Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 2, 1872, Part I

No. 428.
Mr. Sickles to Mr. Fish.

United States Legation to Spain,
San Sebastian, August 27, 1872. (Received Sept. 12.)

No. 417.]

Sir: 1 have the honor to transmit herewith an official publication of a decree, dated August 5, 1872, promulgating regulations for the execution of the act of July 4, 1870, concerning slavery in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico. It appears that the measure was proposed by the colonial minister, with the sanction of the cabinet council, after hearing the suggestions of the authorities in those islands, and in conformity with the advice of the council of state.

No more forcible illustration could be given of the imperfect and unsatisfactory character of the act of 1870 than the perusal of this complicated code of procedure for its execution. It embraces, in chapters, articles, and clauses of articles, about one hundred paragraphs. You will observe that the main feature of the scheme is the organization of a board of seven commissioners in each of the civil districts, jurisdictions, or, as we might perhaps call them, counties. All persons residing within such sub-division of territory, and declared free by the law, are placed under the “protection”of the local board. The governor or lieutenant-governor of the jurisdiction, (in Cuba,) or the major of the district, (in Porto Rico,) and the presiding officer of the town council, will be ex-officio members. Pour members are to be chosen, two of whom must not be slave holders, and a secretary will be appointed, who will not vote. The four members appointed will hold office for two years, and serve gratuitously. They will be named by the captain-general from a list of sixteen of the largest tax-payers in the locality, no matter whether or not residents of the jurisdiction or district, one-half of whom shall not be slave-holders. This list is to be made by the chief officer of the jurisdiction or district, and submitted to the captain-general. The boards may delegate to the members thereof executive authority in the localities where they reside, respectively. A central board of commissioners, of twenty-one members, named by the captain-general, invested with appellate and supervisory powers, will sit at Havana.

I have not at hand for comparison a copy of the act of 1870, without which I shall not venture any extended criticism of these arrangements. I may, however, remark that in confiding the execution of this law to those whose unsatisfactory methods of administration have so frequently been the subject of complaint in Cuba and Porto Rico, the government has evidently yielded to the suggestions of the slave-holders, who will of course profit by the opportunities afforded through the complicated machinery created by this decree to diminish the few ameliorations promised by the original measure. I do not see any provision made for a large class of freed men called “emaneipadors”—persons rescued by the authorities from the hands of slave-traders—whose situation especially called for the intervention of the Crown. There is no reason to believe that any considerable number of these people have yet realized the liberty assured to them by a succession of treaties and decrees anterior to the act of 1870. They are now leased for long terms of years to proprietors, many of whom soon report them dead, and then confound them with their herds of slaves.

The Spanish Emancipation Society have published an energetic protest against the refusal of the minister to acquaint them with the outlines of his scheme of regulations. They point out that, while the slaveholders had every opportunity afforded them to present their views, neither the slaves nor anybody in their behalf were allowed a hearing.

I am not without hope that the Cortes now chosen may take up the question of emancipation, and resolve it on a more radical basis. The neglect of the government and the authorities in Cuba to execute the “preparatory” act of 1870 may expedite the passage of a better measure. I shall not fail to make proper representations on the subject to this government.

I am, &c.,

D. E. SICKLES.

Madrid, August 24, 1872.

[Appendix to No. 417.]

[From La Gaceta de Madrid.—Translation.]

ministry of the colonies.

Some errors having occurred in the decree published in the Gaceta, as above, of the 18th instant, it is republished below duly corrected:

decree.

In accordance with the suggestion of the minister of the colonies, in view of the reports of the superior civil governor of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, in conformity with the opinion of the council of ministers and that of the council of state, all the members being present, I approve the following regulation for the execution of the law of July 4, 1870, concerning the abolition of slavery in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico.

Chapter I.—Of protective boards.

