Office of the Historian

No. 378.
Mr. Frelinghuysen to Mr. Valera.

Department of State,
Washington, April 18, 1884.

Sir: Referring to the note you were pleased to address on the 17th ultimo, in relation to the alleged designs of persons in the United States against life and property in the island of Cuba, and to my acknowledgment thereof, under date of the 26th ultimo, I have now the honor to inform you of the purport of the reply I have received from the Attorney-General, to whom your note was referred for the expression of his views.

Mr. Brewster adverts to your remark that “it is to be hoped that the honorable Secretary of State, with the means which are at the disposal of the Attorney-General, will apply a remedy”; and observes that he does not see what remedy the statutes of this country afford for checking violations of the neutrality laws of the character alluded to in your note, beyond those to which the Department of Justice had already called the attention of the officers of that Department, in the general circular of March 12 ultimo. Inasmuch as that notice regarding the shipment of dangerous explosives is not confined to any one particular nation, or to any one particular foreign port, and is wholly general in its character, it is thought that any specific acts of an overt nature, of which the Spanish Government could have just cause to complain, may, in virtue of that circular, be brought within the cognizance of the officers of the Department of Justice.

I have the honor to inclose a copy of Attorney-General Brewster’s circular for your information.

Permit me to add that I shall much regret if our existing laws are found not to furnish the adequate means of preventing evil disposed persons from committing, within our territory, acts repugnant to the sense of right and justice of the people of the United States, who have on no occasion omitted to testify their abhorrence of such criminal designs.

Accept, &c.,

FRED’K T. FRELINGHUYSEN.
[Inclosure.]
Department of Justice,
Washington, March 12, 1884.

To the District Attorneys and Marshals of the United States:

By direction of the President I have to inform yon it is reported that certain persons are aiding in the prosecution of heinous crimes by shipping to foreign ports explosives dangerous in the highest degree to life and property. No proof has been adduced that this rumor is founded upon fact, and the President cannot believe its truth. The honor of this nation, however, requires that it should not be open to the imputation, unfounded though it be, of the slightest appearance of tolerating such crimes, whether to be committed against our people or those of other countries.

Your attention is therefore called to sections 5353, 5354, 5355, 4278, and 4279 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which regulate the shipment of explosives, and the punishment of those who infringe their provisions, and you are instructed to be diligent in your efforts to prevent the offenses described, and to detect and prosecute those who have committed them or who may commit them.

Very respectfully,

BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER,
Attorney-General.