No. 420.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Volera.
Washington, March 2, 1886.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 10th ultimo, and of its inclosure, a copy of the Official Gazette of Madrid, in which is inserted the protocol concluded between Spain and Germany, by the mediation of His Holiness, Pope Leo XIII, relative to the sovereignty of Spain in the archipelagoes of the Caroline and Pelew Islands, and signed at Rome, December 17, 1885.
It affords the Government of the United States much satisfaction to learn that the question of sovereignty over these islands has been amicably adjusted.
As your Government is aware, the citizens of the United States have been actively engaged in disseminating Information among the inhabitants of that quarter, with a view to their prosperity; and it is not presumed that their treatment under the rule of Spain, which this arrangement [Page 832] recognizes, and confirms as between Germany and Spain (and which has never been contested by the United States), will be any less favorable than that of Germans or other foreigners commorant therein.
Accept, &c.,