• Article 1. According to article 13 of the law, and of other articles referring to patronage, there shall be established in each one of the jurisdictions of the island of Cuba, and in each one of the civil districts of that of Porto Rico, a protective board for the freedmen, under whose protection all those declared free by the provisions of the aforesaid law shall be. In the capital of each island there shall be, moreover, a central board.
• Article 2. The jurisdictional protective boards shall be composed of the governor or lieutenant-governor of the jurisdiction; of the corregidor of the district of Porto Rico, who shall be president; of the first syndic of the municipal government of the capital, or of the only one belonging to said government, of four voting members, proprietors, (two of them not owners of slaves;) of four vice-members, (two of whom shall not be owners of slaves,) in case of sickness, absence, or any other impediment, and of a secretary, who shall have no vote. The supplying of the places of the proprietors shall take place in such a manner that the number of non-slaveholding voting members shall in no case be less than two.
• Article 3. The office of voting member of these boards shall be gratuitous, and shall not be resigned save by those above sixty years of age and those physically incapacitated.
• The following members shall not serve as voting members:
  • First. Foreigners, unless they shall have obtained naturalization papers.
  • Second. Minors.
  • Third. Persons unable to read and write.
  • Fourth. Military men and public functionaries in active service.
  • Fifth. Persons who have suffered corporal punishment.
  • Sixth. Those who on account of a judicial sentence are under the surveillance of the authorities.
  • Seventh. Those who at any time have been condemned for infraction of the regulations concerning slavery, or for offenses whose punishment is provided for by the decree for the suppression of the slave-trade.
• The office shall be of two years’ duration, and half of the members shall be renewed each year. The two proprietors and the two vice-members who are to retire at the close of the first of said years shall be determined by lot.
• Article 4. For the formation of jurisdictional boards, the governors or lieutenant-governors in Cuba, and the corregidors in Porto Rico, of the chief towns, shall form a list comprising the sixteen largest tax-payers of the jurisdiction, whether they reside in the jurisdiction or not, half of them to own no slaves, in order that the superior civil governor may select from them the four voting members, proprietors, of the boards aforesaid. In subsequent years the lists shall comprise eight persons in a similar position, in order that the superior authorities may select the two who are to replace those retiring.
• Article 5. The jurisdictional boards having been formed of the two ex-officio members, referred to in article 2, and the four proprietors chosen according to article 4, they shall proceed to form a list of eight tax-payers residing in the jurisdiction, half of them owning no slaves, and shall submit it to the superior civil governor, that he may select the four vice-members who are to act as substitutes for the proprietors. For the annual and successive renewals of the half of the vice-members, the board shall only propose four similar tax-payers, that the superior authority may select two. The boards shall adopt no resolution unless three of the four voting members shall be present.
• Article 6. It shall be the duty of the jurisdictional protective boards—
  • First. To see to the fulfillment of the obligations imposed upon patrons by article 7 of the law concerning the freedmen, referred to in articles 1 and 2 of said law, according to what may be permitted in each case by the state of culture and local conditions, and according to the labor, which they are subsequently to perform, either in town or country;
  • Second. To endeavor to cause payment to be made of the wages provided for in article 8 of the law for freedmen who have attained the age of eighteen years, taking part in the fixing of the amount, and receiving the half which is to go to form the capital of said freedmen. For the fixing of the pay of the freedmen, the wages assigned to them shall be equal to one-half of the wages earned by free men of their class and occupation.
  • Third. To endeavor to cause the termination of patronage on the person’s reaching the age of twenty-two years, according to article 9 of the law, to produce all its effects. When the patronage terminates by reason of any of the three causes mentioned in article 10 of the law, the boards shall, in the first case, have married persons under their protection until the hush and shall have attained his majority, and they shall seek, without doing violence to their will, to cause them to remain, as laborers, with the patron of the wife. In the other two cases they shall place minors under the patronage of such persons as they may think proper, adhering, for the fixing of their wages, to the provisions of the second atribucion.
  • Fourth. To assist the freedmen referred to in articles 3 and 5 of the law, and those who may not be under patronage, endeavoring to cause such contracts or stipulations as they may make to be best suited to their interests, to the development of agriculture, and the necessities of public order.
  • Fifth. To exercise the functions of guardianship, according to law, over freedmen under twenty-two years of age, who are not under patronage, and over those who, being also under twenty-two years of age, exercise rights contrary to those of their patrons, representing them, in law and out, through such persons as they may appoint for the purpose.
  • Sixth. To give or refuse their necessary approbation in stipulation and transfers of patronage, and also in acts whose object is to secure to free parents the patronage of their sous, and to approve such indemnities as they may consider just, as will be hereinafter provided for.
  • Seventh. To keep lists of the persons whose protection is intrusted to them, and of such changes as may take place in their situations and residence, keeping a separate list of those under patronage, and of freed laborers.
  • Eighth. To take care, according to provisions of article 14 of the law, that patrons fulfill their obligations to such freedmen above sixty years of age who may remain in the houses or on the estates of their former owners, and to settle such disputes as may arise between them.
