¹ The New York Journal published a fascimile of Dupuy’s letter on February 9, 1898. The subtitles read: “The worst insult to the United States in its history … send De Lôme home at once in disgrace.”

² I should like to acknowledge my gratitude to Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, grandson and namesake of the subject of this article, for his invaluable cooperation in allowing me access to personal documents and other family material. The biographical data quoted here is taken from the original Dupuy’s oldest son’s unpublished manuscript, Recuerdos de mi infancia (Childhood Memories) written in 1943. Its factual accuracy was verified by me from Dupuy’s official dossier at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Madrid. All of the translations are mine.

³ His known published articles in the Boletín de la sociedad geográfica de Madrid are these: “Principales errores sobre la historia y geografía del Japón en los libros de texto de las escuelas y universidades de España”; “Estudios sobre la geografía del Japón”; “El camino de Bolivia al Atlántico”; “El comercio de España con la República Argentina”; “Debate sobre la exploración y civilización del Africa.” His books are: Conferencia sobre la cuestión del Oriente (Madrid, 1877); Los eslavos y Turquía. Estudio histórico sobre la cuestión del Oriente (Madrid, 1877); De Madrid a Madrid dando la vuelta al mundo (Madrid, 1877; La Seda su cultivo y su producción en el Imperio Japonés (Madrid, 1875).

⁴ Juan Valera’s romantic inclinations are well known. During his stay in Washington as Spain’s ambassador, the Secretary of State’s daughter, Miss Katherine Lee Bayard, age 20 fell in love with him, an impossible affair that ended tragically with the young girl’s suicide upon Valera’s transfer to Brussels.

⁵ In a personal and private letter from Valera to his wife in Spain dated March 31, 1884, he makes this observation about Dupuy: “Dupuy is a smart man and his wife quite the opposite even though she is good-looking. Both suffer from delusions of grandeur. I get along with them but it is obvious that they are desperate. After six months of being Chargé d’ Affaires, he had grown accustomed to being the boss and obviously resents my arrival. They had really enjoyed it, she showing off her large wardrobe, with a private carriage at their disposal and most comfortable quarters to live in. Now that I am here they don’t want to curtail their living standards and so they spend much more than his income, a situation that can’t last too long … He must despise me. He has asked for a transfer to Europe. He can’t withstand the idea of being justa Secretary.¹¹ de Tejada, Carlos Saénz y Benvenuti, , La diplomática de don Juan Valera en Washington (1884–1886) y la problemática norteamericana. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Madrid, 1970, Vol 1, page 40.)Google Scholar

⁶ In his diplomatic reports, Dupuy emphasizes the economic aspect of Spanish-American relations, mainly the issue of the need to lower duties hindering Spanish trade with the United States. Dupuy’s correct assessment of the situation is corroborated by historians such as Raymond Carr who points out: “The Cuban economy stagnant before 1884, was based on sales of tabacco and sugar to the United States so that the Spanish interests pulled against what Cubans called their natural market. Cuban producers argued that the true policy for Cuba, hopelessly at the mercy of an American tariff war, was free trade. Spanish politicians argued that, given the existent customs revenues, Cuba was a net loss to the national exchequer. Cánovas del Castillo held that the Cuban demand for tariff reduction meant the abandonment of Cuba, which would become an insupportable burden. The root of the problem was economic as it had been for the empire lost after 1810.” Carr, Raymond, Spain 1808–1839 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), page 381.Google Scholar The dispatches from Dupuy are numbered 149–230 covering the period from July 31, 1883 to November 18, 1883. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Madrid, File No. 2417.

⁷ Germany’s imperialistic designs led that country to the armed conquest of the Caroline islands, Spanish possessions since the end of the seventeenth century. Popular uproar in Madrid against Germany led to an assault of the German Embassy. The matter was finally settled by arbitration.

