PEEIOD FKOM 1871 TO 1905. 929 



transaction, Captain Jacobs was more concerned in making up a case 

 against the Canadian authorities than in unobtrusively performing 

 any necessary acts of hospitality, and that his version of the matter, 

 as sent to Mr. Bayard, is utterly unreliable. 



The Neskilita was wrecked off a Canadian harbor; the crew, it is 

 stated, came ashore in their own boat and unassisted; a Canadian 

 collector was at hand offering his services, and within easy appeal to 

 the Government, and the captain of a Canadian cruiser was in port; 

 yet, Captain Jacobs would appear, by his own story, to have taken 

 complete charge of the captain, to have ignored all proffers of asgis- 

 tance, and to have constituted himself the sole guardian and spokes- 

 man of the wrecked crew, to have been in short the one sole man 

 actuated by kindly, humane feelings among a horde of cruel and 

 unsympathetic Canadians. 



For any exercise of good-will and assistance to Canadian seamen in 

 distress by either foreign or native vessels, the Canadian Government 

 can not but feel deeply grateful, and stands ready, as has been its 

 invariable custom, to recognize suitably and reward such services, 

 and when Captain Jacobs performs any necessary act of charitable 

 help towards Canadian seamen in distress without the obvious aim of 

 manufacturing an international grievance therefrom, he will not 

 prove an exception to Canada's generous treatment. 



The minister observes that in a dispatch to the governor-general, 

 dated the 27th December, 1886, and in reference to this same case, Mr. 

 Stanhope writes : " With reference to my dispatch of the 16th instant 

 relating to the case of the United States fishing vessel Mollie Adams, 

 and referring to the general complaints made on the part of the 

 United States Government of the treatment of American fishing ves- 

 sels in Canadian ports, I think it right to observe that whilst Her 

 Majestv's Government do not assume the correctness of any allega- 

 tions without first having obtained the explanations of the Dominion 

 Government, they rely confidently upon your ministers taking every 

 care that Her Majesty's Government are not placed in a position of 

 being obliged to defend any acts of questionable justice or propriety." 



The minister, while thanking Her Majesty's Government for the 

 assurance conveyed that it will not " assume the correctness of any 

 allegations without having obtained the explanations of the Dominion 

 Government," and whilst assuring Her Majesty's Government that 

 every possible care has been and will be taken that no "acts of ques- 

 tionable justice or propriety " are committed by the officers of the 

 Dominion Government, can not refrain from calling attention to the 

 loose, unreliable, and unsatisfactory nature of much of the informa- 

 tion supplied to the United States Government, and upon which very 

 grave charges are made, and very strong language officially used 

 against the Canadian authorities. For instance, as stated in a pre- 

 vious part of this report, the strong representations made by Mr. 

 Bayard in the case of the Mollie Adams are based solely upon a letter 

 written by Captain Jacobs, not even accompanied by an official attes- 

 tation, and not supported by a tittle of corroborative evidence. 



It does not appear that any attempt was made to investigate the 



truth of this story, unreasonable and improbable as it must have 



appeared, as the letter written by Captain Jacobs bears date, the 12th 



November, while Mr. Bayard's note based thereupon is dated the 1st 



92909" S. Doc. 870, 61-3, vol 3 30 



