Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 1, 1884

No. 353.
Mr. Foster to Mr. Frelinghuysen.

Legation of the United States,
Madrid, April 2, 1884. (Received April 21.)

No. 200.]

Sir: I transmit herewith a copy and translation of a note of the 26th ultimo from the Minister of State, received on the 29th, on the subject of the Cuban embargoed estate claims. The minister, after excusing the delay which has occurred in replying to my note of November 14, last, explains that the words “new claims” in his predecessor’s note of November 3 did not imply that they were not already known to the Spanish Government, but that they were considered new in relation to those already decided by the late commission. He repeats the declarations of Señor Ruiz Gomez, that the importance of the sums claimed and the attendant circumstances require a careful examination and report from the Minister of Ultramar, and while he assures me that this will be made with all possible diligence, he reminds me that our own Government knows, by its own experience in considering the reclamations of Spain in regard to the Florida and civil war claims, how delays in the settlement of questions of this character must necessarily occur.

In view of my expected early visit to Washington I have thought it best to defer the acknowledgment of this note until after I have had a conference with you. I am promised by the minister an interview to discuss this as well as other pending subjects before my departure, and I hope to be able to give you a more satisfactory account of the views of the Spanish Government respecting these claims than I have thus far done.

I am, &c.,

JOHN W. FOSTER.

[Inclosure in No. 200.—Translation.]

Mr. Elduayen to Mr. Foster.

Ministry of State Palace,
Madrid, March 26, 1884.

Excellency: This ministry, at present under my charge, duly received your excellency’s note of the 14th November last, in answer to that which my predecessor, Señor Ruiz Gomez, had addressed you on the 3d of the same month, in regard to the claims presented by the legation, under date of the 2d and 3d July of last year, on account of the embargo of estates of North American citizens during the late Cuban insurrection.

In now charging myself with the said note of your excellency of the 14th November, whose answer has been delayed by the many occupations which demand the attention of every minister in the first month of his ministerial duties, I must, above all, inform your excellency that in my judgment the words which your excellency controverts, to wit, “new claims” (nuevas reclamaciones), employed by my predecessor in referring to those presented on the preceding 2d and 3d July, do not signify that they were not already known to the Government of His Majesty, but that they were considered new in relation to those which had just been decided by the late commission of arbitration, on account of which Spain was on the point of paying to the United States 10,000,000 of reals, approximately, an amount of some importance for the resources of the Spanish treasury, and at present already paid in its totality.

As to the other arguments contained in your excellency’s note, to which I have the honor to answer, it does not appear to me that they weaken in any respect that which my predecessor expressed to your excellency on the 3d of November last. In examining the voluminous correspondence remitted to this ministry by your legation on the 2d and 3d of July of last year, from which it results that Spain, which within recent dates has paid to the United States more than thirty million reals, would still appear as debtor for another hundred, my predecessor informed your excellency that the importance of the sums which were claimed, as well as the necessity of verifying their correctness, and, above all, to ascertain if the claimants compared with the subjects of His Majesty had made use of all the measures which Spanish legislation concedes to them for the defense of their interests, the authorities of Cuba denying them justice, the only case in which the Government of His Majesty admits diplomatic action—all these circumstances exacted a careful examination and a just report from the Ministry of Ultramar (colonies), the only competent authority to make the necessary explanations on each one of the questions which are the object of the reclamations of your excellency.

On my part I will add that these [claims] have already been transmitted to the said ministry, recommending to it all possible diligence without considering it necessary that I should repeat that the Government of His Majesty will attend to the reclamations presented by your excellency in your notes of the 2d and 3d of July of last year, in so far as they may be just and equitable, with the same spirit of equity of which it has given repeated proofs to the Government of the American Union, hoping that the latter will not, in its turn, fail to take into consideration the difficulties which oppose a resolution as promptly as Spain would wish, since it knows by experience, recalling not only our already repeated reclamations relating to the settlement of the Florida debt, but the more recent claims arising in consequence of the injures suffered by Spanish subjects during the war of secession, the indispensable procedure necessary for the settlement of questions of such a nature, as well as the delays which, on account of its character, it must necessarily encounter.

I improve, &c.,

J. ELDUAYEN.