Office of the Historian

No. 670.
Mr. Fish to General Sickles.

Department of State,
Washington, December 3, 1873.
No. 415.]

Sir: I inclose copies of Consul-General Hall’s Nos. 6 and 8.†

Respecting the former, which states that a guard of Spanish marines was placed at the consulate of the United States at Santiago de Cuba, you are instructed to bring the subject verbally to the attention of the Spanish government, and to ask the reason for the unusual course.

Respecting the latter, which sets forth the difficulty which Mr. Hall labors under in holding communications with the superior political governor in Cuba, I have to say that in the present juncture it does not appear to us that it is either prudent or a mark of good-will to throw impediments in the way of a free intercourse on pending questions between the principal representatives of the two governments in Cuba.

You may make this matter the subject of unofficial conversations, in the belief that the matter will be viewed at Madrid in the same light as here.

I am, &c,

HAMILTON FISH.
  1. See correspondence with Mr. Hall, infra.↩