File No. 811.34537/47.
[Extract.]
Habana, January 24, 1911.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the evening of the 20th instant of your telegram1 confirming instructions Nos. 265 of July 17, 1909, and 114 of August 18, 1910, already sent this legation in regard to the desired enlargement of our naval station at Guantánamo. The Department will recall that during the visit made to Cuba by Mr. Meyer, the Secretary of the Navy, last October, 1 reported that he had requested me to defer action in this matter until after his return to Washington and that consequently I should await the confirmation of previous instructions (my dispatch No. 426). The receipt of my dispatch in the premises has never been acknowledged, and although I was informed as to the substance of President Taft’s conversation with Sr. Sanguily at Guantánamo in November, I did not feel at liberty to take this matter up formally in view of the conflicting reports in the newspapers in regard to the intentions of the administration.
I have now the honor to state that on the 21st instant I addressed a note to the Cuban secretary of state, taking the matter up in a formal way, asking for the enlargement of the station to the boundaries set by the joint board in the report signed by Admiral Dewey on March 25, 1907, and stating that if this enlargement was granted the United States was prepared to renounce the Bahía Honda lease.
I repeat the request already made by telegraph to be furnished, as soon as possible, with duplicate copies of map showing exactly what enlargement is desired.2 * * *
I have, etc.,