  • Ninth. To deposit, in the name of each party interested, such sums as may be received for the formation of his capital, in the public savings-banks established in Havana, and in San Juan de Porto Rico, or their branches.
  • Tenth. To take cognizance of resignation of patronage, admitting such as maybe based upon causes which the boards may consider sufficient; but such resignations shall never result in the separation of a child less than fourteen years of age from his or her slave mother. Nor shall any such separation be permitted in the case of a transfer of patronage.
  • Eleventh. To order a change of patronage, granting a hearing to the patron, when a minor who displays some very special aptitude shall demand, either by himself or through another person in his name, a change of occupation, whenever this may require his removal to another place where the patron may not be able to exercise his function, or when the latter may not consent to the change of occupation.
  • Twelfth. To form such lists as may be necessary for the enforcement of the law, or as may be provided for in these regulations, performing all that is therein prescribed in relation to such documents.
  • Thirteenth. To propose the appointment of a secretary and other necessary officers, which shall be made by the governor or lieutenant-governors in Cuba, and the corregidors in Porto Rico, and must be approved by the superior civil governor.
  • Fourteenth. To classify the officers employed in the jurisdiction, fixing their salaries and that of the secretary, submitting it to the approbation of the superior civil governor, who shall hear before giving it to the central board.
  • Fifteenth. To settle disputes which may arise in relation to admission into or exclusion from the lists of freedmen.
  • Sixteenth. To settle all questions which may arise between patrons and clients, and all others which may occur in regard to the application of these regulations, acting in conformity with the provisions of such special regulations as may he ordered according to article 18.
• Article 7. In case the disputing parties shall be unwilling to abide by the decision of the jurisdictional boards, they shall have a right to appeal to the central board within thirty days, which shall decide without appeal in administrative order.
• Article 8. Any person feeling aggrieved by a decision of the central board may take such contentious-administrative or contentious-judicial proceedings against them as he may think proper.
• Article 9. Proceedings in the cases referred to in the foregoing article shall be, in contentious-administrative cases, in accordance with the provisions in force for others of their kind; and in contentious-judicial cases they shall conform to the provisions of title 24, part 1st, of the law of civil trials now in force in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico.
• Article 10. Slaves declared free by article 17 of the law shall be under the care of the protective boards, who shall proceed in respect to them, in the same manner as is ordered for others in the regulations, principally in No. 4 of article 6.
• Article 11. The jurisdictional protective hoards may delegate their powers in each of the districts of their jurisdiction to some of the persons included in the list referred to in article 5, designating also another for the office of vice-member, both to be residents of the district; they shall he nominated by the boards, and the nomination shall be confirmed by the governor or lieutenant-governor in Cuba, and the corregidor in Porto Pico, the appointment then being submitted to the superior civil governor for his approbation. The delegates and vice-members shall always act under the authority of the boards, so that the latter alone shall decide all disputes that may arise, the delegates merely executing their orders.
• Article 12. Persons holding such offices shall be considered as public functionaries, with administrative powers, and shall be subject to the gubernative and judicial responsibility which attaches to their character. The aforesaid officers shall perform their duties gratuitously, and shall not resign their office save in those cases in which the resignation of voting members is permitted.
• Article 13. The central protective board shall reside in the capital, and shall be composed of the superior civil governor, who shall be its president; of a vice-president appointed by said officer of the first syndics of the municipal government of the capital; of sixteen voting members, proprietors, half of them not to be owners of slaves, selected by the superior civil governor from among the one hundred and fifty largest tax-payers of the whole island, whether they reside in the capital or not; of sixteen vice-members, eight of whom shall not own slaves, for cases of absence or sickness, and of the secretary proposed by the board and appointed by the superior civil governor. The latter officer may delegate his functions as president, in special cases, to such person as he may think proper. The places of proprietors shall be filled in such a manner that the number of voting members not holding slaves shall never be less than eight.
• Article 14. As soon as the board shall have been formed, it shall form a list of thirty-two tax-payers, who must be residents of the capital, in order that the superior civil governor may select the sixteen vice-members who are to act in the case of absence or withdrawal of the proprietors.
• Article 15. One-half of the board shall be renewed each year, those members whose functions are to cease at the end of the first year being determined by lot.
• The appointments of new voting members, proprietors, shall be made by the superior civil governor, according to article 13, and the vice-members shall be selected by the same superior officer according to article 14. The office of voting member shall not be resigned save In cases provided for in article 3.
• No person shall serve as a voting member who may be comprised in any of the cases preceding the seven of the article aforesaid.
• Article 16. The following powers shall belong to the central board:
  • First. The formation of the general census of slaves.
  • Second. That of such lists and registers of freedmen in the whole island as it may be necessary to form, or as may hereafter be provided for, with the approval of the superior civil governor; and a general recapitulation of the aforesaid lists and registers shall be published in the Gaceta de la Capital.
