Mr. Woodford to Mr. Sherman.
Madrid, March 8, 1898.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt this day of Department dispatch No. 137, dated February 23, 1898, giving circumstantial account of the Dupuy de Lôme incident. This account agrees substantially with my understanding of the whole incident, excepting that my personal understanding of my interview with the Spanish minister of foreign affairs, in the afternoon of Thursday, February 10, is that he then confined himself to regretting the minister’s indiscretion, while his excellency’s understanding is that he then indicated or made the frank expression of regret, which was substantially enlarged in his formal note of disauthorization, dated February 15. As the minister speaks little English and I little Spanish, the possible misunstanding may have occurred easily.
I remain, etc.,