Mr. Tassara to Mr. Seward.
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of her Catholic Majesty, addresses the Hon. Secretary of State with a view of bringing to his knowledge an unwarrantable offence which has been committed at the island of Cuba by a vessel of the federal navy of the United States, and which, on account of all its circumstances, requires the most urgent and formal attention of this government. The facts, according to official communications received this morning from the governor captain general of the island, are as follows:
On the 7th of this month a merchant vessel, the Blanche, which at first was thought to be confederate, but which afterwards turned out to be English, was proceeding with a cargo of some six hundred bales of cotton to the port of Havana, consigned to Messrs. Timer, Robertson & Co. Pursued by a federal steamer-of-war, which all the versions designate as the Montgomery, and which was chasing her within the jurisdictional belt of the island, the Blanche thought to save herself by making for the beach of Mariano, at a few miles from Havana, running aground thereon at the distance of a few yards from the shore, and hoisting the Spanish flag over the English. The Montgomery, nevertheless, which was following her closely, sent two boats, with a crew of twenty-four to thirty men each, who, not satisfied with boarding her, set fire to her.
Meanwhile the authorities of the town of Mariano, situated at a short distance, had come forward to ascertain the causes of the disaster, and to lend suitable assistance. The naval officers of the federal steamer, far from listening to the strong protests which were addressed to them, threatened the sea alcalde, maltreated his son, who had gone on board, and finished by taking off with them a Spanish subject, who had served as a pilot. The conflagration being over, the federal steamer went away. The Blanche and her cargo having been consumed, the two flags which had been left on the vessel having been burnt up, and the crew, consisting of twenty-two men, and their captain, named Smith, having been saved, thanks to the assistance which was lent them by the people of Mariano.
Such are the facts as they are officially shown up to this time. From trustworthy accounts, published in the newspapers of Havana, it appears, moreover, that the Blanche was proceeding from Port La Vaca, in Texas, and that on the 6th she had anchored at Mulata to take in fuel. Other aggravating circumstances also appear, if aggravation is possible in this case, such as that during the chase, at a very short distance from land, several ball cartridges were fired. Of the whole the appropriate judicial investigation was taking place, a report of which the undersigned will communicate in season to the Hon. Secretary of State, and meanwhile he transmits to him the annexed copies of the first reports of the affair, with the circumstances which have been mentioned, (Nos. 1, 2, and 3.)
On the first reception of the news at Havana, where it was proper it should be told, the sensation was very great. The superior authorities of the island sent several vessels-of-war immediately in pursuit of the offending steamer, which had disappeared from those waters, and other proceedings were resorted to to prevent under any circumstances the repetition of this or any similar aggression.
Through a toleration, for which, if not the government, at least some of the official agents of the United States make a very poor return, the war and merchant vessels of this country, on arriving at Havana, have hitherto been permitted to remain outside of the port, communicating with their consul by means [Page 533] of a boat from the first moment of their arrival. On the said morning of the 7th the Montgomery was at the port of Havana, and was communicating with the consul by that means, which induces the belief that the subsequent offence was committed with the assent or perhaps by the instructions of that agent. This practice was abolished from that moment, and a stop was also put to any other which is not in conformity with the maritime or sanitary regulations, or in which there is not perfect reciprocity in the ports of the United States.
In addressing this legation the governor, captain general of Cuba, transmits the determination of reclamations which may finally have to be made to the government of her Catholic Majesty. That functionary judges, however, and judges rightly, that the undersigned will act as is demanded of him by the extraordinary character of these events. To act in any other manner would be, by closing his eyes to the evidence of such wrongs, to render himself an accomplice in the possibility of conflicts, the responsibility for which the Spanish authorities, ever disposed to avoid them, will hasten to cast off from themselves on whomsoever they may be who provoke them.
The undersigned need not stop to prove that the event of Mariano involves not only an offence but a series of offences, each one of which is more than sufficient for establishing a grave reclamation. These offences are, 1st, a violation of the jurisdictional maritime belt of Cuba, carried even to the territory itself of the island, and the character of which is aggravated by the existence of previous demands, to which this government, although exhibiting always the best disposition, has not yet given a final answer; 2d, the insult offered to Spanish authority in the person of the sea alcalde of Mariano and in that of his son, at the moment when they were exercising two most sacred acts, one an act of authority, and the other an act of humanity—an insult aggravated, moreover, by the capture of the pilot of the Blanche, and taking him out of his country on board of the Montgomery; 3d, the insult offered to the Spanish flag, together with another neutral flag, that of England, by looking on them unmoved, and seeing them consumed amidst the bales of cotton of the burning vessel; and, 4th, the burning itself of a neutral merchant vessel on an almost desert beach, as though it were in open war, without any respect either to existing treaties, to the declarations of the governments, or to any of the laws which now prevail in the civilized world.
The imperious duty in virtue of which the undersigned now comes forward to complain of the government of the United States is still more strengthened by a profound conviction that the Spanish government, and the authorities of Cuba, have fulfilled all their duties towards the United States in the two years of civil war which has been going on, with an amplitude that perhaps has exceeded the limits of true neutrality, and with a respect for established rights that was more demanded of it for the rights of Spain. The honorable Secretary of State has acknowledged this on more than one occasion, and even at this time it would be easy to exhibit to him new proofs of a conduct which gave a right to expect a different return. Nor is this to admit the supposition that this government could have even remotely authorized acts like that which has just been perpetrated in Cuba. It would even be offering an insult to it to apprehend that it would hesitate a moment in condemning them with all the energy which is demanded by so many rights and by so many respectful observances that are not usually found; but the truth is that the justice and reason of. Spain are moreover re-enforced with another title to consideration of the United States, and it is to be hoped that it may be held in account in proceeding in this grave affair.
The undersigned, therefore, would be wanting to the confidence which his government has reposed in him if he did not anticipate its instructions by demanding prompt and complete satisfaction and reparation for all the wrongs inflicted, and all the interests damaged, by the outrage and the burning of the [Page 534] English vessel, the Blanche, on the beach of Mariano. He must demand, also, the immediate restoration of the pilot who was conducting her, with corresponding orders to the commanders of naval forces in the Gulf, to the end that, respect being secured to maritime jurisdiction and to the other rights of a neutral power like Spain, a stop may be put to acts whose repetition would certainly lead to consequences which it is the common duty and interest to avoid. He would moreover request the honorable Secretary of State to fix well his consideration on the conduct of the officers or agents who have figured in this affair, and who have in this manner compromitted the good name of their government, not only in the eyes of Spain but in those of the whole world. He must add, finally, that, for the due knowledge of the authorities of Cuba, he would desire to know, within a conveniently brief space of time, what the government of the United States may be pleased to determine.
The undersigned knows too well the elevation of understanding and the sincerity of character of the honorable Secretary of State to doubt that he will endeavor on this occasion to make good the friendly inclinations with which he has always shown himself animated towards Spain. The honorable Secretary of State, in his turn, is sufficiently acquainted with the minister who has the honor of addressing him this note to know that his greatest aspiration, interpreting therein the will of his government, is to preserve unharmed and even to draw closer than they ever have been the relations of Spain with the United States through the crisis of this country. On this account he has ever endeavored, within the circle of his influence, and in the course of long and repeated negotiations, to give the affairs the turn most propitious to the honor and interest of the two nations; and in making now this demand he is entirely confident of being able to assure his government very soon that there is no reason for apprehending the slightest alteration in the course of the reciprocal relations.
The undersigned avails himself of this opportunity to reiterate to the honorable Secretary of State the assurance of his highest consideration.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States.