Mr. Hay to Mr. Day.
London, May 14, 1898.
Sir: I have the honor to report to you that the foreign office has informed me of an interview held between the British ambassador in Madrid and the Spanish minister of foreign affairs in consequence of the communication sent by me, under your instructions, to the Spanish Government through Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, by the courtesy of Lord Salisbury, as reported in my dispatch No. 387, dated the 10th of May, 1898.
The Spanish minister for foreign affairs said that it was impossible to acknowledge that the whole treaty of 1795 is not abrogated by the war, as it was announced in the Gazette that the war had “determined the caducity” of the treaty and of the Protocol of the 12th of January, 1877, nor could His Excellency give an answer at present.
Sir Henry Wolff desires to make a correction in his previous telegram. It appears that the minister for foreign affairs did not actually pledge himself to accept an agreement, but said that he would probably do so.
I am, etc.,