Show SJNISll PROTEST TO FAWCE CRUISER HARVARD GIVEN REP TJGE AT MARTINIQUE American Vessel Is Thus Saved From Capture irencn Cable jot Used In the Interest of Spain Washington Hay 14 Official Information I Infor-mation reached here today that the Spanish government had filed a protest at the foreign office In Paris against the permission given by the French au i thoritles at Martinique to the United j I States auxiliary cruiser Harvard to remain re-main In the harbor of St Pierre Martinique Mar-tinique for seven days to make necessary neces-sary repairs The French government has taken speedy action on the protest land j Insists that the United States cruiser been disabled has I having a j full right to remain seven days or such time as may be necessary to complete h ereena I anl hot I Ihes meantimo I no steps will be taken to have her leave the French port The Spanish demand is an important development In the present critical situation sit-uation of the West Indies as it serves to permit France to give a conspicuous conspicu-ous evidence of her friendly attitude towards to-wards the United States and to offset I the insinuations which have been made against French favoritism to Spain It also makes clear for the first time the plans of the Spanish admiral to have the Harvard forced out of the harbor at Martinique and then to capture her wan nis SWUL cruisers < ntu wrpeUO boat destroyers It Is Impossible for the Spanish warships to attack her I while she Is Inside the harbor The most the Spanish admiral can do is to j wait outside the harbor In hopes of taking the Harvard as she leaves It Is i evident from the filing of Spains protest 1 I pro-test that she had fully expected the Harvard to leave St Pierre and that I the Spanish ships were lying in wait for her But a wait of seven days would be futile as other American I i ships can go to the relief of the Harvard Har-vard before that time Moreover while I j the capture of theHarvard would be a j 1 valuable Incident to the movement of I j j the Spanish squadron it Is obvious that i It cannot shape its entire movements I for the next seven days In order to ef j feet this one capture Had the French authorities decided I in view of the protest that the Harvard Har-vard must leave at once her position 1 would have been extremely critical asher as-her batteries are Insignificant compared with those of the big Spanish warships I war-ships and her fleetness would not avail j when the Spanish ships command the harbor entrance and had 30knot vessels ves-sels among their number As It W the navy department Is relieved of all serious ser-ious apprehension of the Harvard as the French government Insures her i safetySTATUS I I 1 STATUS OFt THE CABLE Ey a strange coincidence the French ownership of Martinique is bringing I protests from both quarters the United Unit-ed States as well as Spain although i those from this country are entirely unofficial un-official and are expressly dlscounte nanced by the state department They relate to the use of the French cable system between the United States and th West Indies Intimations being that these served to assist the Spanish au j i thoritles ana to emoarues me uuiLmia at Washington There appears to be no ground for this suspicion as It Is pointed out that the French cable company Is working against its xwn interests by such a course of action and that moreover It would subject Itself to the danger of having its cable cut at Coney Island where jt makes the landing It developed today that General Greeley chief of the signal service had laid down a strict course of action for the cable company to which the company com-pany fully acceded On Thursday General Gen-eral Greeley notified the company that the government was reliably advised that Spain was secretly using the French line to send messages from two i Spanish officials In London to the Spanish Span-ish authorities at Cuba and Porto Rico He said this doubtless was without the knowledge of the company He then laid down certain classes of forbidden messages These included messages between Spanish officials In code or cipher ci-pher messages and messages Inimical to the United States in Its present war against Spain Exceptions were made of messages signed by the president and members of the cabinet and also messages from central governments ana their replies In Washington General Greeley said he had no desire Co exercise exer-cise military control or supervision over the French cable line and as long as the necessities of war permit preferred that the company should look after Its I own affairs While granting this permission however how-ever General Greeley says It was with the distinct provision that the company i com-pany would allow Its agents and employees em-ployees to refuse to receive any mes sane he had forbidden tfi Hfk sent Me Lurlenne the agent of the company gave General Greeley written assurances assur-ances that all the foregoing conditions would be fully observed so that the United States authorities are now fully safeguarded against the use of the cable for purposes Inimical to the government gov-ernment |