CHAPTER XX

VARIOUS QUESTIONS

THE ISLE OF PINES

ARTICLE VI of the Platt Amendment declares that "The Isle of Pines shall be omitted from the boundaries of Cuba specified in the Constitution, the title and ownership thereof to be left to future adjustment by treaty."

The basis of America's gossamer claim to the Isle of Pines, the ownership of which is thus to be determined, rests in a distorted interpretation of the letter of the Treaty of Paris. In its reference to the cession of the Philippine Islands, that instrument defines by lines of latitude and longitude the territory ceded. In its reference to the West Indian territory, it is less explicit./ Article I declares that "Spain relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba." There can be no doubt that in the minds of the Commissioners this relinquishment included the chain of islands and keys which almost surrounds the main Island, and which has always been held and regarded as part and parcel of Spain's Cuban colony. Presumably, Article I disposes of the Cuban area. Article II refers to Porto Rico, and states that "Spain cedes to the United States the Island of Porto Rico and other Islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies." So runs the instrument in its English form. In its Spanish version, the phrase reads "Porto Rico and the other Islands." No reasonable ground exists for any doubt that the Islands thus referred to were Mona, Viequez, and Culêbra, all of

them in Porto Rican waters. It is a fair supposition that if the American Commissioners had laid claim to that which had always been held and regarded as part and parcel of Cuba's territory, such area would not have been surrendered without vigorous protest and prolonged discussion. There is no ground whatever for any belief that American ownership of the Isle of Pines even entered the minds of the Commissioners, either Spanish or American Yet, under this reference to the "other Islands under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies," interested parties set up the claim to the Isle of Pines. ! Such an interpretation would also give to the United States Cayo Romano, Cayo Coco, the Jardines de la Reina, and all the hundreds of small islands of the Cuban coast, a step never intended by any of the parties to the relinquishment of Cuba and the cession of Porto Rico and "other islands." The total area of these many small islands is greater than that of the Isle of Pines. But they are worthless, strategically, and practically valueless industrially. The census of 1899 gives the Isle of Pines a population of "2,990 Cubans, 195 Spaniards, and 14 others.” A few score of Americans have since been induced to settle there upon representations that it was American territory, and would remain under American jurisdiction.

No alternative appears between cession and no cession by the Treaty of Paris. That there was no such cession is established by the Platt Amendment itself. Cession would have made it American territory, and alienation by such a process would have been impossible. Yet the claim was made and, for a time, some of the authorities in Washington were disposed to stand by it. Their contention was seriously weakened by the acts of General Wood, at the time of the American withdrawal from Cuba. [Among the documents of the ceremony of transfer there appeared a

communication from the Secretary of War, marked "Letter D." This contained the following passage: "It is understood by the United States that the present government (i.e. the Military) of the Isle of Pines will continue as a de facto government pending the settlement of the title to said island, etc., etc." To this, President Palma replied as follows: "It is understood that the Isle of Pines is to continue de facto under the jurisdiction of the Government of the Republic of Cuba, etc., etc." General Wood either failed to notice or saw fit to disregard this definite contradiction of his instructions from Washington, and upon his departure he made no provision whatever, by local representation or otherwise, for a continuance of the American authority. The Cuban Republic proceeded to administer the affairs of the Isle of Pines as it did the affairs of the main Island.

[Politically, geographically, and legally, by several centuries of legal and political affiliation, the Isle of Pines belongs to Cuba as Nantucket belongs to the United States, and as the Isle of Wight belongs to England. It is in no way to our credit that an attempt has been made to filch it from her. Without the expenditure of a vast amount of money, it is strategically worthless, and there exists neither legal nor moral ground upon which we can lay claim to it without laying ourselves open to charges of "criminal aggression so vigorously reprobated by Mr. McKinley.

[The island lies some fifty miles from the southern coast of Cuba, almost directly southward from Havana. It is separated from the mainland by a stretch of shallow water dotted with coral keys and mangrove islets. So shallow are these intervening waters that people of the region declare that cattle have actually crossed on foot between the island and the mainland. Its area is given as 840 square miles. It

is, in effect, two islands connected by a marshy area. The northern section is broken and hilly while the southern section is a somewhat sandy level. The possible products are similar to those of the mainland. There are mineral springs of some medicinal virtue, and a marble quarry of some, though probably not of great value. There are sponge fisheries and large tracts of fertile land. The climate is delightful.]

CHURCH AND CHURCH PROPERTY QUESTIONS

Among the legacies left to the Government of Intervention, the Church property question was one of notable difficulties. The incoming government found various buildings occupied and used for State purposes, upon which the Church held claims. The matter is not a little complicated, involving as it does points of Spanish law which have no parallel in American jurisprudence. Prior to the nineteenth century there appears to have been no question regarding the titles of property held by the Church. During the opening years of that century, the property held by the monastic orders in Spain was confiscated by the State. The order of confiscation related to Spain's peninsula territory, and not to her insular possessions.

About the year 1837, Captain General Miguel Tacon, in the furtherance of certain plans, raked up the Spanish confiscation act and sought to apply it to the holdings of monastic orders in Cuba. In November and December of 1841, Valdes, then Governor of the Island, seized these properties, and diverted them to the uses of the State. The more important of these seizures included the Convent of the Franciscans, since and now used as the Custom House in Havana; the Convent of the Dominicans, which, at the time of the American occupation, was used by the Institute and the

University of Havana; the Convent of the Augustinians, used as the Academy of Sciences; and the Convent of San Ysidro, used by the Spanish as a military barracks, and, at first, as a relief station by the Americans, and later, by the authority of General Ludlow, as a training school for orphan girls. There were also various other real estate holdings, as well as funds, claims, and censos.

This action was contested by the Church authorities, through Madrid and Rome, on the ground that the order under which the seizure was made did not apply to the Island of Cuba. In 1845, a report of the action was submitted to Isabel II, then Queen of Spain, who is said to have expressed great surprise and to have ordered the restoration of the property. But the order does not appear to have been put into the form of a royal decree or law, and was non-effective. To the royal instructions the local authorities in Cuba replied that such restoration was then impossible, for two reasons:

(1) Because a large part of the property had been sold and had passed into the hands of third parties.

(2) Because other parts had been converted to public uses, such as custom houses, etc., and their use for those purposes was necessary to the State.

The matter dragged on as a subject of correspondence for several years. In 1849 or 1850, a commission was appointed, two members of which were chosen by the Pope, and two by the Spanish Crown. The purpose of this commission was the equitable adjustment of the claims of the Church. In 1851, they drew up a document known as the concordat, or agreement, upon the findings and conclusions of which all subsequent relations have been based. This was approved by both parties on March 7, 1852. It became, in the nature of a treaty or contract, of legally binding force.