No. 494.
Mr. Reed
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Madrid , April 28, 1883. (Received May 21.)
Sir: In the Senate, on the 19th instant, Señor Güell y Rente, one of the Senators representing the island of Cuba, asked that the text of the treaty of commerce lately negotiated between the United States and Mexico be published in the Diario de Sesiones as an appendix, adding, at the same time, that he would be glad to see a similar treaty negotiated between the United States and Spain. His request was granted, and the text of the treaty was published in the Diario de Sesiones of that day.
[Page 772]In this connection, I beg to state that only a few days before Señor Güell y Rente called the attention of the minister of state to the importance of negotiating a commercial treaty with the United States, and the reply of the minister of state was such as to lead Señor Güell y Sente to believe that steps would soon be taken to negotiate such a treaty.
In his remarks on the 19th instant Señor Güell y Rente said that he had heard that the minister of ultramar had presented to the consideration of the council of ministers the day before (18th instant) a project of a treaty (I suppose in relation to Cuban productions), and he congratulated the minister of ultramar thereon, saying that he was sure that it being initiated by him and followed up by the minister of state with his accustomed activity, they (the Senators) would very soon have the pleasure of seeing the treaty negotiated, which was so necessary to the interests of the island of Cuba.
On the 24th instant the same Senator stated that in April of last year he asked the then minister of hacienda for a statement of the amount of wheat imported from the United States, Russia, and Egypt, with a view to showing that Spain did not produce a sufficient quantity of that product to feed her 18,000,000 of people. The statement, he went on to say, was furnished him when he undertook to induce the Government to allow the free introduction of wheat into Spain, because, to use his words, “the people were threatened with starvation.” He then stated that the Government was on the point of granting his request, but, in August last, for some reason unknown to him, it was decided not to do so.
For the same reason Señor Güell y Sente then asked the present minister of hacienda for a similar statement of the amount of wheat imported from the countries above mentioned, and also a statement of the amount of Spanish wheat and flour exported, and especially the amount sent to the island of Cuba. He also asked a statement of the annual production of corn in Spain.
These statistics once obtained, Señor Güell y Rente stated that it was his purpose, if they did not show a sufficient production for home consumption, to present (if the Government has not within a few weeks made any progress towards negotiating a treaty of commerce with the United States) a proposition authorizing the minister of ultramar to negotiate a treaty of commerce with the United States similar to that negotiated with Mexico.
I have deemed it proper to report the above for your information, and I also deem it proper to add that upon two or three occasions when I have been at the ministry of state within the last month or two both the minister and the subsecretary have referred, unofficially, to the desirability of negotiating a treaty of commerce. In view of this, and of the interest which Cuba takes in the matter, it seems to me that if the United States desire to negotiate such a treaty, the time has arrived when it may be done.
The negotiations with Germany and Sweden and Norway for a commercial treaty, which came to a close some time since, have lately been renewed, and it is now thought, as each of the Governments have conceded something, that the treaties will be negotiated.
In the Senate yesterday Señor Güell y Rente congratulated the minister of state on the negotiation of the trade-marks convention with the United States.
I have, &c.,