Mr. Arriaga to Mr. Hay.
Washington, March 4, 1899.
Mr. Secretary of State: I was informed by your note of yesterday that the Secretary of the Navy had instructed the commander of the U. S. S. Machias, now stationed at Puerto Cortez (Cortes?) to endeavor to prevent any violation of the neutrality laws of the United States by members of the filibustering expeditions to which I referred in our last conversation.
I warmly thank your excellency in the name of my Government for the promptness with which you were pleased to cause this order to be issued.
An expedition of 150 men, recruited in the State of Missouri, which was to embark on the 2d instant for Puerto Barrios on the steamer of the New Orleans-Belize Royal Mail and Central Steamship Company, was prevented by the notification of the consul of Guatemala to Messrs. Macheca Brothers, the owners of the said steamship line, that the authorities of Puerto Barrios and Livingston would not permit the landing of suspicious passengers and cargo; but both the members of that expedition and those of others which were to follow, are still at New Orleans and in various Southern cities, and there is good reason [Page 366] to believe that Gen. Domingo Vasquez, who is now at New Orleans, and his agents, are engaged in endeavoring to procure other means of transportation for these men.
I therefore beg your excellency to be pleased to cause instructions to be sent to the proper Federal authorities in the ports of Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, and Pensacola to prevent the embarkation of any filibustering expedition that may seek to sail from these points. Also, of any arms and other munitions of war destined for the Guatemalan ports of the Atlantic, without the previous authorization of the consul-general of Guatemala at New Orleans.
I avail myself, etc.,