File No. 811.34537/40.
The Secretary of State to
the American Minister.
Washington, January 7,
1911.
No. 212.]
Sir: Referring to previous correspondence, and
especially to the Department’s No. 114, of August 18, 1910, instructing
you to take up with the Cuban Government the desired enlargement of the
United States naval station at Guantánamo, offering as an inducement, if
necessary, to relinquish the tract leased to the United States for use
as a naval station at Bahía Honda, I inclose herewith a copy of a letter
from the Navy Department, answering one by which this Department
communicated to it your confidential dispatch No. 508, of the 14th
ultimo,1 which was
duly received by the Department, and in which you state that the foreign
office desires to be informed whether it would be agreeable to the
United States to receive from the Cuban Government a request that it
relinquish the lease of the Bahía Honda property.
[Page 115]
This letter from the Navy Department, in which it states that it does not
consider that it would be expedient to renounce the Bahía Honda lease
unqualifiedly and without compensation, will serve as your further
instructions with reference to this matter.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
The Acting Secretary of the
Navy to the Secretary of
State.
Washington, December 22,
1910.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 21st instant,1 inclosing a copy of a
dispatch, No. 508, dated the 14th instant, from the American
minister at Habana, communicating an inquiry of the Cuban secretary
of state as to whether it would be agreeable to the United States to
receive a request from Cuba to annul the lease of the area comprised
in the proposed naval station at Bahía Honda and to cede to Cuba the
rights which were granted to this Government. In reply I beg to
invite attention to this Department’s letter of June 3, 1910,
relative to procuring an extension of the limits of the naval
station, Guatanámo, Cuba, and recommending that, if necessary, the
present reservation at Bahía Honda be surrendered in exchange for
such extension at Guantánamo, should such surrender serve to
facilitate favorable action in obtaining the desired extension.
The Department does not consider that it would be expedient to
renounce the Bahía Honda lease unqualifiedly and without
compensation.
Very respectfully.
