711.5221/14
The Spanish Ambassador (Riaño) to the Acting Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: As you will doubtless recall, following a private conversation which I had with you on February 11th ultimo and acting upon your authority to do so, I telegraphed my Government, that the Government of the United States was disposed to withdraw its denunciation of the Treaty of Friendship and General Relations between the United States and Spain, of July 1902, subject to the elimination of articles 23 and 24 which were in conflict with the Seaman’s Act; as had been proposed by the American Ambassador in Madrid, previously to the denunciation of the Treaty.
My information of the disposition of this Government in the matter, was very gratifying to His Majesty’s Government, which [Page 55] received it as a token of the desire of the United States that the cordial relations established by this Treaty between the two countries should not be allowed to suffer by the discontinuance of the pact; but should continue to prosper and develop under the agreement of the Treaty in question which has proved so beneficial to the interests of the United States and of Spain since it has been in force.
As the date on which the Treaty will elapse is drawing near, and as, as far as I know, no steps have as yet been taken by the Government of the United States to effect the withdrawal of the denunciation which you assured me on February 11th would be done in the near future, I take the liberty, acting upon instructions received from my Government, to call your attention to the matter, with the request and earnest hope that instructions be communicated, as soon as possible, to the proper Authority, in order that the withdrawal of the denunciation of the Treaty by the United States be effected.
Believe me [etc.]