File No. 763.72111/3559
The Ambassador in Germany (
Gerard
) to the Secretary of State
No. 2631
Berlin
,
March 7, 1916
.
[Received March 20.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith
copies and translations of a note verbale dated
February 29, 1916, received from the Imperial Foreign Office covering a
memorandum regarding the stand taken by the Imperial German Government
in regard to the supply of munitions during the Spanish-American war of
1898, which the Foreign Office has requested me to bring to the
attention of my Government.
In this connection I would observe that a careful search of the Embassy’s
files reveals no correspondence regarding the steamer Pinzon mentioned in the aforesaid memorandum, nor am I able to
find that a copy of Ambassador Andrew D. White’s
letter of May 20, 1898, to Baron von Richthofen,
quoted in the memorandum, was retained in the Embassy’s archives. There
is also no trace of Baron von Richthofen’s “kind
note of yesterday” informing Mr. White of his
prompt action regarding the steamer Pinzon.
For the Department’s information I enclose herewith, as listed below,
copies of certain letters which passed between the Embassy and the
Consulate General at Hamburg in 1898 which is the only correspondence I
can find upon the Embassy’s files—as traceable through the index then
kept—with regard to the general subject of the exportation of arms and
ammunition from Germany during the Spanish-American war.1
I have [etc.]
For the Ambassador:
J. C. Grew
[Enclosure—Translation]
The German Foreign
Office to the American
Embassy
Nr. III a 3400/39494
Note Verbale
The Foreign Office has the honor to transmit herewith to the American
Embassy two copies of a memorandum regarding the stand taken by the
Imperial German Government in regard to the supply of munitions
during the Spanish-American war of 1898, and to request that the
contents of said memorandum be brought to the attention of the
American Government.
Berlin
,
February 29, 1916
.
[Subenclosure—Translation]
Memorandum regarding the stand taken by the
Imperial German Government in regard to the supply of munitions
during the Spanish-American war of 1898
Mr. Andrew D. White, former American Ambassador
at Berlin, has published an article in the New
York Times in which he asserts that during the
Spanish-American war of 1898, Germany furnished arms and munitions
to America as well as to Spain; he disputes the fact that the German
Government had stopped a ship with munitions intended for Spain, and
only admits that the Government had replied to his question as to
the character of the cargo. According to the tenor of the records of
the Foreign Office, these assertions are incorrect. While the German
Government does not know whether or not arms were supplied at that
time by private parties to one of the belligerents or to both, it
has, for its part, hindered such deliveries on repeated occasions.
In particular, however, the officials representing the United States
at that time made formal request to the German Government in several
cases to detain deliveries of munitions for Spain. While the German
Government did not acknowledge in principle that, as a neutral
power, it was under obligation to forbid private parties the
delivery of arms and munitions to a belligerent, it complied with
the American wishes out of friendship and good will.
The first case referred to a number of torpedoes which had been
manufactured for the Spanish Government by the private German firm
of Schwarzkopf at Kiel and were ready for delivery upon the outbreak
of the Spanish-American war. In conformity with a request of the
American Consul at Kiel, the local police authorities of the
governmental district of Schleswig were ordered to prevent the
dispatch of the torpedoes.
In the second case, the American Ambassador informed the
Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs that a large Spanish
steamer called Pinzon was about to leave the
port of Hamburg with a great mass of contraband of war, and
requested that the cargo be stopped. The steamer which, at the time
of this information, viz., on May 18, 1898, was already en route, was stopped by the Hamburg
authorities at Cuxhaven and examined with regard to contraband. As
nothing suspicious was found, she was permitted to continue on her
journey. The American Ambassador, who was informed of the result of
the measure taken, sent the following letter to the Undersecretary
of State for Foreign Affairs, then holding office:
Embassy of the United States of America,
Berlin, May 20, 1898.
Baron von Richthofen
,
Undersecretary of State for Foreign
Affairs.
My Dear Baron
: Accept my sincere thanks for your
kind note of yesterday informing me of your prompt action regarding
the steamer Pinzon for which also I would
tender the sincere thanks of my Government.
With assurances of my most sincere respect and regard
I remain [etc.]
