exercise the same discretion he had heretofore used in suspending orders emanating from superior authority. The minister said there was no foundation for such a construction of the powers of that officer. It was true the "laws of the Indies" gave ample facilities to the captain. general in certain extraordinary cases, but the royal order of 1825 was altogether exceptional and unexampled in the omnipotent rule it constituted. Nothing like this was permitted in the ancient colonial code so long in force in Spanish America. I expressed my satisfaction on learning that no sufficient warrant remained to justify or excuse such instances of apparent disobedience as had heretofore marked the conduct of successive commanding officers in Cuba. And I observed that in my opinion Spanish dominion in Cuba was more seriously imperiled by the insubordination of prominent officials than from any other particular cause. It was difficult for us to comprehend how the government of an important province, without any rights of its own, could be directed from Madrid while the orders and decrees of the mother country were habitually set aside by agents whose arbitrary will was the only law of the place. The minister said it was precisely to inaugu rate a better system of administration that he was about to visit Cuba. It was his purpose and wish to hear all parties and all classes, and to ascertain, if possible, whether some practicable means could be found to reconcile the conflicting elements which had so long disturbed the peace of the island and retarded the reforms the Spanish revolution of 1868 should have long ago extended to the Antilles. I then asked his excellency whether he had received any communication from the State Department in regard to a note I addressed his colleague, Mr. Carvajal, on the 16th instant, on the subject of the customs-regulations in Cuba, in their relation to the fines and penalties imposed on foreign ships. Mr. Soler y Plá replying in the negative, I stated in general terms the questions at issue, and the series of representations already made in the matter. Intimating my surprise that a translation of my note had not been placed in his hands, as I had been assured would be done before his departure, his excellency gave me permission to send to him the following day a duplicate of my communication; which I have done, after again inviting the attention of Mr. Carvajal to the business. In reply to a suggestion that you might, perhaps, have occasion to address the Spanish minister in Washington about some pending question in Cuba during his excellency's presence in the island, Mr. Soler y Plá desired me to say to you that he would be most happy if you would bring to his notice, through that channel, any matter of interest to the United States that might come within his powers. I asked his excellency if he contemplated visiting the United States before his return. He said that he desired very much to do so, yet this would depend on circumstances he could not now forecast. After some conversation on the results of emancipation in the United States and the importance of providing means for the education of the freed people in Cuba, I alluded to the financial crisis in the island and the means of improving its revenues by a more liberal commercial policy. 1 pointed out that the large exports of flour, grain, and meat, from the peninsula to European markets, proved that Spain was able to compete with the United States and Russia in agricultural production. It followed, therefore, that the large advantages given to this class of Spanish products in Cuba was a monopoly from which a few traders profited to the prejudice of general interests; that these privileges were especially injurious to the Cuban revenues, burdensome to consumers, and without benefit to the home producers; injurious to the island, because if the discriminating duties were removed or reduced, American flour, entering Cuban ports and paying a moderate duty, would yield a large sum annually to the treasury; burdensome to consumers, because the high discriminating duties excluded competition either in price or quality, and needlessly increased the cost of bread; and without advantage to the Spanish farmer, because he only received the market price in the peninsula, and this was regulated, not by the relatively inconsiderable consumption in Cuba, but by the average de mand in Europe. I will not trouble you with a recital of other illustra tions and arguments advanced, as the topic is, of course, a familiar one to the Department. Mr. Soler said he would give it attention, and hoped to have an opportunity of resuming the subject with me on his return. Since the foregoing was written I have learned from the ministry of state that all the papers-including my note of the 16th instant and appendixes-touching the Cuban customs-regulations, were placed in the hands of the colonial minister a few hours before his departure. My conference with Mr. Soler is mentioned to-day by the reactionary journals, and they point to the circumstance that it took place shortly before he left the capital, as if they did not relish my having, as it were, the last words with his excellency. In truth, these journals, and the influences they represent, earnestly opposed the mission until they found the purpose of the government could not be shaken, when they suddenly changed front and have since endeavored to surround the minister with associations favorable to existing interests and hostile to any change. I am, &c., D. E. SICKLES. No. 802.] No. 538. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. UNITED STATES LEGATION IN SPAIN, Madrid, November 7, 1873. (Received November 26.) SIR: I have the honor to forward here with annexed a copy of a communication, dated yesterday, addressed by me to the executive committee of the Spanish Abolition Society, conveying to them the reply of the President to their recent memorial, conformably to the tenor of your instruction No. 388, of the 10th ultimo. I am, &c., [Inclosure.] D. E. SICKLES. General Sickles to the Spanish Abolition Society. