Mr. Hay to Mr. Merry.
Washington, May 8, 1899.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 240 of the 24th ultimo, reporting that the Nicaraguan minister for foreign affairs verbally requested you to order the hauling down of the American flags over the stores of American citizens in Bluefields, and that you declined to accede to his request.
The display of the flag, not as denoting extraterritorial jurisdiction, but as indicating the foreign ownership of the property covered thereby, has become so far a usage in countries liable to domestic disturbances as to warrant its convenient continuance. In this view of the matter your action in declining to order the owners to remove the flags is approved by the Department.
I am, etc.,