Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1879
No. 448.
Mr. Lowell to Mr. Evarts.
Madrid, August 20, 1879. (Received September 10.)
Sir: I have the honor to inclose copy and translation of an important decree concerning the island of Cuba, published in the Gaceta of the 17th instant.
From a perusal of it you will see how far-reaching and general are the reforms proposed by the present ministry, and how many interests and prejudices are likely to be roused to opposition when they come to be discussed in the Cortes. That General Martinez Campos, and the colonial minister believed them necessary, if Cuba is to be retained as a dependency, there can be no doubt, for the more intelligent Spaniards admit that the country cannot afford another war. But as the differences of opinion in respect of the nature and amount of these reforms extend to the Cubans themselves, it may be questioned whether so necessary a remedy will be applied promptly and boldly enough to be efficacious.
I have, &c.,
Ministry of Ultramar.
Sire: When in June last the labors of the legislature, called together by Your Majesty on the previous 10th of March, began, circumstances more powerful than the desire and wish of the government, irresistibly hindered the discussion and enactment of projects relating to the island of Cuba, bearing upon points and particulars demanding especial attention and care, and which it was wished to have examined and decided in Parliament, with the assistance of the deputies elected to represent those provinces in the national assembly.
One of these circumstances especially, perhaps the principal obstacle to designs so patriotic, was the real and insuperable impossibility springing from well-known causes and accidents, of having that representation during the first session of the Cortes as complete as was necessary to satisfy the mind of those who, for some time have been of opinion that those questions should be only provisionally settled until the deputies of the Antilles could be present to solve them definitively. Those of them who were present and took part in the deliberations of the lower house, and the senators, did not themselves hesitate to express the opinion that the debates on the question should begin only when the legislature came together again, and even considered it perilous and improper that the government should have introduced it by the draft of a bill when no one could doubt that it would be impossible to discuss and pass it before the inevitable suspension of the session.
Yielding, therefore, to so prudent and discreet a desire, the minister who signs this has postponed fulfilling the solemn promises contained in the august words pronounced by Your Majesty, at the solemn act of opening the Cortes, till the moment when they shall resume their deliberations, but with the firm intent not to delay longer nor for any reason the presentation of such formulations as come within his power, in order, so far as he can, to satisfy an honest zeal to submit to the wisdom of Parliament what he considers wisest for the definitive settlement of what suffers by being left provisional.
Certainly since the beneficent peace which, without cruelty, chastisements, rancor, or revenge, put an end to the ten years’ fratricidal war in those Spanish regions, now so much in need of repose, of industry, of security, and of confidence, much has been done, and in a short time, to settle upon bases of intelligent assimilation what forms the moral of the life of a people, its territorial and administrative division, its municipal and provincial organization, its electoral laws. It was the glory of the late ministry to carry out, proposing them opportunely for the wise approbation of Your Majesty, reforms so important and hitherto so easily and profitably put in operation. It has fallen to the undersigned to execute the orders of Your Majesty, after submitting his projects to the approval of the council of ministers and the sanction of the sovereign, in a more modest sphere, introducing into the island of Cuba in little more than three months the law of hypothecation, with its regulations, the penal code, the legitimate [Page 953] plan of a budget, which, besides normalizing an economical situation—unsettled, one might say, since 1868, and above all since 1874—contains the elements of reducing, as they have been considerably, the expenses and burden of taxation, and, lastly, the bases of a stable civil service, and of preparation for a period of imperturbable legality, the unanimous aspiration, doubtless, of whoever feels a truly Spanish heart beat in his breast.
But many of these reforms have had as a guaranty of their fitness the preparation and enlightenment of the knowledge and study of wise commissions, formed of men most competent, and of indisputably exceptional qualifications of wisdom and experience, excepting him who says this, of those of which he was a member.
