General Sickles to Mr. Fish
Sir: I have the honor to report that on the receipt of your instruction, through Mr. Motley, on the 20th instant, I addressed a note to the minister of state, asking him to name the earliest time convenient to himself for an interview, which was promptly appointed for Thursday, (yesterday,) at 3 in the afternoon. Mr. Sagasta, foreseeing the purpose of my visit, did not wait for me to state it, but immediately on receiving me introduced the subject of our reclamations, and proceeded to narrate the proofs of his diligent efforts to obtain the information he desired from the colonial office to enable him to answer my note of October 14. He said that the secretary of the colonies having some time ago told him that the reports required could only be prepared in Cuba, orders were immediately sent by telegraph to forward them without delay. On the receipt of my request for an interview he had again asked Mr. Moret for the data called for, and was told that no answer had been received from Cuba; and that [Page 733] now, not wishing to defer his reply any longer, he must do the best he could with such material as the Colonial Office had in its possession; he added that he hoped to receive from that department a communication on the subject within a day or two, and would at once write to me. I replied that his excellency had made no mistake in assuming that I had come to represent to him the desire of the President to know the views of the Spanish government with respect to the numerous reclamations I had brought to its notice, and to which my notes of July 26 and October 14 were particularly directed; that all our correspondence on the subject had been submitted to the President, and that I was instructed by a telegram just now received to ask for the immediate action of the government of His Highness the Regent upon the propositions I had submitted; that Congress would assemble early in December, and that it would become the duty of the President to inform that body of the stage the negotiation had reached; that the President had given so many proofs of his sincere desire to remove any cause of difference with Spain that his excellency would comprehend the disappointment and regret that would be felt at Washington if any further delay should occur in coming to a satisfactory understanding with the Spanish government in relation to the injuries our citizens had already suffered, as well as upon the measures suggested to prevent the recurrence of similar causes of complaint, and that I could not too earnestly commend to his excellency the importance of these considerations in the interest of the friendly relations of the two countries. Mr. Sagasta repeated his satement that he would at once give attention to the matter, and that I should hear from him very soon. I could not fail to be painfully impressed by the reflection that the minister disclosed no intimation of a disposition to accede to our reasonable demands heretofore presented, and that my allusion to the considerate and generous course of the President in all the questions which had grown out of the struggle in Cuba was received without the expression of any just appreciation of his action.
I am, &c.,