  • Third. To take cognizance of and decide complaints which may be presented to it against the decisions of the jurisdictional boards, and in cases in which the latter may consult it.
  • Fourth. To give due instruction to the jurisdictional boards, taking care that they punctually fulfill the obligations imposed upon them by these regulations.
  • Fifth. To state to the minister of the colonies, through the superior civil governor of the island, whatever it may deem conducive to the better enforcement of the law, and to the removal of such difficulties as might produce disturbances or injuries both to slaves and freedmen and to owners or patrons.
  • Sixth. To keep in legal form an account of such sums as each one of the jurisdictional boards may receive as one-half of the wages which are to form the capital of the freedmen.
  • Seventh. To propose to the superior civil governor, for his approbation, the appointment of a secretary and other indispensable officers, the salaries which they are to receive, and to submit an estimate of necessary expenses.
  • Eighth. To recapitulate the necessary expenses of all the jurisdictional boards, to take part in the rendering of the accounts of the same, and to prepare a general account, sending it, in the form established by the provisions governing the matter, to the tribunal competent to approve it.
• Article 17. For the procurement of the means necessary for the indemnities provided for in the law, and in order to cover the estimated expenses of all the protective boards, the central board, after having computed the total amount of the indemnities and expenses, shall propose to the superior civil governor of the island the tax to be levied upon slaves between the ages of eleven and sixty years.
• The superior civil governor shall send with his report the aforesaid proposed tax to the minister of the colonies, that he may adopt such decision as he may think proper.
• Article 18. The superior civil governor, after having granted a hearing to the central board and the council of administration in Cuba, or to the provincial house of deputies of Porto Rico, shall dictate regulations for the government of the first, the jurisdictional boards, and the delegates of the districts, in their various protective functions, and in their relations to the superior civil government; conforming his prescriptions strictly to those of the law of July, 1870, and to those of the present regulations.
• Article 19. Slaves who have served under the Spanish flag during the insurrection in the island of Cuba, and who afterward continue in active service, shall not be under the care of the protective boards so long as they remain as freedmen in such situation, concerning which a report shall be made by the superior civil governor to the jurisdictional board which would otherwise have had the care of such persons. Similar information shall be given to the same board when they shall be discharged from military service. The foregoing provisions shall not be applicable to minors, who, in everything not relating to military matters, shall be protected by the boards.
• Article 20. Freedmen who, on account of their bad disposition, manifest an aversion to labor, or are incorrigible, shall be abandoned by the boards to which they belong; and the latter, with the approbation of the central board, shall withdraw from them their protection, reporting the matter to the authorities.
• Article 21. Freedmen for whom, by virtue of the provisions of article 3 of the law, indemnities may be payable to their former owners, shall not receive their papers as freedmen until their situation shall have been examined, in order to fix the amount of the indemnities before the protective board of the jurisdiction to which they belonged as slaves. The boards shall take care that such amounts be fixed, and that the examination aforesaid be made immediately, in order not to delay for a moment the declaration of freedom and the delivery of the proper papers.
• Article 22. The value of persons for whom an indemnity is to be paid shall always be fixed before the proper jurisdictional board, after hearing the opinion of two experts, one named by the department of public finance for each case which may arise, and another by the person to whom the indemnity may be due, or his representative. In case of disagreement between both experts, the board, first granting a hearing to a third party appointed by it, shall decide, as in the previous case, with regard to the amount of the indemnity. All proceedings relative to the same individual shall be limited to a single act, the evaluations made by the boards being subject to the approval of the proper administrator of finance.
• Article 23. Those who, still being in military service, may be stationed as soldiers in another jurisdiction, shall present themselves, with the consent of their officers, before the board of said jurisdiction, that it may be able to fix the amount payable as indemnity, duly reporting at once to the former owner of the freedman or his representative, that he may appoint an expert on his part to be present at the appraisement, although this shall take place even though the party interested fail to appear or to be represented.
• Article 24. In case the owner shall not be represented, the board shall fix irrevocably, and with the approval of the proper administrator or officer of finance, the amount of the indemnity, after having heard the expert appointed by the department of public finance, and another appointed by the board itself. The decision adopted by the board shall be communicated to the owner or his representative, and likewise to the protective board of the jurisdiction to which the freedman belonged as a slave.
• Article 25. Owners, whose slaves have served under the Spanish flag, and been killed while in active service, or who may have died of their wounds since the publication of the law in the Gaceta de Madrid, and before these regulations were adopted, shall have a right to the indemnity provided for in article in said law, and shall receive on such ground the sum of fifteen hundred pesetas for each slave.
• Article 26. The indemnities to be paid by free parents, either legitimate or natural, on obtaining patronage of their children referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the law, shall be regulated in such a manner as to represent the difference between the amount of the expense for maintenance and instruction which the patron has incurred for the freedman, and the value of ‘the services which the latter may have rendered gratuitously to his patron.