Accordingly, as we are now concerned with projects in which it is essential to solve promptly questions far more difficult, if not for their novelty, for their complexity and special application, it cannot seem strange to any one that, in order to profit by the parliamentary interregnum, although on general principles the government has already marked out its line of conduct, we should seek as a previous study of what is most suitable to the island of Cuba in respect of the system of taxation, commercial relations, and the exceptional condition of some of its inhabitants, the special help of those persons who, as more immediately interested in the lot of all those inhabitants, and who at the present time know most nearly the state of opinion, and by a great preponderance its needs and demands, can lend the government greater and better help to go on with success in the course it has taken, a course which it is proposed to follow to the end without delays or vacillations of any kind whatever, in order to fulfill what it understands to be its mission, and which it is its duty to realize.
With this object, and considering who are the persons who can soonest accomplish it because already in Europe, the minister who has the honor to address Your Majesty thinks the opportune moment come for the naming of a commission, principally composed of senators and deputies representing the island of Cuba, who shall be charged as quickly as possible, and after examining the many and now classified documents collected in the colonial ministry, to report to the government what it thinks most adequate and suitable in respect of the questions above mentioned, and especially in what concerns the series of measures or the measure to be adopted in order to complete or change the laws in force concerning the social condition of the before-mentioned inhabitants, in order that the generous and noble sentiments of Your Majesty may be faithfully and loyally realized as soon as possible.
Relying, therefore, on these considerations, the undersigned minister, with the approval of the cabinet, has the honor to submit to Your Majesty’s approbation the following project of a decree.
Sire, your most obedient servant,
royal decree.
Considering the reasons set forth by the colonial minister, with the approval of the cabinet, I decree as follows:
- Article I. To report to the government on the terms in which shall be proposed to the Cortes, when they renew their labors, the system of taxation of the island of Cuba, that of its commercial relations generally and nationally considered, and that of its tariff, as well as concerning the definitive solution that should be given to the questions raised by the exceptional condition of many of the inhabitants of the said island, there shall be formed in Madrid a commission, of which shall form part the persons named by me on the proposal of the colonial minister, from among those who are now most fitted to know the situation of those provinces.
- Art. II. The commission referred to in the preceding article, after examining all the numerous data existing in the central bureau of administration, shall present to the government so soon as possible, and before the reassembling of the legislature, the result of its labors, and a definitive report for the concrete solution of all the questions submitted to its examination and judgment.
- Art. III. The colonial minister shall take all the most efficacious measures to provide the commission with the means of promptly and completely accomplishing its trust.
The colonial minister:
Salvador de
Albacete.
royal decree.
In virtue of what the minister of Ultramar has proposed, and in accordance with the decree of this date, for the creation of a commission to furnish information as to the projects of a law to be submitted to the Cortes, when it shall renew its work, I [Page 954] nominate as members of said commission the Captain-General of the Army and Senator of the Kingdom, D. Joaquin Jovellar, who will discharge the duties of President; the Very Reverend Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba; D. Augusto Amblard, D. Juan Manuel Sanchez Bustamante, D. José Silverio Jorrin, D. Juan Bueno y Blanco, D. Leon Crespo de Laserna, D. Manuel Fernandez de Castro, the Marquises de la Victoria de las Tunas, of O’Gaban y de San Carlos de Pedroso, and D. Vicinte Galarza, senators of the Kingdom; D. Antonio Fernandez Chorah, D. Bernardo Portuondo, D. Calixto Bernal, D. Julio Apezteguia, D. José Argumosa, D. Martin Gonzalez del Valle, D. Manuel Arminan, D. Mariano Cancio Villaamil, D. Mamerto Pulido, D. Miguel Martinez Campos, D. Rafael Maria de Labra, and D. Santiago Vinent, deputies; D. Manuel Calvo and D. Pedro Sotolongo, counsels of the administration of the island of Cuba; D. Carlos Valcarcel, vice-admiral of the navy; D. Antonio Lopez y Lopez, marquis of Comillas; and D. Manuel José de Posadillo, ex-regent of the Audiencia of Havana.
The colonial minister:
Salvador de
Albacete.