T. E. HOLLAND
Oxford, May 21 (1897).
SUBMARINE CABLES IN TIME OF WAR
Sir,—Will you allow me to refer in a few words to the interesting letters upon the subject of submarine cables which have been addressed to you by Mr. Parsoné and Mr. Charles Bright? In asserting that "the question as to the legitimacy of cable-cutting is covered by no precedent," I had no intention of denying that belligerent interference with cables had ever occurred. International precedents are made by diplomatic action (or deliberate inaction) with reference to facts, not by those facts themselves. To the best of my belief no case of cable-cutting has ever been made matter of diplomatic representation, and I understand Mr. Parsoné to admit that no claim in respect of damage to cables was presented to the mixed Commission appointed under the Convention of 1883 between Great Britain and Chile.[172]
In the course of his able address upon "Belligerents and Neutrals," reported in your issue of this morning, I observe that Mr. Macdonell suggests that the Institut de Droit International might usefully study the question of cables in time of war. It may, therefore, be well to state that this service hat already been rendered. The Institut, at its Paris meeting in 1878, appointed a committee, of which M. Renault was chairman, to consider the whole subject of the protection of cables, both in peace and in war; and at its Brussels meeting, in 1879, carefully discussed the exhaustive report of its committee and voted certain "conclusions," notably the following:—
"Le câble télégraphique sous-marin qui unit deux territoires neutres est inviolable.
"Il est à désirer, quand les communications télégraphiques doivent cesser par suite de l'état de guerre, que l'on se borne aux mesures strictement nécessaires pour empêcher l'usage du cable, et qu'il soit mis fin à ces mesures, ou que l'on en répare les consequences, aussitôt que le permettra la cessation des hostilités."
It was in no small measure due to the initiative of the Institut that diplomatic conferences were held at Paris, which in 1882 produced a draft convention for the protection of cables, not restricted in its operation to time of peace; and in 1884 the actual convention, which is so restricted.
It may not be generally known that in 1864, before the difficulties of the subject were thoroughly appreciated, a convention was signed, though it never became operative, by which Brazil, Hayti, Italy, and Portugal undertook to recognise the "neutrality" in time of war of a cable to be laid by one Balestrini. So, in 1869, the United States were desirous of concluding a general convention which should assimilate the destruction of cables in the high seas to piracy, and should continue to be in force in time of war. The Brussels conference of 1874 avoided any mention of "câbles sous-marins."
The moral of all that has been written upon this subject is obviously that drawn by Mr. Charles Bright—viz. "the [173]urgent necessity of a system of cables connecting the British Empire by direct and independent means—i.e. without touching on foreign soil."