The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-15
RETURNED TO CANALEJAs.
The De LONE Letter Restored to Span
lard from Whom Ii Was Stolen

lard from Whom 1t Was Stolen
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14-Actuated by a
sense Of honor and a strict idea OF Justice.
the State Department has taken steps to
place in the hands of Senior Canale1as, to.
whom the letter was addressed the epistle
written by Senor Dupuy De LONE which led
to the resignation of the minister. The
transaction is explained in the following
brief statement given out tonight by the
State Department: Recognizing that the
legal ownership Of the De LONE letter is in
Mr.. Canalejas and his agent and attorney,
Mr.. Carlisle, having presented proper au-
thority to receive the same the letter was
delivered to him to-day"
AS explained i'll this statement, Mr.. Carl
Isle was fully authorized to apply for and
receive the letter, having the cabed auJ
thorization from Senior Canalejas In the
view of the State Department the letter
was stolen document, and that like any
other piece of property, it should upon
application, be delivered to its rightful
owner. There was no other course left open,
for i'm the United States, as in all other
countries having code of laws a letter
becomes the sole property of the person
to whom it is addressed Immediately it
starts on its way from the sender Even
without the consent of the person ad-
dressed, the limit of his powers legally be-
ing in certain cases TO stop the delivery OF
the paper. This letter has, besides, COM
pletely served all Of the uses for which it
might have been applied by our govern
ment and there are in existence facsimile
copies of the paper that are so surely au-
thenticated to leave no legal doubt of
their accuracy.
There now remains only the closing chap
ter of the incident to be written for the end
is already in sight notwithstanding all that
has been said i'm tho press about demands on
Spain for apologies or retractions, of the
disagreeable things made by Senor Dupuy
deLome in his letter. it can be positively
stated that at no time since the publica-
ticn of the letter has the State Department
taken any such course. Instead, ii has re-
lied entirely on the sense Of propriety OF the
Spanish government to do all that was
proper and needful to wipe out the unpleas-
ant impression produced by these state
ments, and it can now be said that this
course has been fully justified and that the
Spanish Cabinet. now being aware of the
full text of the letter. is expected within a
day or two to make such disclaimer of the
letter as Is required by the circumstances.
Tonight the State Department received
notice from Madrid Of the selection of Senior
Louis Polo Bernabe as United States min
lister to succeed Senor Dupuy de LONE. The
officials OF the State Department stll main-
tain their reticence as 10 the contents OF
the cablegram from Minister Woodford re-
eeived last Saturday night. Il may be said
that all statements so far made as 10 the
nature of this dispatch are speculative. The
message was not decphered until well along
in the afternoon yesterday, and then II
passed into the hands Of Assistant Secretary
Day and the President in turn, who have
been the only persons in Washington, save
the employee who unraveled the cipher to
see the dispatch up to this time. No answer
has been made as yet 10 Mr. Woodford's
and II is by no means certain that
an answer will be required.
There was rumor this evening that the
visit of chaderon Carlisle. counsel for the
Spanish legation, to the State Depart