Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 5, 1898

Mr. Moore to Mr. Thiebaut.

September 10, 1898.

Dear Mr. Thiebaut: I have the pleasure to inform you that the President has selected the following peace commissioners: The honorable William R. Day, Secretary of State; the honorable Cushman K. Davis, a Senator of the United States and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations; the honorable William P. Frye, a Senator of the United States and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations; the honorable George Gray, a Senator of the United States and a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations; the honorable Whitelaw Reid, lately envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to France. Of my own selection as secretary and counsel on the part of the United States you have, as you informed me, already been advised.

Very sincerely, yours,

J. B. Moore.

[Translation.]

Embassy of the French Republic in the United States,
Washington, September 19, 1898.

The ambassador of France in the United States has the honor to communicate to the Department of State the list of commissioners named by the Spanish Government to take part in the conference at Paris, as follows: Mr. Montero Rios, president of the Senate; Mr. Abarzuja, senator, formerly ambassador of the Spanish Republic at Paris; General Cerero; Mr. de la Villa-Urrutia, minister of Spain at Brussels; Mr. Garnica, judge of the court of appeals.

The ambassador of France embraces this occasion to renew to Mr. Secretary of State the assurances of his high consideration.

Embassy of the French Republic to the United States,
September 11, 1898.

At the request of the Spanish Government, the ambassador of France has the honor to communicate to the Government of the United States the following note from the Duke of Almodovar:

• First. The Spanish Government is of the opinion that the occupation by the American forces of the city, bay, and harbor of Manila must be considered in virtue of the provisions of Article III of the protocol of August. 12, and not in virtue of what was agreed to in the capitulation of the 14th of the same month, which is absolutely null by reason of its having been concluded after the belligerents had signed an agreement declaring the hostilities to be suspended.
• Second. By virtue of the agreement, the Spanish Government is of the opinion that the occupation of the city, harbor, and bay of Manilia by the Americans does not confer upon the United States the faculty of altering the Spanish laws there in force, but that they are to respect these laws and provisions and maintain all the civil, administrative, judicial, and political institutions until the final treaty of peace shall determine the regime (control), disposition, and government of the Philippine Islands for the future, since it is a matter of occupation in which Spain has acquiesced without renouncing her sovereignty, and not of territory conquered manu militari.
• Third. The Government of His Majesty, considering the Spanish troops that were garrisoned at Manila as free, proposes to avail itself of them during the suspension of hostilities by transporting them, with their colors, arms, and ammunition, to other parts of the island of Luzon which are not occupied by the Americans, or other islands in the archipelago, with a view of putting down rebellion, maintaining order, and protecting the lives and property of its subjects and of foreigners, in accordance with its rights and duties as a sovereign.
• Fourth. The Spanish Government is also confident that the Government of the United States will not, during the period preceding the ratification of the treaty of peace, bring any change into the economics and fiscal administration of Manila, and that it will not divert for other purposes the customs revenues which are applied to the discharge of lawfully incurred obligations. Were it otherwise, legitimate private interests would be injuriously affected.
• Fifth. The Spanish Government requests that the Federal Government will demand of the Tagal rebels the surrender of the Spanish prisoners now held by them, in order either to release them, as humane sentiments should suggest, or to hold them on the honor and guaranty of the United States. The Spanish prisoners are made to suffer every description of ill-treatment at the hands of the Tagal rebels, and inasmuch as the latter have not been recognized as belligerents, they can not be allowed the right to hold prisoners on territory which is, as a matter of fact, occupied by the American forces. Mercy demands the cessation of a condition of things repugnant to morality.
• Sixth. The Spanish Government holds that the rebels in the Philippines, not having been recognized as belligerents, have also no right to charter armed vessels and to display on such vessels a flag that possesses no kind of international representation, to the end of engaging in acts of aggression and in depredations on Spanish territorial land and waters. Consequently they will be considered by Spain as pirates and tried as such. In order to repel and chastise the attacks of such rebel vessels on Spanish merchant ships that may visit the Philippines, the Government of His Majesty has decided to provide said ships with adequate armament, and hopes that the Government of the United States will admit that this is a necessary and fair measure.
• Seventh. The Spanish Government asks that the Government of the United States will cause the families of the Spanish officers who were taken from the Marianne Islands and brought into the bay of Manila to be transported to Cavite or returned to their homes in Spain. These families are without news from the said officers, and are said to be in deplorable circumstances, without even means of subsistence.

The ambassador of France seizes this opportunity of renewing to Hon. W. R. Day the assurances of his most high consideration.

Department of State, September 16, 1898.

The Secretary of State has had the honor to receive the communication from the Duke of Almodovar which the French ambassador communicated to the Department on the 11th instant.

A careful perusal of the communication in question leads to the conclusion that it was sent from Madrid before the receipt there of the note of this Department of the 5th instant, in reply to the communications of the French embassy of the 29th of August and the 3d of September.

The first four paragraphs of the communication now under consideration may be said to depend upon the opinion now expressed by the Spanish Government that the American forces must be considered to hold the city, bay, and harbor of Manila by virtue of the provisions of Article III of the protocol of August 12, and not by virtue of the capitulation of the 14th of the same month, since the protocol provided for the suspension of hostilities.

The Department is unable to concur in the opinion of the Spanish Government that the capitulation of Manila was null and void because after the signature of the protocol. It was expressly provided in the protocol that notice should be given of the suspension of hostilities, and it is the opinion of this Government that the suspension is to be considered as having taken effect at the date of the receipt of notice, which was immediately given by this Government. Indeed, it would seem that the suggestion made in the present communication of the nullity of the capitulation is in the nature of an afterthought, since nothing of the kind was suggested in the communications of the 29th of August and the 3d of September, which specifically related to the situation in the Philippines.

As to the nature of the right by which the United States holds the city, bay, and harbor of Manila, it is the opinion of this Government that it is immaterial whether the occupation is to be considered as existing by virtue of the capitulation or by virtue of the protocol, since in either case the powers of the military occupant are the same.

As to what is stated in the communication of the Duke of Almodovar in relation to the treatment of Spanish prisoners, it is proper to say that the information of the Department is that such prisoners have for the most part been well treated. Within the last few days it has been reported that some of the prisoners have been released.

The reference to the families of Spanish officers in the Ladrones evidently is to be accounted for by the fact, to which the Department has heretofore adverted, that the Duke of Almodovar, in sending his communication, had not received the Department’s note of the 5th of September.

Mr. William R. Day avails himself of this occasion to renew to the ambassador of France the assurances of his highest consideration.