Enrique Dupuy de Lôme

Enrique Dupuy de Lôme combined diplomacy with published studies of other countries. He served in the Americas and returned repeatedly to the Spanish mission in Washington, first as chargé and later as minister. His final American mission ended in February 1898, when Madrid accepted his resignation and appointed Juan du Bosc to take charge. ^{1, 2, 3}

Public controversy erupted with publication of his private letter to José Canalejas on 9 February 1898. Dupuy de Lôme had disparaged President William McKinley and discussed the proposed commercial negotiations concerning Cuba in language that American officials considered insincere. Assistant Secretary of State William R. Day confronted him with the original. According to Secretary of State John Sherman’s account, the minister acknowledged authorship but argued that the English translation had sharpened phrases intended for private conversation. He told Day that he had already telegraphed Madrid on 8 and 9 February asking to leave his post. ⁴

Madrid accepted his resignation before the American demand for recall was formally presented there. Removing the minister did not immediately resolve the dispute. In a note of 15 February, Spanish foreign minister Pío Gullón disavowed the offensive criticism but defended his government’s good faith in colonial reform and commercial negotiations. Sherman reported American satisfaction on 18 February. ^{5, 4}