Office of the Historian

No. 622.
General Sickles to Mr. Fish.

United States Legation in Spain,
Madrid, November 18, 1873. (Received December 11.)
No. 844.]

Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith a copy and a translation of a note received to-day from the minister of state, in reply to mine of the 16th instant, in which I invited his attention to the reports published in the Havana papers of the 14th, from which it appears that more of the persons captured on board the Virginius had been shot, leaving only some eighteen survivors of the whole number taken. These statements receive, as you will observe, a vague denial, which is weakened by the consideration that such reports, in relation to a matter so conspicuous and of so much importance, if erroneous, could not have escaped the very rigid censorship of the press at Havana.

The remainder of the note seems to be an amplification of the minister’s [Page 950] reply to our demand for reparation, in which he assumes that the Government of the United States is as ignorant of the facts of the case as his excellency professes himself to be.

I am, &c,

D. E. SICKLES.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Mr. José de Carvajal to General Sickles.

Ministry of State,
Madrid, November 18, 1873.

Sir: I have received your communication, dated the 16th, which has for its principal object to state that, according to information received in Washington, having reference to the newspapers of Havana, of which the consul-general of the United States gives intelligence to his Government, fresh shootings had taken place on the 12th instant at Santiago de Cuba, the number of which ascended to forty-seven, there remaining alive only some eighteen of the persons captured on board of the Virginius.

I have the satisfaction to state to you that this fact is not accurate, and that, on the contrary, the government of the Spanish Republic holds assurances that as soon as the captain-general of the island could compass the arrival at Santiago of the orders which were sent to him on the 6th, the execution of the sentences of death was suspended.

This want of agreement between the information received by the Government of Washington and by that of Madrid will prove to you how fully our attitude is justified, and how high a confirmation the United States would give of their wisdom and prudence in awaiting a full clearing-up of the facts in order to know if an offense has been committed, the extent of its importance, upon which side it is found, which party’ should hasten to make reparation, and the nature of the reparation.

If in so grave and conspicuous a matter as the shooting of forty-five men such grave errors occur and such doubts arise, how can there not be grounds for feeling these doubts and dreading those errors in questions of greater delicacy, the investigation of which is more difficult, and which demand a special knowledge of the circumstances?

It cannot be said that the point has been sufficiently discussed, and that an undoubted conclusion has been attained, making an act of satisfaction to the American flag a palpable act of justice, whilst it is yet unknown if this flag waved rightfully above the captured vessel, or to a certainty the point where the chase began, the place where the seizure was effected, the authenticity of the vessel’s papers, whether she was surprised in the act of disembarkation, and other circumstances indispensable, as general conditions, to determine the existence of the offense and to characterize it.

One fact alone is definitely known, and is admitted by all the world. The Virginius, which has already obtained a lamentable reputation in the Cuban struggles, had been equipped in order to aid the insurrection, in the territory of a friendly nation; she had been laden with arms and munitions, and the most prominent rebels were on board of her.

I improve this opportunity, &c,

J. De CARYAJAL.