Although the colonial exchange between Spain and the United Kingdom was theoretically kept secret from the outside, the transfer of colonial governments and local garrisons could not be concealed from everyone, at least not from the European countries concerned.
As the colonial exchange between Spain and the United Kingdom officially began, European countries also made certain speculations about the secret agreement reached by the two countries.
The most frantic, perhaps, is the United States, which has had its eye on Cuba for a long time. If Spain were an opponent the United States could barely defeat, then the British Empire was a towering mountain beyond the reach of the United States.
No matter how astonishingly the United States' industry and economy developed, in the eyes of the British, the United States was merely an upstart that could be easily manipulated.
