[798] *Mr. Roberts, Spanish minister, to Mr. Fish, Secretary of State.
Washington, December 8, 1869.
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Spain, has the honor to INform the honorable Secretary of State of the United States that he has received, with his note of to-day, a copy of the one addressed to him by the minister of Peru in this capital, in relation to the gun-boats which are being built for the account of the [Page 752] Spanish government, in New York, and which were embargoed at the request of the said representative, made in August last, and the one which, likewise, under date of to day, he has addressed to Mr. Freyre in reply to the note aforesaid.
[799] The undersigned, in accordance with the offer made by him in his note of the 1st instant, to make a declaration similar to the one made by the representative of the republic of Peru to Spain in 1868, in the matter of the monitors Oneota and Catawba, declares, in the name of his government, that the said thirty gun-boats are not designed to carry on hostilities against the republic of Peru, nor to release larger vessels designed for this purpose, and he moreover gives assurance that they shall at no time commit acts of hostility against the *flag of the said republic.
The undersigned, in transmitting this declaration to the honorable Secretary of State, thanks him, in the name of his government, for his friendly intervention in order to bring about a satisfactory solution of this question, and hereby reiterates the assurances of his highest-consideration.
The Hon. Secretary of State of the United States.