⁸ Dupuy’s role must have been rather unimportant to judge by the absence of references to him in the memoires of the Infanta Eulalia who represented the Spanish throne at the exposition. For an account of the Spanish royal presence at the Chicago World Fair, see Wilson’s, Robert E. “The Infantas at the Fair”, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Scoiety, Vol. 59, No. 3 (Autumn, 1966), pages 252–271.Google Scholar

⁹ José Canalejas (1854-1912), a radical liberal and Prime Minister became Chief Editor of the Heraldo de Madrid. He was the only politician and newspaperman to travel to Cuba and Puerto Rico and see for himself the realities of the situation in the Antilles. Upon his return to Spain, he argued for the total autonomy of these colonies.

¹⁰ Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920), Spain’s greatest novelist of the nineteenth century, documents better than any other writer of his time the history of Spain in his novels. The particular aspect referred to here is studied in his novel, Miau.

¹¹ Dispatch No. 1 (Washington, April 10, 1895) This material is taken from the diplomatic correspondence between Dupuy de Lôme and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid. It, together with other data on this period, was published as, “Documentos presentados a las Cortes en la legislatura de 1898 por el Minstro de Estado (Madrid: Tipolitografía de Raúl Peant, 1898).

¹² Dispatch (without number, February 13, 1897)

¹³ Note to the Secretary of State (Washington, June 30, 1897)

¹⁴ Dispatch No. 17 (Washington, October 20, 1897)

¹⁵ Dispatch No. 22 (Washington, November 3, 1897)

¹⁶ Dispatch No. 23 (Washington, November 12, 1897)

¹⁷ Dispatch No. 24 (Washington, November 14, 1897)

¹⁸ Dispatch No. 27 (Washington, November 29, 1897)

¹⁹ Dispatch No. 29 (Washington, December 2, 1897)

²⁰ Dispatch No. 32 (Washington, December 16, 1897)

²¹ Dispatch No. 33 (Washington, December 16, 1897)

²² On January 12, 1898, there were some serious disturbances in Havana. They originated as a result of an article published by El Reconcentrado, reporting the departure from Cuba of a certain Captain Gómez. He was, according to the newspaper account, the officer in charge of implementing General Weyler’s controversial “reconcentrado” policies. Upon its publication, a number of military officers stormed the offices of the Reconcentrado, causing serious physical damage to the property. This incident revealed the underlying friction between the military and the native Cuban population, who now under the rule of their new insular government, felt freer to criticize the Spaniards. As was to be expected, the American Consul General in Havana, Mr. Lee, was accused of fomenting the strife in order to undermíne the weak foundations of the newly established government in Cuba and thus to present it as one incapable of maintaining law and order.

²³ For a good analysis of the profound effect of American journalism on the Cuban problem, see Wilkerson, Marcus M., Public Opinion and the Spanish American War (New York: Russell and Russell, 1932.Google Scholar

²⁴ Dispatch No. 40 (Washington, January 14, 1898)

²⁵ Dispatch No. 42 (Washington, January 16, 1898)

²⁶ Dispatch No. 44 (Washington, January 19, 1898)

²⁷ Dispatch No. 46 (Washington, January 28, 1898)

²⁸ Dispatch No. 60 (Washington, February 8, 1898)

²⁹ Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Madrid. Private correspondence of Enrique Dupuy de Lôme. Document No. 2417, page 4.

³⁰ Ibid., page 2.

³¹ Ibid., page 3.

³² Ibid., page 4.

³³ To be sure, the New York Journal had accused Dupuy on December 8, 1897, of spending $ 15,000 a month in “detective work trying to head off filibusters.”

³⁴ Document No. 2417, page 5.

³⁵ As Marcus Wilkerson points out, “During the insurrection, seventy one expeditions were fitted out from the United States and of this number, only twenty seven were landed in Cuba, most of the remainder having been halted by the United States. There were some thirty-one separate vessels engaged, more or less constantly, in the service of the Cubans.” Public Opinion and the Spanish American War, page 16.

³⁶ Document No. 2417, page 7.

³⁷ Ibid., page 13.

³⁸ Ibid., page 24.

³⁹ Ibid., page 30.