No. 611.
Mr. Curry
to Mr. Bayard.
Madrid, December 15, 1886. (Received December 28.)
Sir: On receiving your telegram of the 10th instant, stating that the Spanish minister at Washington had declared that the agreement of October was to terminate on January 1, and referring to instructions to me of December 2, which have not yet been received, I have the honor to report that I immediately addressed a note to the minister of state, inquiring as to the intention of his Government in regard to the termination of the agreement, and oil the 13th instant I received a reply informing me that his note of the 14th of November, as well as that of the Spanish minister, was for the purpose of expressing clearly the intention of the Spanish Government to consider the agreement as provisional and transitory, but it was the desire of Her Majesty’s Government to extend the agreement until March 31, 1887, with the possibility of further prolongation. I at once informed you of this fact, and on last night received a telegram authorizing me to assent to the extension proposed, which I have this morning done.
I have, etc.,