[Inclosure.]
General Sickles to Mr. José de
Carvajal.
Legation of the United States of
America,
Madrid, November 15,
1873.
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
of the United States of America, on the 6th of this month, in a
private communication, and afterward on the 8th instant, in an
official conference with Mr. Carvajal, had the honor to invite
the attention of the government of Spain to the capture of the
American ship Virginius by the Spanish armed cruiser Tornado, on
the 31st of October last, on the high seas, and the subsequent
taking of the said vessel, with her officers, crew, and
passengers, to the port of Santiago de Cuba, a place within
Spanish jurisdiction. The undersigned then intimated to his
excellency the minister of state that the Government of the
Union withheld any formal request for reparation in the case,
trusting that it would seem to the government of this country
becoming and proper to offer to the United States at once the
most complete satisfaction in its power for this offense to
their dignity and the inviolability of their flag.
More than fifteen days have passed since the Virginius was
captured. The undersigned has waited more than eight days for a
communication from his excellency the minister of state,
signifying that this government was prepared to make due
atonement for the wrong and injury done, and of which complaint
was made as aforesaid.
Meanwhile the officials, purporting and claiming to exercise
authority in Cuba, not restrained by the supreme government,
have inflicted summary, cruel, and bloody punishments on the
captain, officers, and crew of the Virginius, and on a number of
her passengers, and this pending the amicable representations of
the undersigned to his excellency the minister of state, having
for their object the considerate and honorable adjustment of any
questions involved in the capture.
The undersigned has now, in the name of the President, to demand
the restoration of the Virginius, and the release and delivery
to the United States of the persons, captured in her who may yet
survive; and that the flag of the United States be at the same
time-saluted in the port of Santiago de Cuba, and also that the
Spanish government manifest, by signal punishments to be
inflicted on them, its sense of the misconduct of those of its
servants who were concerned in the capture of the said vessel
and in the execution of the passengers and crew thereof.
The undersigned hopes to have the pleasure of communicating to
his Government, without delay, a satisfactory reply to this
note.
The undersigned avails himself, &c,
