703.5200/4a

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Woods)

No. 18

Sir: I enclose, with office copy, a sealed communication to the King of Spain, in which the President expresses to His Majesty the thanks and appreciation of the Government and people of the United States on account of the services rendered by Spanish officials in looking after American interests in Germany and Austria Hungary during the late war.

You will please forward the office copy to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and deliver the original in the manner most agreeable to His Majesty.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
Henry P. Fletcher
[Page 915]
[Enclosure]

President Harding to King Alfonso XIII

Great and Good Friend: When by force of events the entry of the United States into the late war as a belligerent became inescapable, Your Majesty graciously consented to permit the diplomatic and consular officers of Spain to take charge of American interests in Germany and Austria-Hungary. For more than four years the task thus undertaken was performed by these officers, often with personal self-sacrifice, in a manner which left nothing to be desired by the Government of the United States, and with a willingness and an efficiency deserving and receiving the gratitude of that Government.

While the Government of the United States has not failed to express its appreciation to individual Spanish officials, now that the resumption of diplomatic relations by the United States with Germany, Austria and Hungary has made unnecessary the further exercise of the good offices of Your Majesty’s officers, I deem it a duty, in the discharge of which I find exceptional pleasure, to assure Your Majesty of the grateful thanks of the Government and people of the United States for Your Majesty’s favor and of their high sense of appreciation of the valuable services which Your Majesty’s officers have rendered in their behalf.

May God have Your Majesty in His wise Keeping.

Warren G. Harding

By the President:
Charles E. Hughes
Secretary of State