Mr. Hay to the Duke de Arcos.
Washington, December 21, 1899.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 20th instant, transmitting to me a bill of exchange drawn upon the Riggs National Bank of Washington, by Luis Roy Sobrino, of Madrid, to the value of $28,500, and also a check for the like sum of $28,500, drawn by you to my order upon the Riggs National Bank of Washington, these sums being in satisfaction of the amount of the interest upon the debt growing out of the convention between the United States and Spain of February 17, 1834, for the payment of claims of citizens of the United States and corresponding to the annual payments due in 1898 and 1899, the satisfaction of which has not been practicable until now. I hasten to make this formal acknowledgment of the payment in question in advance of my communication to you of the customary receipts, in order that I may lose no time in expressing to you the sincere gratification which this Government feels by reason of the friendly and just spirit shown by the Spanish Government in meeting the obligations in question.
[Page 714]The formal receipts will be forwarded to you soon as they can be prepared, probably to-morrow.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,