Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1871
General Sickles to Mr. Fish
Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith several printed extracts, taken from Madrid journals, ministerial, republican, and conservative, commenting upon a telegram published here on the 7th instant, purporting to give a synopsis of the remarks of the President in his annual message in relation to our reclamations against Spain, for injuries done by the authorities in Cuba to the persons and property of American citizens.
I am, &c.,
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The Washington telegram, which we publish elsewhere, has been the subject of animated discussions. Some thought it to be of immense importance, believing that the claims in question were those of Messrs. Morales Lemus, and Aldama, who are naturalized as North American citizens. Others, remembering the circumspect attitude which has constantly been maintained toward Spain by President Grant, thought that this portion of the message was only designed to cajole certain parties for the moment.
However, as the reasoning of the United States may have been similar to that which [Page 738] called forth the famous note of Russia, we expect that prompt and serious attention will be given to this matter by the government. The telegraph brings us most important intelligence to-day; but as it is in open contradiction to all that President Grant has done thus far in respect to Spain, we must await fuller reports of the contents of the message.
London, 6th; Washington, 6th.
The message of the President of the Republic says that a proposition has been made to Spain for the organization of a common tribunal to decide upon the petition of several American citizens for the losses suffered by them in Cuba. “If Spain,” adds the message, “rejects the proposition, the President of the Republic will be obliged to communicate this fact to Congress, recommending prompt action.” We presume that the government has received telegrams from the representative of Spain, and that the public will not long be kept in suspense concerning any grave event, as would be the one referred to in the above dispatch, should it really have occurred as stated.
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We call the attention of our readers to the dispatch from Washington (sent to us by Fabra’s agency) which we publish elsewhere. The dispatch could not be one of greater importance. The Republic of the United States, which has showed such consideration toward Spain while the government was conducted in the spirit of liberty, begins to show its displeasure as soon as we inaugurate the despotism of the monarchy of Amadeo. It will be fortunate if the caprice of General Prim does not cause severe disaster to Spain. The hostility of the North American Republic may be most fatal to us. Is this the first of the calamities which threaten us with the coming of the monarch of the never lucky Don Juan the general?
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Cuba and the Washington Government.—The Washington dispatch which we publish elsewhere has caused us real surprise. The President of the United States refers, in a message to the Chambers, to the affairs of Spain, and speaks of a proposition made to our government to organize a mixed tribunal to take cognizance of the claims of American citizens who have suffered losses in Cuba. It is not easy, nor even prudent, to hazard an opinion in so delicate a matter, when we have before us nothing but the extract communicated by telegraph, in which the main statement is wanting, i. e., the class of American citizens to which the President refers in his message. We know that American citizens have taken part in the insurrection, either as soldiers in the filibustering expeditions which have gone to Cuba, or as conspirators with and auxiliaries of the insurgent forces of the island, and that there are others who, without taking any part, either as conspirators or soldiers, have seen their interests injured by the contingencies of war; and the words of General Grant cannot refer to the former. We have more than one, and more than two solemn declarations of neutrality made by the Government of the United States, and we cannot suppose that there has been a change of policy without any justifying cause. And what but an intervention would it be to demand indemnities for American citizens who, on account of having been taken with arms in their hands, or of having been judicially condemned as conspirators, have suffered injury in their persons or property? Nor do we believe that the words of General Grant refer to those Cubans who, like Aldama, Morales Lemus, and others, have become American subjects in order to bring claims on account of the measures adopted against them by the authorities of Cuba. The necessary qualifications for obtaining citizenship in the United States being known, we do not think that these gentlemen could have possessed them when they became guilty of the crimes for which they have been condemned. Does, then, the President of the North American Republic refer to those peaceable citizens whose interests have suffered injury in consequence of the operations of war? It is difficult to determine this, but if such is the fact, the attitude of the Washington Government will not be so grave as regards our cause. What is most probable is, that this part of the message of General Grant is one of the numerous political tricks which are employed by those governments in order to keep a certain portion of public opinion on their side. And such a step was never more necessary than at the opening of a Congress in which the radical party, the great support of filibusterism, is largely in the majority. In this way, even though the Government may intend to postpone the question indefinitely, it manages to quiet the excitement of the radicals long enough to give time to the Spanish Government to put down the insurrection. However, the above is nothing but mere conjecture, and we must await the arrival of the message in order to be able to express a reliable opinion with regard to the question.
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Advices subsequent to the Washington telegram which we published in our paper of Wednesday increase instead of diminishing the gravity of the indications made in the message of the President of the United States. We are told, and our advices are from a source which we must consider authentic, that the demands do not relate to Aldama or Morales Lemus, but to acts of confiscation, which are supposed to have been committed by the authorities of Cuba against North American citizens residing in the United States and in Cuba, without any form of trial before a legal tribunal. The demands also relate to arrests of North American citizens who had taken no part in the insurrection, to personal offenses done to citizens of the Republic, and to captures and detention of American vessels, styled illegal by that Government, whose cases are precisely similar to the recently-settled one of the Lloyd Aspinwall. We are likewise told that the manner of settlement proposed by the United States is similar to the one proposed by the United States and accepted by Spain in the case of the aforesaid vessel. The demands are not of to-day, as it appears; they have repeatedly been addressed to the minister of state by the Government of the Union, and Mr. Sagasta has been told, more than once, that if these matters were not put in the way of settlement before Congress met, they would necessarily become the subject of a communication from the President of that body. The case has presented itself, and we must lament the indifference which has been shown toward a thing which could easily be converted into a matter of serious controversy with a power with which it is of great importance for us to maintain the friendly relations which we have maintained hitherto. El Imparcial thinks that this part of the message of General Grant is one of the numerous political tricks which are used by those governments in order to keep a certain portion of public opinion on their side. And such a step, it says, was never more necessary than at the opening of a Congress in which the radical party, the great support of filibusterism, is largely in the majority; but prudence counsels us, in the case of powerful nations, to give no reason for what the Imparcial calls political tricks, since they may easily be converted into another great complication to be added to those which already weigh upon the island of Cuba. If the message means exactly what it says, although it may have nothing to do with political tricks, or with the intestine struggle which Spain is sustaining with Cuba, it is still grave as regards the relations between the two countries, and on account of the turn which the new North American Congress may give to the question. We have constantly maintained, although in opposition to the opinion of many of our friends in Cuba, that the most important thing for the government was to maintain relations of the utmost cordiality with the United States. We cannot, therefore, understand, the demands to which the message refers still being unsettled, why the subject did not receive the attention it deserved, as the errors into which the Washington Cabinet has been led by interested parties would thus have been dispelled, and this matter would never have assumed the proportions which it unfortunately has assumed.
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We announced to our readers more than a month since, that very friendly relations did not exist between our government and that of the United States with regard to the Cuban question. No great importance was then attached to the news. The message addressed by President Grant to the Chambers, of which the telegraph has given us a slight idea, now confirms our fears. And that no one may think that we are exaggerating, we transfer to our columns what the Epoca said yesterday in relation to the matter, this journal being certainly by no means favorable to the policy of that republic, whose Government is greatly interested in having the state of war and disturbance which has prevailed in Cuba for more than two years brought to an end, which our government is quite unable to accomplish.
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We do not yet know what are the demands of the Government of the United States with regard to property belonging to American citizens which has been embargoed or confiscated in Cuba; we do not, therefore, pay any attention to the matter, although the indications are not very satisfactory. At all events, we expect nothing good, in view of the policy of absurdities and acts of violence which prevails in the unfortunate island of Cuba.