Chapter II.—Of censuses, lists, and registers, under the charge of the central and jurisdictional protective hoards, and of the issuance of free papers to freedmen.

• Article 27. Those only shall be considered as slaves who may be inscribed as such in the general censuses prepared in the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico by the simple protective board of each; said census shall be considered as definitive whenever it may be in accordance with the provisions contained in the law of July 4, 1870, and the, instructions issued by the minister of the colonies for their execution.
• Article 28. The jurisdictional boards shall keep a special list of persons born subsequent to July 4, 1870, which is the date of the publication of said law. In this list, in addition to the circumstances mentioned in the general list of slaves, and which may be applicable to them, the name shall be given, as well as the occupation and residence of the patron, who is to fulfill the duties of a guardian to them.
• Article 29. Persons born of a mother who is under patronage, according to the law, shall be included in the list referred to in the foregoing article.
• Article 30. Complaints with regard to the application of the benefits of the law to individuals whose names have been omitted in the proper census or list, may be presented at any time. Those on account of exclusion shall only be received if presented within thirty days from the publication of the list to be formed in each jurisdiction; it being understood that these measures shall not affect the responsibility which it may be necessary to require according to previous legislation. Slaves whose names do not appear in the census formed in the island of Porto Rico on the 31st of December, 1869, which date was prior to that of the publication of the law, although their names were contained in that of December 31, 1867, shall be considered as free; but to their owners shall be reserved the proner indemnities when the Cortes shall have granted them this right.
• Article 31. The superior civil governor shall take care that the jurisdictional protective boards, through one of their voting members, deliver, as soon as possible, (if they have not already done so,) the necessary free papers, both to freedmen above sixty years of age, and to the patrons of minors. The voting member who shall be delegated for this purpose, shall take note of the delivery, which shall be authorized by his signature, that of the patron, or his representative, and those of two witnesses.
• Article 32. The delivery of papers to persons born subsequently to July 4, 1870, shall take place in the form provided for by the preceding article.
• Article 33. The census referred to in article 19 of the law shall in no wise affect the responsibilities and rights referred to in the decree, with force of law, of September 29, 1866, and in the regulations of June 18, 1867.
• Article 34. The protective boards, comparing the aforesaid law of 1866 with the general slave-census, shall endeavor to cause the exclusion from this latter of all those not comprised as slaves of the old one, excepting only those born subsequently up to the time at which by law they are to be free.
• Article 35. The aforesaid boards shall likewise form a list of all persons declared free by the law of July 4, 1870.
• Article 36. The proof of services referred to in article 3 of the aforesaid law shall be intrusted to the protective boards, in order that they may take measures with the authorities for the liberty of the slave. The superior civil governor shall decide finally, such measures being reserved to the parties as they may deem beneficial to themselves against the decisions of the aforesaid officer.

