Office of the Historian
No. 560.

Mr. Foster to Mr. Bayard.

[Extract.]
Legation of the United States,
San Ildefonso, August 22, 1885. (Received September 5.)
No. 394]

Sir: In view of my early retirement from this mission I have for some weeks past been urging upon the Spanish Government the adjustment and repayment of the excessive cattle tax collected by the Spanish consul at Key West, Fla. After several visits to the ministry of state and comparison of tables with the chief of bureau having the subject in charge, I agreed to accept as the number of cattle upon which the tax had been paid 26,626, which was twelve less than the [Page 753] number claimed in the documents sent through the Department by Messrs. McGrew & Small, the attorneys in the case; but as there was also an approximate discrepancy between the number claimed by them and the Treasury reports, and as the concession only involved $3.60, I considered the sum too trivial to delay the final settlement.

In accordance with that agreement I am to-day in receipt of a note from the minister of state, which I inclose in copy and translation, in which he states that on 26,626 head of cattle there having been paid $10,650.40 as consular taxes, the excess to be returned amounts to $7,987.80, and that the Spanish minister in Washington has been instructed to pay that sum to the Department of State in final settlement of the claim.

To this note I have to-day made an acknowledgment of receipt with the statement that a copy thereof will be forwarded for your information, as per inclosure.

It is to be observed that only three-fourths of the amount collected is ordered to be returned, 40 cents per head having been collected, which the Spanish Government conceded was an excess of 30 cents above the amount fixed by the Spanish consular tariff of fees. Ten cents per head is retained as legally authorized by said consular tariff, which directs the collection of 10 cents tonnage dues on all shipments from the United States to Spanish ports. In accepting the sum of $7,987.80, which I regard as in the interest of the claimants, it has occurred to me that it might be considered opportune to make the statement that its acceptance is not to be regarded as a recognition of the right of Spain to collect a tonnage tax in American ports, in case you coincide in the views expressed by your predecessors.

* * * * * * *

I am, &c.,

JOHN W. FOSTER.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 394.—Translation.]

Mr. Elduayen to Mr. Foster.

Ministry of State,
San Ildefonso, August 17, 1885.

Excellency—My Dear Sir: I have the honor to communicate to your excellency that from examination of the amount transmitted by the Spanish consul at Key West of the consular tax collected on the exportation of cattle from said port to the island of Cuba, and likewise after its comparison with the statement which your excellency was good enough to send me in your note of the 27th of May last, it results that the number of head of cattle amounts to 26,626; that the tax collected comes to the sum of $10,650.40, and that, therefore, the return of the excess which has to be made amounts to $7,987.80.

Consequently, I have the satisfaction of announcing to your excellency that due instructions have been sent to the minister plenipotentiary of His Majesty in Washington to deliver said amount to the department of foreign affairs as a definite payent of the pending claim.

I take advantage, &c.,

J. ELDUAYEN.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 394.]

Mr. Foster to Mr. Elduayen.

Legation of the United States,
San Ildefonso, August 20, 1885.

Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of the 17th instant, in which you state that as a result of the comparison of [Page 754] data in your ministry, the Spanish plenipotentiary in Washington has been instructed to pay to the Department of State the sum of $7,987.80, as a definitive settlement of the claim for the return of the cattle tax collected by the Spanish consul at Key West.

Assuring your excellency that I shall have great pleasure in communicating this information to my Government, I remain, &c.,

JOHN W. FOSTER.