Mr. Dupuy de Lôme to Mr. Olney.
Lenox, July 24, 1896.
Mr. Secretary: I have had the honor to receive your excellency’s note of the 18th instant, relative to the case of the schooner William Todd.
I have transmitted a copy of the note and of the declarations of the captain and mate of the schooner, accompanying it, to his excellency the minister of state of His Majesty the King of Spain.
From the attentive reading of your excellency’s communication, and of the documents which I have before me, and to which I referred in my note of the 24th ultimo, it appears that a material mistake of the copyist has been made in the communication addressed to me by the Duke of Tetuan, and that this mistake may have been rendered still greater in this legation by copying as “April 6” a minute in which the words “April 16 “occur.
In the dispatch of the minister of state it is stated that the visit took place on the 16th of April, instead of saying “the 16th March,” as stated by the minister of marine in a communication of May 23.
[Page 702]Admiral Navarro, in command of the squadron of the Antilles, under date of April 1, cabled his chief, the minister of marine, that the American schooner William Todd had been visited.
The commander of the gunboat Antonio Lopez, under date of March 18, reported to his superior, the admiral, the visit which took place on the 16th March. The same officer, on the 30th of the same month, addressed another communication to the admiral, in which he repeated the correct date, which is the one mentioned by your excellency.
I venture to call your excellency’s attention to the fact that these three communications are prior to your excellency’s note of April 11, and are details of the service.
The same date is given in a detailed report of the admiral to the minister of marine, dated April 21, transmitting the communication of the commander of the gunboat, to which I referred in my note of June 24, after he had been ordered to ascertain exactly how the incidents had occurred.
No other incident than that of the William Todd can, therefore, be referred to, as the date, the name of the schooner, and her flag are mentioned in all the communications.
There still remains a point which appears to awaken doubts in your excellency’s mind—that of the position of the schooner William Todd at the time of the examination, and the manner in which the examination was made; and I beg you to examine again the reasons which I gave you, and which are certified by an officer of the royal Spanish navy, whose word I do not think your excellency can dispute.
The master of the William Todd has made a mistake in fixing his position; a mistake which an officer of the navy can not have made, especially when he took as the basis of the position a conspicuous point on the coast which he could see with the naked eye.
Two gunboats were in sight, but, as I have informed your excellency, only one took part in the incident; and it also appears from official documents that no shot was fired with ball.
In closing this note with the foregoing details, to which I shall add if the minister of state has received and communicates to me other new ones, it is my duty to say to your excellency that you ought to be convinced that the incident took place within the 3 miles [limit] in the jurisdictional waters of Spain, and that nothing has occurred on this occasion beyond a moderate use of the rights granted by international law, and in the exercise of which there is nothing extraordinary, when so many vessels are trying to carry aid to the rebels.
I do not think that your excellency can doubt the loyal and friendly sentiments of the Government of His Majesty the King of Spain, or its intention to fulfill its international duties with perfect fidelity, and as a proof of this I trust that you will accept these explanations, which could not be more candid or precise.
I avail, etc.,