4. Spain also assures to Germany the liberty of plantation within the islands, and of the foundation of agricultural establishments upon the same footing as that of undertakings by Spanish subjects.
L. Cardinal Jacobini,
Secretary of State to His Holiness.
Prince Bismarck to the Pope.
Sire,—The gracious letter with which your Holiness has honored me, and the high decoration accompanying it, gave me great pleasure, and I beg your Holiness to deign to receive the expression of my profound gratitude. Any mark of approbation connected with a work of peace in which it has been given me to co-operate is the more precious to me because of the high satisfaction it causes His Majesty, my august master. Your Holiness says in your letter that nothing is more in harmony with the spirit and nature of the Roman Pontificate than the practice of works of peace.
That is the very thought by which I was guided in begging your Holiness to accept the noble employment of arbiter in the difference pending between Germany and Spain, and in proposing to the Spanish Government to abide by your Holiness's decision. The consideration of the fact that the two nations do not stand in the same position towards the Church which venerates in your Holiness her supreme chief never weakened my firm confidence in the elevation of your Holiness's views, which assured me of the most perfect impartiality of your verdict. The nature of Germany's relations with Spain is such that the peace which reigns between these two countries is not menaced by any permanent divergence of interests, by rancours arising from the past, or by rivalry inherent in their geographic situation. Their habitually good relations could only be troubled by fortuitous causes or misunderstandings.
There is therefore every reason to hope that your Holiness's pacific action will have lasting effects, and first among these I count the grateful recollection the two parties will retain of their august mediator.
For my own part I shall gladly avail myself of every occasion which the fulfilment of my duties towards my master and my country may furnish me to testify to your Holiness my lively gratitude and my very humble devotion.
Von Bismarck.