Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 5, 1899

[Extract from No. 17.]

Mr. Storer to Mr. Hay.

Legation of the United States,
Madrid, June 27, 1899.

* * * Several letters have been received by me since my arrival, both from persons in the United States and from the prisoners in question, regarding sundry Cubans said to be kept in military confinement in various places in Spain for political offenses, claiming right of release under article 6 of the treaty.

I have so far not deemed it advisable to open any correspondence about them with the Spanish Government, as such a course would immediately open the door to counter inquiries regarding the prisoners in the Philippines, inquiries which for the present, until I be instructed as to the President’s will and informed by the Department as to the facts I am authorized to consider, I am not prepared to answer.

I have, etc.,

Bellamy Storer.