Mr. Eddy to Mr. Hay.
Constantinople , September 17, 1902 .
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I have this day had an interview with the minister for foreign affairs. In the course of this interview I brought to his notice the request of the Cuban Government that the American representatives throughout the Ottoman Empire should take charge of Cubans and of Cuban interests until such time as the Cuban Government should be in a position to appoint representatives of their own. * * *
The minister for foreign affairs informed me that the permission to assume protection of Cubans and Cuban interests throughout the Empire was a matter for the personal consideration of the Sultan himself. He could give no other excuse for the unwarranted delay in reply to the legation’s many notes on the subject than that His Majesty had not as yet been able to take the matter up. * * *
I have, etc.,