No. 606.
General Sickles to Mr. Fish.

No. 827.]

Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith a copy of a note this day passed to the minister of state, in which, in obedience to your instruction of the twelfth instant by cable, I have protested against the summary execution of the captain and thirty-six of the crew of the Virginius and sixteen others by the order of the Spanish authorities at Santiago de Cuba. You were advised in my telegram of last evening that Mr. Carvajal, in our interview of yesterday, confirmed the report published in the Havana papers.

I am, &c,

SICKLES.
[Inclosure.]

General Sickles to Mr. José de Carvajal.

The undersigned, in obedience to the orders of his Government, has the honor to invite the attention of his excellency the minister of state to the fact that the Havana papers published on the morning of the. 12th instant a statement, apparently derived from official sources, that the captain and thirty-six of the crew of the Virginius, and sixteen other persons taken on board that vessel, were shot on the 7th and 8th of the present month, by the order and sanction of the Spanish authorities at Santiago de Cuba. The verbal communication made to the undersigned last evening by Mr. Carvajal, at the ministry of state, coinciding in substance with the information received at Washington, must be regarded as a confirmation of the report published in Havana and in Madrid on the day before yesterday. The undersigned is, therefore, directed to protest, and, in the name of his Government and of humanity, he does hereby protest against the said act of the authorities in Cuba as barbarous and brutal, and an outrage upon this epoch of civilization; and the undersigned is likewise ordered to declare to his excellency the minister of state that the Government of the United States will demand the most ample reparation of any wrong which may have been thereby committed upon any of its citizens or upon its flag.

The undersigned avails himself, &c.

D. E. SICKLES.