Legation of the United States in Spain,
Madrid, November 6, 1873.
The Secretary of State is directed hy the President to say that two years
ago he recommended Congress to legislate for the ohjects which the
memorialists now desire to accomplish, and that he has seen nothing
since then to induce him to change his [Page 849] opinions; on the contrary, they have been
strengthened by the course of events. While abstaining from interference
with the domestic concerns of other powers, the contiguity of some of
the possessions Of Spain to the territory of the Union has made the
continued tolerance of slavery in one of them an object of solicitude to
the people of the United States, and, therefore, the President does not
refrain from expressing the anxiety with which he awaits the action of
the Spanish Cortes in emancipating the slaves in Cuba. Sympathizing in
every effort to remove the blot and scourge of slavery from the face of
the earth, and desiring to see this great evil and crime exterminated
and denounced, the President hopes that for the attainment of these ends
no proper exertions will be spared by the friends of freedom in Spain,
where they must prove more potent and efficacious than they can be in
the United States. In this noble work I am to assure you and your
associates of the sympathies and good wishes of the President.
To the Hon. Sr. D. Fernando de
Castro,
President, and the Vice-Presidents and Members of
the Executive Committee of the Spanish Abolition Society.
