File No. 763.72/3438

The Minister in Nicaragua ( Jefferson) to the Secretary of State

No. 339

Sir: In accordance with the Department’s telegraphic circular instruction of February 3, 1917, relative to the break in diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany, I have the honor to report that immediately upon receipt of the same I transmitted a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, F. O. 181, of February 4, 1917, a copy of which I am herewith enclosing.2 I also have the honor to enclose a copy and translation of the reply of the Foreign Office thereto.

I have [etc.]

Benjamin L. Jefferson
[Enclosure—Translation—Extract]

The Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairrs ( Urtecho) to the American Minister ( Jefferson)

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your attentive communication of yesterday, in which by instructions from the Department of State you are pleased to give to my Government the important information which I have immediately delivered to His Excellency the President of the Republic.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[Page 238]

On taking due consideration of the important thoughts which I have been permitted to repeat herewith exactly, it is my duty to present to your excellency the profound sorrow which such deplorable circumstances have caused my Government, and its firm hope that the course of the developments in relation to that set forth by the Department of State in the esteemed note of your excellency, to which I am now replying, may be thus, and not otherwise, that it may be in accord with the great principles of humanity and justice, and of guaranty and respect for the rights of neutrals, in accordance with the well known doctrine observed and firmly maintained by the illustrious Government of your excellency, always animated by the most sane and generous propositions in favor of universal peace.

I take this opportunity to extend the fervent wishes of my Government for the unalterable peace and increasing prosperity of the United States of America, and to reiterate [etc.]

J. A. Urtecho
  1. Not printed.