No. 87.
Mr. Reinberg to Mr. Davis.
United
States Consulate-General,
Guayaquil,
Ecuador, January 20, 1885.
(Received February 2.)
No. 97]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your dispatch dated December 29, and to inclose you copies of my dispatches
addressed to the governor of this province with reference to the case of Mr.
Santos, who continues imprisoned at the port of Manta; also a translation of
the governor’s answer to my dispatch A, wherein it is stated that the
Ecuadorian Government does not recognize the American citizenship of Mr.
Santos till the proofs of such fact are presented by this office. In view of
this answer, and without any evidence to certify to the nationality of Mr.
Santos, and with only your telegram, which it seems was not satisfactory
evidence to the Ecuadorian authorities, I telegraphed you as follows:
Julio Romano Santos, prisoner port Manta. Northern ports continue
closed. Government claims Santos Ecuadorian. Wants proofs of
American citizenship.
And in answer to which I received, yesterday, your cable:
Santos naturalized July 6, seventy-four. Department has record. Will
send copy. Inform Government and request release.
With which information I immediately acquainted the proper
Ecuadorian authorities, as per inclosed copy of my dispatch B. To this note,
as well as to dispatch C, I have not as yet received an answer from the
Government, who, I imagine, delays purposely an answer till the steamer,
which carries the American mail, leaves to-day this port for Panama.
Although I had communicated to the governor the instructions I had received
from the Department, I called on His Excellency the President, and again
requested the liberation of Mr. Santos, and remarked to him that as the
revolution is over, as reported by the constitutional authorities, the
Government could be lenient with their political prisoners. His Excellency
kindly replied that he was not acquainted with the progress of the trial,
but has information that it is being carried on, as the time and laws of the
country allow it, and that it was out of his power to liberate Mr.
Santos.
In the mean time, as there has been no communication whatever with the
northern ports, I have not been able to receive any news from Mr. Santos,
nor from Mr. Goddard, consular agent, with reference to Mr. Santos’s case,
nor any particulars regarding Mr. Santos’s incarceration,
[Page 226]
charges, treatment, &c., and as the
Ecuadorian authorities persist in not acquainting me with these same
particulars, I am as yet unable to give them to the Department as
requested.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
MARTIN REINBERG,
United States
Vice-Consul-General.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 97.]
United
States Consulate-General,
Guayaquil, Ecuador, January 8, 1885.
Sir: On the last day of December last past I
had the pleasure to call personally on His Excellency José Ma Placido
Caamaño, President of this Republic, to request him, under telegraphic
instructions from my Government, the speedy trial of Mr. Julio Romano
Santos, an American citizen, imprisoned at Bahia. His Excellency assured
me that Mr. Santos’s trial would be treated with promptness and
fairness, but gave me no definite cause for Mr. Santos’s
incarceration.
It is now some days since the above interview took place, and as I desire
to communicate to my Government the progress of Mr. Santos’s trial, as
well as the charges against him, I beg to solicit your Excellency for
this information.
I am, sir, yours, respectfully,
- MARTIN REINBERG,
United States
Vice-Consul-General.
- Hon. José A. GOMEZ,
Governor of the
Province of Guayas.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 97.]
United
States Consulate-General,
Guayaquil, Ecuador, January 19, 1885.
Sir: In answer to your dispatch No. 15, dated
8th instant, I beg to state to you that I received yesterday telegraphic
instructions from my Government to inform you that Mr. Santos is an
American citizen, and was naturalized July 6, 1874, which fact is
recorded in the Department of State at Washington, and that copies of
his citizenship papers will be sent me by first opportunity.
I am also instructed to request from your Government Mr. Santos’s
liberation, and I trust you will give me an early reply stating the
determination of your Government with reference to this case, which case
I hope will receive a careful regard to the rights of the United States
and to maintenance of good relations between the two countries.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
- MARTIN REINBERG,
United States
Vice-Consul-General.
- Hon. José A. GOMEZ,
Governor, of the
Province of Guayas.
[Inclosure 3 in No. 97.]
United
States Consulate-General,
Guayaquil, Ecuador, January 19, 1885.
Sir: Since my last dispatch addressed to you on
this day, I have received a communication from my Government referring
to the imprisonment of Mr. Santos, an American citizen, and as the same
steamer which brought the mail from Panama called at Manta the port
where Mr. Santos is said to be imprisoned, I again beg to request you,
it any information has been received from the Ecuadorian authorities at
Manta, to acquaint me with the alleged charges against Mr. Santos and
the result of the proceedings against him.
[Page 227]
Mr. Santos E. Santos, of New York, a brother of Mr. Julio Romano Santos,
in his representation to my Government declares that the Ecuadorian
authorities at Bahia were about or had confiscated his brother’s
property.
I respectfully request that this confiscation be delayed till charges
against Mr. Santos are sustained and I can inform my Government of these
events.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
- MARTIN REINBERG,
United States
Vice-Consul-General.
- Hon. José A. GOMEZ,
Governor, of the
Province of Guayas.
[Inclosure 4 in No. 97.]
Republic of Ecuador.
Guayaquil, January 12,
1885.
To the Consul-General of the United
States of America:
Sir: In answer to your dispatch dated the 8th
instant, I beg to state that having made due inquiries and taken the
necessary steps, this office has been informed that Mr. Julio Romano
Santos is an Ecuadorian citizen according to the constitution of this
Republic.
In such case I feel very sorry to have to excuse myself, until the
contrary is proved, for not furnishing you with an explanation regarding
the reasons this Government had by ordering his imprisonment.
Expressing to you my high esteem and consideration, I have the honor to
be, sir, your obedient servant.
