File No. 763.72119/2532

The Secretary of State to the Spanish Ambassador ( Riaño)

No. 984

Excellency: I did not fail to lay before the President the note which you addressed to him on the 14th instant,1 and handed to me on that date.

Acting under the instructions of your Government, you enclosed with that note the text of a communication received by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Spain from the Chargé d’Affaires of Turkey at Madrid on October 12, in which the good offices of the Government of Spain were sought to bring to the attention of the President the request of the Imperial Ottoman Government that he take upon himself the task of the reestablishment of peace, and that he notify all belligerent states of the request, and invite them to delegate plenipotentiaries to initiate negotiations, the Imperial Ottoman Government accepting as a basis for the negotiations the program laid down by the President in his message to Congress of January 8, 1918, and in his subsequent declarations, especially his speech of September 27. It is further requested by the Imperial Ottoman Government that steps be taken for the immediate conclusion of a general armistice on land, on sea, and in the air.

By direction of the President I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that the Government of the United States will bring the communication of the Turkish Chargé d’Affaires to the knowledge of the Governments at war with Turkey.

Accept [etc.]

Robert Lansing
  1. Ante, p. 359.