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Show BRITISH REPLY IS NOT SATISFACTORY CONTROVERSY OVER INTERFERENCE INTERFER-ENCE WITH MAILS BY BRITISH AND FRENCH VESSELS. Ambassadors to England and France Instructed to Ask Complete Answers An-swers to Recent Protests of the United States. Washington. Instructions to impress im-press upon the British and French governments gov-ernments that the United States desires de-sires an early and complete reply to its last note regarding Interference with neutral mails were cabled by the state department Monday to Ambassador Ambassa-dor Page at London and Ambassador Sharp at Paris. The step was taken after President Wilson and other officials had studied the British memorandum dealing with specific complaints and deferring until the future a reply to the American contentions regarding the principles involved. The official text of the memorandum, memoran-dum, made public by the state department, depart-ment, reveals that Great Brtialn feels "obliged to disclaim responsibility" for the specific occurrences complained of in the American note until there has been "opportunity of investigating In detail." In that connection it is pointed point-ed out that "there have been many instances in-stances of complaints, which on examination exam-ination proved to arise from the wrong direction of letters, the irregular sailings sail-ings of neutral mall boats and from other similar causes entirely outside the control of his majesty's government." govern-ment." One of the subjects left for consideration consid-eration in the allies' forthcoming final reply is the American complaint regarding re-garding money order lists, which it is declared "involves question ot principle prin-ciple on which consultation between those governmens is still in progress." In replying to the complaint regarding regard-ing mail removed from the steamship Medan, some ot which later was lost on the Mecklenburg, the memorandum says the facts set forth by the United States "are correct except that it is not made clear, though it is the fact, that the neutral mall bags removed from the Medan were all sent on and that 182 bags lost in the Mecklenburg were without exception for enemy destination." des-tination." The communication concludes that the specific complaints in the American Ameri-can note "do not support the general charges against the efficiency of the British censorship which the government govern-ment of the United States have put forward." |