Chapter III.—Of patronage.

• Article 37. All freedmen who, according to articles 1 and 2 of the law, have been born since December 17, 1868, and who may be born subsequently, shall be subject to the patronage of the owners of their mothers. In like manner, those who have reached the age of sixty years shall remain under patronage, in the case of article 14 of the law, unless they shall elect to be free.
• Article 38. The powers granted by our laws to the guardians of minors shall be exercised by patrons over their freedmen, they being the legal representatives of the latter.
• Article 39. Freedmen owe obedience to their patrons as to their fathers, and they shall not, without their consent, buy, sell, cede, or alienate, under pain of having such transactions declared null and void.
• Article 40. Patronage is transferable by all the means known in law, and may be resigned for just causes, according to article 11 of the law. No transfer or resignation shall be made in such a manner as to separate a child less than fourteen years of age from its mother.
• Article 41. Patrons are under obligations to maintain their clients, clothe them, and assist them in case of sickness, and to instruct them iii the principles of religion and morality, seeking to inspire them with a fondness for labor, submission, and respect to the laws, and love toward their fellow-men. It shall also be their duty to pay the expenses of their baptism and burial. These duties of the patron to the freedmen referred to in articles 1 and 2 of the law.
• Article 42. They shall likewise give their clients the instruction necessary for the practice of a trade or handicraft, instructing them in that one for which they may display most aptitude and inclination, as soon as they arrive at the age of puberty. Any zeal which may be shown by patrons in this matter will be considered as a special and meritorious service.
• Article 43. The patron, as a just remuneration for the duties imposed upon him by the foregoing articles, and for the expenses to be incurred by him in favor of the freedman, shall have a right to the benefit of his labor, without any remuneration, until his client shall have attained the age of eighteen years.
• Article 44. From the age of eighteen to that of twenty-two the freedman shall receive from his patron one-half of the wages of the freedman of his class and occupation, the provisions of the second division of article 6 being observed in fixing the amount of such wages. These wages shall he divided into two parts, one of which shall he delivered to the freedman, and the other to the protective hoard of the jurisdiction, in order to form his capital.
• Article 45. The patron of any minor, who shall not have given him the necessary instruction for the practice of a trade or handicraft, according to what may he allowed by the state of culture of the country and the local condition, and suited to the labor which may be performed by the freedman in town or country, shall be obliged to pay to said minor, from the age of eighteen to that of twenty-two, the entire wages of a freedman, whenever this omission may be due to negligence on the part of the patron.
• Article 46. Whenever freedmen sixty years of age shall have chosen to continue in the families or on the estates of their former owners, the latter shall be considered as their patrons.
• Article 47. In case of refusal on the part of the freedman, or of the former master, to comply with the provisions of article 14 of the law, the protective board, after hearing both parties, shall adopt suitable means to insure the execution of said provisions, and shall endeavor to procure work for the freedman according to circumstances.
• Article 48. The protective boards shall take special care that freedmen be not contracted for labors dissimilar to those previously performed by them, keeping on rural estates such as shall previously have been there, but without restricting their liberty.
• Article 49. It shall be the duty of patrons to correct the faults committed by freedmen. The superior civil governor, after hearing the central protective board, shall provide, in a list of regulations, such punishments as shall be imposed by patrons.