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES IN SPAIN, GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to inform you that the memorial addressed by the Span ish Abolition Society to the President of the United States, having been transmitted by me to the Department of State, has been placed in the hands of the Executive. The Secretary of State is directed by the President to say that two years ago he recommended Congress to legislate for the objects which the memorialists now desire to accomplish, and that he has seen nothing since then to induce him to change his opinions; on the contrary, they have been strengthened by the course of events. While abstaining from interference with the domestic concerns of other powers, the contiguity of some of the possessions of Spain to the territory of the Union has made the continued tolerance of slavery in one of them an object of solicitude to the people of the United States, and, therefore, the President does not refrain from expressing the anxiety with which he awaits the action of the Spanish Cortes in emancipating the slaves in Cuba. Sympathizing in every effort to remove the blot and scourge of slavery from the face of the earth, and desiring to see this great evil and crime exter-. minated and denounced, the President hopes that for the attainment of these ends no proper exertions will be spared by the friends of freedom in Spain, where they must prove more potent and efficacious than they can be in the United States. In this noble work I am to assure you and your associates of the sympathies and good wishes of the President. I am, &c., To the Hon. Sr. D. FERNANDO DE CASTRO, D. E. SICKLES. President, and the Vice-Presidents and Members of No. 918.] No. 539. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. UNITED STATES LEGATION IN SPAIN, Madrid, December 15, 1873. (Received January 9, 1874.) SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy and translation of the address of General Jovellar on taking possession of the government of Cuba last month. It will be observed that the past five years are described as a period of conciliation, to be superseded now by a policy of combat, announced in the name of the government of President Castelar. It is, besides, significantly intimated that all discussion of political questions must cease, since it weakens the Spanish party and helps the common enemy. The abolition of slavery is to be a theme of continued meditation and study, which the planters have, it seems, already initiated, so that in due time a solution of the problem may be found which will reconcile the interests of labor, the rights of property, and the maintenance of production. Thus re-assured, the slaveholders are told to dismiss all fears of ill-considered and extreme measures. The platform of the new captain-general is accepted, as might be expected, with unqualified satisfaction by the organs of the "Casino Español." The views expressed on this subject in my Nos. 730 and 902 are confirmed by this official and public avowal of the representative of the Spanish republic in Cuba. I am, &c., [Inclosure.-Translation.] D. E. SICKLES. Address of General Jov-llar on taking possession of the captain-generaley of Cuba, Norem ber 5, 1873. GOVERNMENT OF THE CAPTAIN-GENERALCY OF THE Inhabitants of the ever-faithful Island of Cuba: The executive power of the republic has been pleased to confide to me the military and political command of this island. I arrive here at a time when, after an experience of five years, devoted without any definite results, as yet, to the conciliation of the conflicting extremes of one of the most difficult situations that can afflict any country, it has become evident, beyond a doubt, that it is expedient and even necessary to subordinate all other questions to one alone-to that of the war. It matters not that the insurrection, vanquished by force and exhausted by time, has lost a great part of the importance it had at the outset, nor that our means of action are to-day far superior to those which, through an excess of self-confidence, we were at the commencement able to oppose to the rebellion. The bravery and constancy of the army, the zeal and vigilance of the navy, the energy and dicision of the volunteers, are assured guarantees, in any case, for the success of a struggle which is only kept alive at present by the difficulty of penetrating to the lurking-places of the enemy. But while the fact remains that somewhere in the territory of the island a show of warfare is kept up, even though it be by wandering bands, heterogeneous in character and relatively few in number; while this fact serves to raise the hopes of unpatriotic Spaniards, and to force upon loyal Spaniards, not uneasiness, for their good judgment repels that, but the necessity of extraordinary sacrifices in their property and in their persons; while rural production, the main fount of our wealth, remains exposed in certain districts to devastation and conflagration; and while, in short, a pretext exists for gauging, by the false standard of its duration, the importance of a movement which in reality is already far gone in its decadence, there is nothing of so much interest and urgency for the public welfare and for the prestige and honor of the nation as the re-establishment of the normal status of the island. My purpose is, therefore, to subordinate all else to this consideration within the bounds traced by the laws. The immense majority of the island maintains its nationality with a patriotism worthy of the highest examples of history, and before this fact all difficulties disappear; because on the sacred altar of our country there is offered the spontaneous saerifice of a truce to all political discussion, which ever tends to benefit the common enemy by weakening