Mr. Sherman to Mr. Woodford.
Washington, March 1, 1898.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 140, of the 14th ultimo, in which you confirm the Department’s telegram to you of February 12, giving the Spanish text of the cabled objectionable passages of the recently published letter of Señor Dupuy de Lôme, and your telegram of February 14th, giving the text of the note which you addressed to the minister of state on that day, communicating the said text.
Mr. Day’s telegram of February 12 appears to have been correctly received by you with the exception of the punctuation.
I should add that the last word but one of the second Spanish extract which was almost illegible in the original and which was at first interpreted to read “guardar” is now understood to mean “ganando,” so that the last words read “y para ir ganando emigrantes.”
It is observed that in your note to the minister of state of February 14 you leave the word blank.
In this connection I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 137, of February 11th, in which you report the interview had by you with the minister of state about 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the 10th instant, for the purpose of communicating to his excellency the Acting Secretary’s telegram to you of the evening of the 9th, received by you on the morning of the 10th, whereby you were directed to inform the minister of state that, as the utility of Señor Dupuy de Lôme as a medium of frank and sincere intercourse between this country and Spain was obviously ended, the prompt recall of the minister was expected by the President.
Respectfully yours,