File No. 311.523/27
The Spanish Ambassador to the Secretary of State
Washington, March 14, 1916.
Mr. Secretary: His Majesty’s Government, to which I immediately upon the receipt thereof made known the contents of your excellency’s note of March 10 last and applied for the instructions your excellency asked me to obtain has just directed me, by telegraph, [Page 959] to convey to the President of the Republic and to the Government of the United States in the name of H. M. the King and H. M. Government their cordial and sincere acknowledgment of and thanks for the generous offer to attend to the exhumation and removal of the bodies of the Spanish prisoners now buried in Seavey Island until they are delivered to the commander of the naval transport that will carry them to Spain, which offer H. M. Government, with high appreciation of the sentiments of friendship and consideration which prompted it, most gratefully accepts.
The Transport Almirante Lobo which has been charged with the duty of carrying the remains to the Peninsula will sail from New York, where she now is, for Portsmouth, N. H., at the end of this month of March; I am not able at this moment to give the exact date of her sailing but shall not fail to make it known to your excellency sufficiently in advance to permit of the necessary arrangements being made for the delivery of the remains to the commander of the transport.
Under the instructions received from my Government, Colonel Don Nicolas Urcullu, Military Attaché of the Embassy, will represent H. M. Government and the Embassy on that occasion.
I avail [etc.]