No. 642.
Mr. Fairchild to Mr. Evarts.
Madrid, December 29, 1880. (Rec’d January 15.)
Sir: At an interview had this day with his excellency Señor Elduayen, he desired me to convey to you his best thanks for the kindly consideration which led you to so promptly and emphatically assure the Spanish minister at Washington of the falseness of the construction which had been, by parties in the United States and in Spain interested in fomenting trouble between the two governments, placed upon the words of the President of the United States, in his last message, regarding the late firing upon American vessels by Spanish gunboats in Cuban waters.
I have, &c.,