No. 148.
Mr. Cramer to Mr. Evarts.

No. 550.]

Sir: Again referring to your dispatch No. 297, relative to a rumor current at St. Thomas of negotiations now pending between the Danish Government and that of some other country—presumed to be that of [Page 311] Great Britain—for the transfer of that island, and also to my No. 547, of the 11th instant, in which I informed you that the Danish minister of foreign affairs denied the existence of such negotiations, I have now the honor to further inform you that yesterday, it being the day for the weekly diplomatic conference, I called at the foreign office. In the course of our conversation the minister of foreign affairs voluntarily asked me whether I had communicated to my government the conversation we had on the 11th instant, concerning the above-mentioned rumor. I replied that I had communicated to you his unqualified denial as to the existence of the negotiations referred to. He then said that since the 11th instant nothing had reached him on the subject; “but,” he added, “we do not know what England may do. Our islands in the West Indies, especially Santa Oruz, have of late been, suffering much. England would be strong enough to help and protect them.” To this I said nothing, except that I agreed that Santa Oruz had suffered much from partial failures of the sugar-crops, as well as from the riots of last October.

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I am, &c.,

M. J. CRAMER.