the cohesion of the great national party; because the payment of taxes and all other treasury-dues will go on with increasing exactitude, so that the resources we now more than ever need may not be impaired; and because all of us will lend the most efficacious aid to transform our administration into a zealous agent of all legitimate interests, as is demanded by the credit and honor of each and all of In this way the political and financial question, which has so deeply impressed, and even alarmed, public opinion, will have an easy, simple, and speedy solution. us. Meantime, social reform, that exigency of the present epoch imposed by the course of modern opinion, may and should still continue to be the object of special meditation and conscientious study. And, notwithstanding the war, this reform has initiated and is carrying forward the truest representation of agricultural interests, to the end that in due time a solution may be reached in terms which shall conciliate the change of condition of the laboring classes, the rights of property, and the maintenance of production, the protection of which for the general good of the country is the mission of all governments. Consequently all apprehensions based upon the belief that hasty and extreme measures would be. adopted ought to cease and confidence should be revived, for without it the restoration of the public credit is utterly impossible. Presenting ourselves thus, strong through our unity, rich through administrative morality, and energetic through patriotism, the present war can inspire us with little fear, for it is not the expression of an equal power contending for the triumph of a cause, but the desperate hope of delirium, trusting for success to our dissensions; let us destroy this hope, and the war will be at an end. Lastly, all of you may cherish the assurance that, complying with the instructions of the government of the nation, I shall be untiring in my efforts to bring about peace and public prosperity, to protect credit, and to punish fraud with a strong hand; that I shall, in fine, with the utmost zeal, take care that none of the great interests of the island suffer detriment while this command is held by Your governor and captain-general, HAVANA, November 5, 1873. JOAQUIN JOVELLAR. No. 930.] No. 540. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES IN SPAIN, Madrid, December 20, 1873. (Received January 12, 1874.) SIR: "La Discusion" of this date contains an authorized announcement of the provisions of the emancipation act the government proposes to present to the Cortes at its second session in January next. The bases of the project are as follows: 1. All slaves in Cuba, whether held by individuals or by the government, will be free on and after the day of the publication of the act in the official gazette of Madrid. 2. The freedmen will be bound to labor for five years; three of which will be in the servic of their present masters, and the remaining two years in the serviceof the same or other masters, or of the state. 3. The freedmen will be entitled to wages not less than the lowest rate paid to free laborers. 4. All contracts will be made under the direction of an official, who will be styled "Protector of the freedmen." 5. On and after the day of the publication of the emancipation act in the official gazette of Madrid the freedmen will be recognized as entitled to civil rights; and at the expiration of eight years they will become eligible to political privileges. 6. Regulations for the execution of the act will be formed in Madrid, and will become part of the law itself, taking effect at the same time as the statute. Indemnity to the masters being impracticable, considering the crippled resources of Cuba and Spain, five years of compulsory labor, at minimum wages, are substituted as a means of ransom contributed by the slaves themselves. It may be presumed that this feature of the act will encounter serious opposition in the Cortes. And if an earnest representation were made in behalf of the United States, perhaps President Castelar would not seriously resist a disposition in the legislature to rid the measure of this odious clause. In this relation I may remark that Mr. Labra, the accomplished and diligent deputy from Porto Rico, has just now published an elaborate and instructive work on emancipation, considered economically. I am indebted to the courtesy of the author for a copy of his essay, from which I translate the following passage, touching the results of emancipation in Porto Rico: "I declare," says Mr. Labra, "upon my honor, that the results of the abolition of slavery in Porto Rico have exceeded all my hopes. Labor has not been interrupted a single day. No instance of disorder has occurred; not even a dispute. The indemnity decreed by the Cortes was not realized, for reasons of which I do not choose to speak, but which are a fresh commendation of the principle of colonial autonomy. And I may add that this social reform has been followed, in an interval of only six months, by no less a political change than the extension to the inhabitants of Porto Rico of personal rights and universal suffrage, as well as the substitution of popular municipal government for the old town-councils created by royal order. I do not recall a more admirable example anywhere, and I challenge the pro-slavery party to produce one. Will they still presume to ask us to accept their discouraging predictions? Will they persist in questioning the foresight of the abolitionists?" It will be remembered that the liberation bill for Porto Rico allowed the freedmen to choose their own employers and make their own bargains about wages, while the term of contracts was for three years only. Practically it was immediate emancipation, with a provision against vagrancy. The indemnity clause required the money to be raised in the island, and, for that reason, was by common consent left inoperative. I am, &c., D. E. SICKLES. |