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

Mr. Hay to Mr. Day.

[Telegram.]

Department of State,
Washington, November 3, 1898.

The President has received your dispatch of this date and awaits your letter. Meantime, however, the question may be ultimately determined. He assumes you have not yielded the claim by right of conquest. In fact, the destruction of the Spanish fleet on May 1 was the conquest of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The President has confidence that the Commission will be able to make a treaty on just and honorable grounds. A failure to do so would be greatly to be regretted.

Hay.