Note 102 — Chapter III

Early in 1899 Silvela asserted to the ambassadors of Germany, France, and Russia that if Great Britain and France had gone to war in the previous year, the former had intended to occupy Vigo (G.P., XV, Vol. Nos. 4205-8). When this fear was brought to the attention of the British government, by an exchange of notes with the Spanish government it denied any such intention. See Wolff to Salisbury, March 10, 1899, B.D., II, 255 f., No. 305; Salisbury to Wolff, March 16, 1899, ibid., 256, No. 306; Conde de Romanones, Las responsabilidades politicas del antique régimen de 1875 á 1923 (Madrid, ——), p. 36; Becker, pp. 415 f. The British and Spanish governments also found by an exchange of views in January, 1899, that they both wished to maintain the status quo in Morocco. The Spanish diplomat and historian, Becker, has written that they were about to make an agreement to that effect when the Liberal government in Spain fell from power (March, 1899) (op. cit., p. 415; Salisbury to Wolff, Jan. 11, 1899, B.D., II, 255, No. 304).