The Secretary of State to the Cuban Minister.
Washington, October 1, 1906.
My Dear Mr. Quesada: A dispatch from Mr. Bacon, in Habana, has been received to-day at the Department of State as follows:
The Secretary of War instructs me to ask you to say to Quesada that the Secretary hopes he will not think of resigning; that his services will be of the greatest value to Cuba and to the United States in this great crisis, and that he relies upon the assistance which he feels sure that Minister Quesada will be willing to render with self-sacrifice for the restoration of his country to her constitutional government.
I wish to add my own personal request to that of Secretary Taft. It seems to me that your service was never more needed by your country than now, and that it would be a misfortune if you were to lay aside that official position which may enable you to make your service effective. I am much distressed by the events which have occurred since we left the United States to attend the conference at Rio, but I do not think there is just reason for the friends of Cuba to despair of her liberty, her independence, or her success in self-government. You will recall that the provision of the Cuban constitution and the treaty, under which the United States is now acting, provides the right “to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence,” and you will perceive in the terms of Secretary Taft’s proclamation that such is the purpose of the Government of the United States.
To secure the successful accomplishment of this purpose as speedily as possible, all friends of Cuba ought to unite their earnest efforts. With hopeful courage and determination on the part of Cuba’s real friends all this wretched business will soon be over, and we shall look back upon it as merely a hard lesson in the course of Cuba’s development in the art of self-government.
Always faithfully yours,