"VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points, to be agreed upon with the President of the United States. "VIII. That by way of further assurance the government of Cuba will embody the foregoing provisions in a permanent treaty with the United States." Act March 2, 1901, 31 Stat. 895, 897-898. The foregoing provisions, drawn by Senator Platt, of Connecticut, were offered by him and were adopted as an amendment to the bill, which became the act of Congress of March 2, 1901, making appropriations for the support of the United States Army. They were incorporated into an ordinance appended to the Cuban constitution. They were also embodied in a permanent treaty between the United States and the Republic of Cuba, signed at Havana, May 22, 1903, the ratifications of which were exchanged at Washington July 1, 1904. By a treaty concluded July 2, 1903, Cuba leased to the United States certain areas of land and water at Guantanamo and Bahia Honda for naval or coaling stations. This treaty stipulates (Art. IV.) that violators of Cuban law taking refuge in such areas, and violators of United States law in such areas taking refuge in Cuban territory, shall be reciprocally delivered up. For a review of the joint resolution of April 20, 1898, see an article by Carman F. Randolph in the Columbia Law Review, June, 1901. "In Cuba such progress has been made toward putting the independent government of the island upon a firm footing that before the present session of the Congress closes this will be an accomplished fact. Cuba will then start as her own mistress; and to the beautiful Queen of the Antilles, as she unfolds this new page of her destiny, we extend our heartiest greetings and good wishes. Elsewhere I have discussed the question of reciprocity. In the case of Cuba, however, there are weighty reasons of morality and of national interest why the policy should be held to have a peculiar application, and I most earnestly ask your attention to the wisdom, indeed to the vital need, of providing for a substantial reduction in the tariff duties on Cuban imports into the United States. Cuba has in her constitution affirmed what we desired, that she should stand, in international matters, in closer and more friendly relations with us than with any other power; and we are bound by every consideration of honor and expediency to pass commercial measures in the interest of her material well-being." President Roosevelt, annual message, Dec. 3, 1901, For. Rel. 1901, xxxi. The second international conference of American states, held at the City of Mexico in 1901-2, adopted a resolution directing the president of the conference to convey to the future President of the Republic of Cuba its" earnest well wishes for the happy discharge of his high office as well as its good wishes for the prosperity of the future Republic of Cuba." The resolution was offered by Mr. Charles M. Pepper, on behalf of the delegation of the United States. It was officially transmitted by the president of the conference to General Wood, the military governor of Cuba, to be delivered to the President of the Republic of Cuba whenever that government should have been inaugurated. Int. Conf. of Am. States, S. Doc. 330, 57 Cong. 1 sess. 21, 175. Mr. Tomas Estrada Palma was inaugurated as President of the Republic of Cuba on May 20, 1902. S. Doc. 363, 57 Cong. 1 sess. For congratulations of the United States The message of President Roosevelt of March 27, 1902, recommending As to the incidents attending the withdrawal of United States troops As to sanitary conditions in Cuba, see For. Rel. 1904, 247 et seq. 4. GOOD OFFICES. § 911. The good offices of governments and their agents are constantly employed for the purpose of composing international differences. The exercise of good offices is a friendly and unofficial proceeding, and does not partake of the nature of intervention. Good offices are also frequently used by diplomatic agents in giving unofficial aid to their fellow-citizens in matters that lie outside the scope of formal intervention, as well as in assisting the citizens or subjects of third powers who may lack diplomatic representation of their own in the particular country. For examples of good offices, see General Index to Dip. Cor. and For. As to the attempt to use good offices in Chile in 1891, see For. Rel. 1891, "The President has seen with satisfaction, that the ministers of the United States in Europe, while they have avoided an useless commitment of their nation on the subject of the Marquis de la Fayette, have nevertheless shewn themselves attentive to his situation, The interest which the President himself, and our citizens in general, take in the welfare of this gentleman, is great and sincere, and will entirely justify all prudent efforts to serve him. I am therefore to desire, that you will avail yourself of every opportunity of sounding the way towards his liberation, of finding out whether those in whose power he is are very tenacious of him, of insinuating through such channels as you shall think suitable, the attentions of the government and people of the United States to this object, and the interest they take in it, and of procuring his liberation by informal solicitations, if possible. But if formal ones be necessary, and the moment should arrive when you shall find that they will be effectual, you are authorized to signify, through such channel as you shall find suitable, that our government and nation, faithful in their attachments to this gentleman for the services he has rendered them, feel a lively interest in his welfare, and will view his liberation as a mark of consideration and friendship for the United States, and as a new motive for esteem and a reciprocation of kind offices towards the power to whom they shall be indebted for this act. "A like letter being written to Mr. Pinckney, you will of course take care, that however you may act through different channels, there be still a sufficient degree of concert in your proceedings." Mr. Jefferson, Sec. of State, to Mr. Morris, min. to France, March 15, 1793, Memoirs, Correspondence, &c., of Jefferson, by Randolph, III. 214. "The President has perused with great interest your communication of the 25th ultimo, and the accompanying memorial signed by yourself and a number of other American citizens of high character, who have recently visited the city of Naples. The