Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 5, 1898

Mr. Tower to Mr. Sherman .

United States Legation,
Vienna , May 6, 1898 .

No. 63.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 95, of the 15th of April, 1898, which refers to a letter of the Secretary of the Navy, transmitting a communication from Capt. C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., lately commanding the U. S. S. Maine, in regard to the action of the commander and officers of the Austrian man-of-war Donau in placing flowers upon the graves of the dead sailors of the Maine in the cemetery at Havana, and instructs me to acquaint the Austrian Government with the sympathetic and graceful deed of its representatives, and to express in suitable terms the appreciation of the United States Navy Department.

Unfortunately, the copy of the letter of the Secretary of the Navy and the communication of Captain Sigsbee, which was intended to be inclosed in your dispatch, was omitted. I respectfully request that it be sent here to complete the record of this legation.

In compliance with the instructions contained in your dispatch, I communicated to the Count Goluchowski, Austro-Hungarian minister of foreign affairs, on the 30th of April, the appreciation of the Navy Department of the action of the commander and officers of the Donau. Copies of my note to him and of his reply thereto are submitted herewith.

I have, etc.,

Charlemagne Tower.

[Inclosure in No. 63.]

Mr. Tower to Count Goluchowski.

United States Legation,
Vienna , April 30, 1898 .

F. O., No. 48.]

Your Excellency: I have the honor to inform your excellency, under instructions from the Government of the United States, that Capt. C. D. Sigsbee, of the United States Navy, former commander of the U. S. S. Maine, has made an official report to the Secretary of the Navy, in which he communicated to him, with sentiments of profound respect and gratitude, the action of the commander and officers of the Austrian man-of-war Donau, who recently went ashore and placed flowers on the graves of the dead sailors of the Maine lying buried in the cemetery of Havana.

I am directed by the Government of the United States to acquaint the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary with the sympathetic deed of its representatives and to express the deep appreciation of the Navy Department of the touching action of the commander and officers of the Donau upon that occasion.

I avail myself, etc.,

Charlemagne Tower.

[Inclosure in No. 63.—Translation.]

Count Goluchowski to Mr. Tower.

Vienna , May 2, 1898 .

Sir: The undersigned, minister of the imperial and royal house and of foreign affairs, has had the honor to receive the esteemed note of April 30 last, numbered 48, in which the envoy extrordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. Charlemagne Tower, was pleased to convey the intelligence that the officers and crew of H. M. ship Donau, as officially reported by Capt. C. D. Sigsbee, the former commander of the U. S. S. Maine, had deposited a wreath upon the grave of the crew of that ship, and that the United States minister had been instructed by his Government to express the thanks of the Secretary of the Navy of the United States for this expression of sympathy on the part of their companions in arms.

The undersigned will not fail to convey to the knowledge of the imperial and royal naval department the contents of the above-mentioned note, and he begs leave to avail himself, etc.

Goluchowski.