File No. 837.77/99.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Habana, February 20, 1913.
Sir: Referring to the Department’s instruction No. 193 of the 8th instant, concerning the Caibarién-Nuevitas railroad concession, and the Department’s telegram of February 18 on the same subject, I have the honor to report that the petition of the Cuban Central Railways, dated December 28, 1912 (of which a copy1 was enclosed with the above-mentioned instruction), was duly considered and formally denied by President Gómez; that the British Minister in a recent note to the Cuban Foreign Office requested reconsideration of this decision, the annulment of the concession, and its grant to the Cuban Central Railways; and that this note, too, has been answered.
The British Minister’s note concluded with the ominous observation that in his opinion “the Cuban Government could hardly expect the British Government to be content with leaving the matter as it now stands, or to consent to a denial of that justice and fair treatment to which the Cuban Central Railways are entitled.” In its reply, the Cuban Foreign Office, after regretting the “unseemly tone and forceful language” of Mr. Leech’s note, states in effect that the protest of the Cuban Central Railways has already received full and careful consideration at the hands of the Cuban Government, whose decision is predicated upon “a strict observance of the law and the most upright principles of justice”; that the matter is now in the courts upon suit of the Cuban Central Railways; and consequently that the Administration could not under any circumstances take further action in the premises. As evidence that this matter has been considered by President Gomez personally I may add, upon unquestionable authority, that the note of the Foreign Office is based upon a draft in his own handwriting.
Under the circumstances, the Department’s instruction would be of no avail for the purposes intended.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