letter and memorial invite the attention of the Executive to the excessive rigor of punishment, which it is understood to be the practice there to inflict upon alleged political offenders, and suggest whether, without contravening their settled policy of noninterference with the affairs of other nations, the United States might not without impropriety, either alone, or in conjunction with some of the leading powers of Europe, appeal to the government in such a manner as would awaken its clemency and tend to ameliorate the condition of this class of sufferers. "The President does justice to the sentiments of the memorial, which he cordially approves, and he appreciates the benevolence by which the memorialists are animated. Far from being insensible to tyranny wherever or by whomsoever exercised, he sincerely sympathizes with the oppressed of all countries. The uniform policy of this government has been not to interfere in the domestic affairs of other nations. This policy was wisely established by President Washington, who carried it so far as to refuse to interfere officially for the release of La Fayette, his friend and companion in arms, who was incarcerated for many years in the prison at Olmertz. That was a case much stronger than this, as La Fayette had fought our battles for freedom, had been naturalized in some of the States, and was imprisoned by a power to whom he owed no allegiance. It is hardly possible to conceive of a case appealing more strongly to our sympathies than this; the struggle between affection and duty must have been great; but Washington doubtless pursued the true policy and set an example which has never been departed from by his successors. Though impelled by the strongest sympathy for the oppressed, the President does not feel justified in departing from this salutary rule." Mr. Crittenden, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr. Jno. V. L. Pruyn, Oct. 8, 1851, 39 MS. Dom. Let. 277. "A minister is not only at liberty, but he is morally bound, to render all the good offices he can to other powers and their subjects consistently with the discharge of those principal responsibilities I have described. But it belongs to the state where the minister resides to decide in every case in what manner and in what degree such good offices shall be rendered, and, indeed, whether they shall be tolerated at all." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Corwin, Apr. 18, 1863, MS. Inst. Mex. "On the 21st of June last, by direction of the President of the United States, I communicated to President Juarez of Mexico, by telegraph, the proposition of His Imperial Majesty of Austria, that he would reinstate the Prince Maximilian in all his rights of possession as Archduke of Austria, as soon as the prince should be set at liberty and should renounce forever all his projects in Mexico. At an earlier date, namely, on the 15th, I had in like manner used the telegraph to make known to President Juarez the request of Her Majesty the Queen of England and of the Emperor of the French for the good offices of this government in behalf of the Prince Maximilian." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Count Wydenbruck, July 1, 1867, MS. See, also, same to same, tel., July 3, 1867, id. 241. In relation to the capture and execution of Maximilian, see Dip. Cor. 1867, II. 408-420, 431, 434. Also, Maximilian in Mexico, by Sara Yorke Stevenson, 288–306. "The long deferred peace conference between Spain and the allied South American republics has been inaugurated in Washington under the auspices of the United States. Pursuant to the recom H. Doc. 551-vol 6—16 mendation contained in the resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 17th of December, 1866, the executive department of the government offered its friendly offices for the promotion of peace and harmony between Spain and the allied republics. Hesitations and obstacles occurred to the acceptance of this offer. Ultimately, however, a conference was arranged, and was opened in this city on the 29th of October last, at which I authorized the Secretary of State to preside. It was attended by the ministers of Spain, Peru, Chili, and Ecuador. In consequence of the absence of a representative from Bolivia the conference was adjourned until the attendance of a plenipotentiary from that republic could be secured, or other measures could be adopted toward compassing its objects. "The allied and other republics of Spanish origin, on this continent, may see in this fact a new proof of our sincere interest in their welfare; of our desire to see them blessed with good governments, capable of maintaining order and preserving their respective territorial integrity; and of our sincere wish to extend our own commercial and social relations with them. The time is not probably far distant when, in the natural course of events, the European political connection with this continent will cease. Our policy should be shaped, in view of this probability, so as to ally the commercial interest of the Spanish-American States more closely to our own, and thus give the United States all the preeminence and all the advantage which Mr. Monroe, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Clay contemplated when they proposed to join in the congress of Panama." President Grant, annual message, Dec. 5, 1870, For. Rel. 1870, 5. Good offices, being in the nature of unofficial personal recommendation, are in this respect distinguishable from official intervention. Mr. Fish, Sec. of State, to Mr. Curtin, min. to Russia, No. 60, Oct. 5, 1870, On June 15, 1881, Señor Ubico, Guatemalan minister at Washington, addressed a note to Mr. Blaine, who was then Secretary of State, complaining of alleged encroachments of Mexico on Guatemalan territory and declaring that, all peaceful means of conciliation appearing to be exhausted, Guatemala could but appeal to the United States as the natural protector of the integrity of the Central American territory." 66 On the following day Mr. Blaine addressed an instruction to Mr. Morgan, American minister at Mexico, calling attention to the statements of the Guatemalan minister, and saying that, while the United States was not "a self-constituted arbitrator of the destinies" of either Guatemala or Mexico, it was, as "the impartial friend of both, ready to tender frank and earnest counsel touching anything |