No. 338.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Madrid, December 27, 1883. (Received January 16, 1884.)
Sir: In my No. 129, of the 24th instant, I reported to you the revocation of the fifth article of the royal decree of March 12, 1867, by which article merchandise proceeding from the United States under the Spanish flag was required to pay the duties fixed in the fourth column of the Cuban tariff. The Official Gazette of this morning contains the decree [Page 469] of revocation, a copy and translation of which I inclose herewith. I do not advise you of this action by cable, as the order does not begin to take effect until thirty days after its publication by the Spanish consuls in their respective localities; and, besides, I do not regard the measure as of such importance and satisfactory character as to require it.
Having occasion to call upon the Minister of Ultramar yesterday on other business, he referred to the revocation as an important concession to the United States and as indicating the disposition of the present ministry to satisfy the desires of our Government n regard to commercial relations with Cuba.
I told the minister that it was undoubtedly a step in the right direction, and I thanked him for bringing it about, but it was far from satisfying the desires of the United States. While in a certain sense it was a concession to American products, it was, more properly speaking, a favor to the Spanish flag; but I doubted whether it would, in its practical operations, result in any benefit to either our products or to Spanish vessels, as the latter could hardly engage profitably in the trade carrying cargo only one way, and at best it merely restored the condition of things as they existed before 1867, putting again in full rigor the objectionable differential flag system, which had occasioned the discriminating 10 per cent, ad valorem duties in the United States.
The minister added that he hoped in time it would lead to other measures for the improvement of trade relations between the United States and Cuba, a subject to which his department was then giving a careful study.
On the publication of the decree of revocation to-day I asked of the Minister of State an interview to learn more fully the views of his Government before communicating to you the official copy of the decree, and I have just returned from his ministry after an hour’s conference with him. I elaborated somewhat at length my views expressed to the Minister of Ultramar, as above briefly indicated, and told Señor Ruiz Gomez that the decree announced to-day would fall far short of satisfying our Government. He answered that the ministry considered it as an important concession to the United States, and that he was sorry to see that I did not esteem it so highly; that it was not claimed that this was all that was necessary to be done to place the commercial relations of Cuba on a completely satisfactory basis, but it was a great step in that direction; that he agreed with me that it was desirable to abolish altogether the differential flag system, but that was a radical reform which required careful examination, both in the interest of the Cuban treasury and to secure ratification by the Cortes; that he had promised me the subject should have special consideration, and in fulfillment of that promise he had asked his colleague of Ultramar to send to him an official of his department with whom he could discuss and agree upon the reforms which were practicable; and he hoped in a short time to be able to submit something definite for my examination. I thanked him for the repetition of this assurance, but asked him to excuse me if I went beyond diplomatic propriety when I said that I was becoming somewhat impatient under these repeated assurances, and that it seemed to me the urgency of an early arrangement of the Cuban commercial matters was not fully appreciated by his Government; that more than two months had elapsed since he first discussed these matters with me; that in the meantime he had been able to adjust commercial questions with Great Britain, Holland, Portugal, and Italy; that if I had failed in the past to impress upon him the necessity of reaching some agreement of our questions with Cuba, I desired [Page 470] to-day to inform him in the most positive manner that these matters were approaching a crisis, as he might see from the President’s last message to Congress. * * * I added that I thought he was under a misapprehension in supposing that the adjustment of the differential flag question was dependent upon the ratification of the Cortes, as I understood that by the law of July 20, 1882, full power was given to the Government to admit United States products at once to the benefit of the third column of the Cuban tariff.
The minister * * * assured me that there was no intention on his part to give preferential consideration to the questions of other Governments, and to prove the sincerity of his desires he said he would call the Ministry of Ultramar by telephone to ascertain if it was ready to take up the Cuban commercial subjects immediately. * * *
I am, &c.,