Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1898 — DE LOME IS RECALLED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DE LOME IS RECALLED

HIS RESIGNATION ACCEPTED BY SPANISH GOVERNMENT. Impertinent Spaniard No Longer Minister at Washington—Confesaea that He Wrote the Canalejas Note—Peaceable Relations Are Not Affected. Message Comes from Madrid’. Enrique Dupuy Lome is no longer .the Spanish minister to this Government. His recall was demanded hy this Government when it was discovered he had written a letter in which he spoke of the President of the United States as a “low politician, weak and catering to the rabble.” Such a letter, purporting to have been written by him in December last to Senor Canalejas, was published throughout the country Wednesday morning, having been given to the press by the Cuban junta in New York, who had received it by the hands of a special messenger from Havana, where it had been stolen from Canalejas. | The following is the of the cablegram sent to Minister Woodford in Madrid by the State Department: “There has appeared in the public prints a letter

addressed to Senor Canalejas. The Spanish minister admits writing it. It contains expressions reflecting upon the President of the United States of such a character as to end the minister’s usefulness here. Gen. Woodford has been instructed to inform the Spanish Government that the immediate recall of Minister de Lomfl is expected.” At a meeting of the Spanish cabinet, held Thursday under the presidency of the queen regent, the minister for foreign affairs, Senor Gullon, read a dispatch from Senor Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish minister at Washington, saying that the published letter to Senor Canalejas was written by him, and that his position, consequently, had become untenable, and he begged the Government to accept his resignation,- The cabinet decided to accept the resignation of Senor Dupuy de Lome, and the ministers subsequently met and decided to telegraph to Senor de Lome accepting his resignation and intrusting the first secretary with the conduct of the current affairs of the legation. Senor de Lome sought to cover his retreat in an adroit manner by voluntarily tendering his resignation in advance of the President’s demand for his recall. It is now admitted that he cabled his resignation as early as 10 o’clock Tuesday night. At 9 o’clock he learned a sac simile copy of the letter was in the hands of the newspapers, and an hour later he had resigned. This step was taken to preserve De Lome’s status in the diplomatic service at home. He hoped thereby to forestall action by this Government which, would have made him reappointment in the diplomatic service again. The President determined not to give the minister the benefit of this ruse and made the demand for the recall, with a view of forever terminating Senor de Lome’s usefulness as a diplomat. The feeling Wednesday morning at*the White House and the State Department was one of charity for De Lome. Nobody doubted the letter was a forgery and State Department officials showed their sympathy for the diplomat to the extent of calling attention to the Federal statute protecting foreign diplomats from libel. While all this anxiety was being shown for the Spanish minister he was crowning his diplomatic career by misleading the President and State Department in order to gain a personal advantage. This act of Dc Lome’s was the prime cause for the President insisting upon registering at Madrid a demand for his recall. It is not believed by officials of the administration that the incident will lead to any friction whatever between the two governments.

SENOR DE LOME.