No. 384.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Valera.
Washington, May 2, 1884.
Sir: Referring to former correspondence on the subject of reported plots in this country against the peace of Cuba, I have the honor to say that I have received a letter from the Attorney General of late date [Page 512] which makes it apparent that his Department encounters peculiar difficulties in the investigations it is pursuing into the particulars of the enterprises which are alleged to be on foot harboring enmity to the peace of Cuba, from the circumstance that the statements of the Spanish consuls transmitted hither fail to specify any tangible facts. The consul at Key West, for example, furnishes our officers with the simple fact that Cubans had been seen hauling barrels and boxes eastward, but will not state confidentially “the house from which this hauling was observed, the road, nor distance from the wharf”; nor will he place his detectives in communication with those of the United States.
Regretting these embarrassments, I beg, &c.,