Legation of
the United States,
Madrid, October 29, 1883.
(Received November 16.)
No. 96.]
I propose to seek an early occasion to follow up the note by a personal
conference with the minister of state on the subject and will omit no
opportunity to secure as prompt a settlement as possible.
[Inclosure in No. 96.]
Mr. Foster to Mr.
Gomez.
Legation of the United States,
Madrid, October 18,
1883.
Excellency: Under the instructions of my
Government, it becomes my duty to bring to your excellency’s attention a
subject which has already been the occasion of considerable
correspondence and conference between your excellency’s department and
this legation.
In a note which the late minister of state addressed to this legation on
the 20th of May last it is admitted that the tax of 40 cents per head on
cattle, which has been exacted by the Spanish consular officer at Key
West, was wrongfully collected. It appears, however, from official
information forwarded by the Department of State at Washington that the
said tax continues to be collected, as the protests in this legation
show that the American citizen, James McKay, was required by the said
consul to pay, on the 30th of April last, $82.80 on 207 head of cattle
shipped to Havana on that date by the steamer Mira A. Pratt, and on the
14th of May, by the same steamer, $85.60 on 214 head of cattle, and on
the 8th of May, by the steamer Alabama, $199.20 on 498 head of cattle;
on the 14th of May, by the last-named steamer, $200 on 500 head of
cattle, and on the 19th of May, by the same steamer, $192.40 on 481 head
of cattle, making a total of $760 paid by Mr. McKay in the months of
April and May last, or a capitation tax of 40 cents on each head of
cattle shipped, in addition to the usual fees of said consulate.
[Page 796]
After the lengthy statement of the views of my Government, as contained
in my note of July 16 last, to your excellency’s predecessor, and the
previous notes of this legation on the same subject, to which I beg to
direct your excellency’s attention, I think it unnecessary to repeat the
protests already made against the exaction of an export tax by the
Spanish consuls in American territory. Your excellency’s department, in
the note of May 20 last, having conceded the illegality of the tax, even
under Spanish law and regulations, I have to request that steps may be
taken, with as little delay as possible, to put a stop to any further
collection of this tax, and to restore the money wrongfully exacted from
Mr. McKay and any other citizens of the United States from whom it may
have been collected.
I improve, &c.,
