No. 221.
Mr. Cramer
to Mr. Evarts.
Copenhagen, October 8, 1879. (Received October 25.)
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 552, of the 23d ultimo, describing the condition of the Danish Islands in the West Indies, I have now the [Page 345] honor to further inform you that the Danish minister of finance, who is at the same time also president of the council of state, laid before the Rigsdag a bill authorizing an increase in the military garrison of these islands at the expense of the mother country.
In the course of his remarks he said that since 1867 a series of misfortunes had happened, especially to Santa Cruz, which rendered the condition of that island, financially, hopelessly bad. In the opinion of the government the assumption upon which the legislation for these colonies had been based, namely, their ability not only to defray their own administrative expenses, but also to pay an annual tribute into the state treasury, no longer exists, and, if left to themselves, financial ruin would surely and speedily overtake them. The total loss sustained by Santa Cruz on account of the negro riots during October, 1878, amounted to about $1,100,000, and the export of sugar between the years 1865—’78 fell from about 15,000 hogsheads annually to about 3,800, thus greatly reducing the income not only of the planters, but of the communal treasury as well. But it had been found impossible to reduce the administrative expenses to a correspondingly low amount. “St. Thomas,” the minister said, “is also financially retrograding.” “Therefore,” he concluded, “it is high time that a final determination should be reached as to the exact position to be assumed by the mother country toward these islands, for the present state of things is no longer tenable.” These appear to be ominous words.
I am, &c.,