming again into possession of their property, their right of possession was not open to question or inquiry on the part of the United States. It was therefore advised that the military governor should be directed to return to certain Spanish subjects in the Philippines all their property and possessions taken by the United States in pursuance of General Otis's order of November 25, 1898. Griggs, At.-Gen., Feb. 21, 1899, 22 Op. 351. By Article XIII. of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain of December 10, 1898, it was provided that rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired by Spaniards in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines should be respected. It was advised that a patent or license granted July 11, 1898, to a Spaniard for the manufacture of hemp by steam in the Philippines for the term of five years was protected by this provision of the treaty if it was good under Spanish law, although the American law may give no identical rights. The stipulation, it was held, concerned "only Spanish rights acquired under Spanish laws," and that it embraced "property recognized by the Spanish laws which correspond with our patent laws, even if that property was not identical with that recognized by our laws." Griggs, At.-Gen., Nov. 11, 1899, 22 Op. 617. Rights of property in trade-marks in Cuba and the Philippines are entitled to the protection stipulated for "property of all kinds" in Arts. I. and VIII. of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain of December 10, 1898; and trade-marks registered prior to that time in the international registry at Berne are entitled to the same recognition and protection from the military governments of Cuba and the Philippines as trade-marks registered in the national registry at Madrid or in one of the provincial registries of the islands. Mr. Magoon, law officer, division of insular affairs, War Dept., March 27, 1901, See, further, as to the protection of property rights under Arts. I. and VIII. of The rights of municipalities were not destroyed in the territory transferred by Spain to the United States, and their rights of property were protected by Art. VIII. of the treaty of cession. Reports of Mr. Magoon, law officer, Magoon's Reports, 374, 650. As to mining claims and appurtenant privileges in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the The situation in the New Hebrides is regulated by the Anglo-French convention of November 16, 1887, supplemented by the agreement of January 26, 1888. This arrangement was in the nature of a compromise. The Australians desisted from their agitation in favor of annexation and the French withdrew the two naval stations which they had established in the archipelago. The protection of persons and property was entrusted to a joint commission composed of two English and two French officers and a president, who, in alternate months, was to be the French or English commanding officer on the station. The conventions have, it is stated, been found to possess two radical defects in failing to regulate (1) the acquisition of land, and (2) the importation of arms, ammunition, and alcohol. ammunition, and alcohol. In consequence, grave disputes have arisen between the English and the French as to the purchase and ownership of real property, and also as to the labor question. The London Times Weekly Edition, Jan. 3, 1902, supplement, iv. Public offices. In 1728 Don Sebastian Calvo de la Puerta bought at public auction from the Spanish Crown the office of " Alguacil mayor," or high sheriff, of the city of Habana, Cuba. The office was declared to be perpetual and inheritable, and it finally descended to the Countess of O'Reilly y Buena Vista. Its duties included the inspection of the meat supply, and for this service the holder was authorized to exact a certain sum for each head of cattle killed at the slaughterhouse. This privilege was alleged to be worth a large amount of money, a half interest in which was purchased at judicial sale in 1895 by Dr. Don Gustavo Gallet Duplessis, for the satisfaction of a private debt. On the American occupation of Habana, the military authorities of the United States refused to allow the Countess of Buena Vista and Dr. Duplessis to exercise the authority or enjoy the emoluments of the office. They subsequently appealed to the Government of the United States, contending (1) that the office was property, and (2) that as such it was protected by Art. VIII. of the treaty of peace of Dec. 10, 1898, and by international law. It was advised (1) that, although the perpetual incumbency of the office was sold by Spain, it was a right subject to be resumed by the sovereign whenever the public welfare required it; (2) that it rested on a contract with Spain, personal in its nature, which, as it was not assumed by the United States in the treaty of peace, did not pass with the transfer of sovereignty; (3) that whether the obligations of Spain in Cuba were to be assumed by the Government established by the people of the island was a question to be determined by that Government when it should come into existence; (4) that the question whether the municipality of Habana was, as was contended, liable for the payment of an indemnity by reason of any proceedings prior to the military occupation of the |