[Inclosure A.—Translation.]
Interpellation of Senator Cala,
concerning the reported intention of the government to sell
insurgent slave-property in Cuba, and reply of the colonial
minister. Senate, December 9 and 10,
1872.
Senate, December 9,
1872.
[From La Gaceta de Madrid.]
(Extract.)
* * * * * * *
Mr. Cala. I ask the
floor.
The President. You have it.
Mr. Cala. Having read in
the Correspondencia de España, a journal which has the reputation of
being usually well informed, a piece of news from Havana stating that
the government was about to sell those negroes appertaining to
confiscated estates who were not employed in the factories, together
with all stock-shares held by the partisans of the rebellion—having, as
I said, read this statement in the Correspondencia de España, I desire
to ask the government, and particularly the colonial minister, the
following question: Is the government aware that the Cuban authorities
propose to sell the slaves on confiscated estates? And if the government
is cognizant of this purpose, has it taken any steps to prevent such
action, in obedience to common right and the law decreed by the
Constituent Cortes, which declared that all negroes becoming the
property of the state should be free, and out of respect for the dignity
of Spain, which should not be subject to the outrage and shame of having
such an iniquity perpetrated on her soil? This is my question, and if
the reply to it be not conclusive, I reserve the right to make an
interpellation.
The Minister of War. I ask the floor.
The President. You have it.
The Minister of War. The government has no
knowledge of the statement published by the paper to which the honorable
gentleman refers, but he may rest assured that I will not permit to-day
to pass without giving an account of his inquiry to the colonial
minister, who will hasten to make a satisfactory reply.
* * * * * * *
Senate, December 10, 1872.
* * * * * * *
The President. The colonial minister has the
floor.
The Colonial Minister. I wish to make a brief
answer to the inquiry addressed to me yesterday by Mr.
Cala. He asked me if the junta in Cuba had
applied to the intendente for permission to sell such slaves as were not
indispensable for the care of embargoed estates, and also such personal
property of a perishable nature as would otherwise be liable to injury.
The intendente telegraphed here for permission, and was answered
telegraphically, denying to the junta permission to make such sale; but
this refusal, which was made by telegraph, referred only to the slaves.
With respect to personal property liable to damage, an order will go
forward by the first mail, authorizing the junta to proceed to sell
it.
Mr. Cala. I ask the
floor.
The President. You have it.
Mr. Cala. I simply wish to
express my satisfaction in receiving the reply just made by the colonial
minister to my inquiry of yesterday. And although the latter part of his
reply is not entirely satisfactory, I do not insist in any way, since
the main object of my interrogatory has been answered.
* * * * * * *