Chapter IV.—Of the manner of shipping the freedmen referred to in articles 3 and 5 of the law

• Article 50. When persons referred to in article 3 of the law shall receive their free papers, and those referred to in article 5 of the same shall receive their special papers, they shall be consulted by the board delivering said papers with regard to their desire to return to Africa. Their choice shall be stated at once in the list in which their names are enrolled, and in the papers delivered to them. The privilege of choice which is granted to these freedmen shall be exercised only once, and within seventy days after the delivery of their free papers.
• Article 51. Those who may desire to return to Africa shall be at the disposal of the protective board of the jurisdiction until, all persons belonging to the jurisdiction and making the same choice having been assembled, the superior civil governor, having been informed with regard to their number and circumstances, shall order their conveyance to such place of shipment as he may appoint.
• Article 52. The emigrants from the jurisdictions for which a place of shipment shall have been appointed, having been assembled in the port whence they are to embark, shall be taken on board of the vessel which is to convey them, the commander of which shall receive them from the governmental authorities of said place, said authorities being deputed for this purpose by the superior civil governor, the papers of shipment, containing the names of the emigrants, being made out in triplicate. Each copy of this document shall bear the signature of the officer delivering the freedmen, that of the naval officer, or of the captain of the port, and of the commander of the port receiving them. The latter shall keep a copy until he shall have performed the duty intrusted to him, and the two others shall be sent to the superior civil governor, one to be kept in the office of his secretary and the other to be forwarded to the minister of the colonies, authorized copies of said document being delivered to the regent and attorney of the audiencia of the territory.
• Article 53. Emigrants may ship their effects and property, together with such tools and agricultural implements as may belong to them, to the order of the commander of the vessel.
• Article 54. The conveyance of emigrants shall take place to such a point in Africa as may be determined by the superior authorities, according to the instructions of His Majesty’s government, the necessary means being adopted to prove that they have been landed at the port appointed.
• Article 55. As soon as the emigrants shall have been landed at the port of destination they shall be absolutely free.
• Article 56. The superior civil governors of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico shall submit to the minister of the colonies such doubts as may arise in their minds with regard to the enforcement of the law and of these regulations, whenever a legislative or governmental measure may be required, such orders as they may think proper to issue for the due execution of said law and regulations being submitted in like manner, to the approval of the supreme government.

Done at San Sebastian on the fifth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.

• AMADEO.
• Eduardo Gasset y Artime,
  Minister of the Colonies,