Mr. Moore to Mr. Cambon.
Excellency: In a memorandum left at the Department on the 15th instant, in behalf of your embassy, I note the following inquiries:
- 1.
- May the postal service by Spanish steamers be reestablished between Spain and Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines?
- 2.
- Will Spanish merchants be permitted to send supplies in Spanish bottoms to Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines?
- 3.
- Will the Spanish tank steamer Cadagna, chartered by French merchants and now lying in Havre, be permitted to proceed to Philadelphia to take mineral oil for industrial purposes?
It is understood that these inquiries are made with reference to the fact that, although a suspension of hostilities between the United States and Spain has been proclaimed, the state of war between the two countries still continues, and that intercourse between them not having been formally restored must, so far as it is allowed, be the subject of special understanding.
With this observation I proceed to answer your inquiries in the order in which they have been stated.
- 1.
- This Government will interpose no obstacle to the reestablishment of the postal service by Spanish steamers between Spain on the one side and Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines on the other.
- 2.
- The United States will not object to the importation of supplies in Spanish bottoms to Cuba and the Philippines, but it has been decided to reserve the importation of supplies from the United States to Porto Rico to American vessels.
- 3.
- The Spanish tank steamer Cadagna, chartered by French merchants and now lying at Havre, will be permitted to proceed to Philadelphia and to take mineral oil for industrial purposes, provided such oil is not to be transported to Porto Rico.
The concessions contained in these answers are made upon the understanding that American vessels will not for the time being be excluded from Spanish ports, as well as upon the understanding that, if hostilities should at any time be renewed, American vessels that might happen to be in Spanish ports would be allowed thirty days in which to [Page 803] load and depart with noncontraband cargo, and that any American vessel which, prior to the renewal of hostilities, should have sailed for any Spanish port or place would be permitted to enter such port or place and discharge her cargo, and afterwards forthwith to depart without molestation, and, if met at sea by any Spanish ship, to continue her voyage to any port or place not blockaded. These rules were observed by the United States at the outbreak of the war and would again be observed by this Government in the event of a renewal of hostilities.
Accept, etc.,
Acting Secretary.