Mr. Blaine to Mr.
Palmer.
Department
of State,
Washington, November 25,
1889.
No. 37.]
Sir: By reference to the files of your legation you
will find correspondence which has passed between the Government of the
United States and that of Spain in relation to the imprisonment and the
deportation from Ponape, in the Caroline Islands, in the summer of 1887, of
the Rev. E. T. Doane, an American missionary in the service of the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. This proceeding, which took
place under the direction of the Spanish governor resident at Ponape, was
subsequently repudiated by his superior officer, the governor-general at
Manila, and was also disapproved by the Spanish Government; and Mr. Doane
was restored to the scene of his labors. When the matter was brought to the
attention of the Spanish Government the expectation was expressed that due
reparation would be offered for the wrong done to Mr. Doane and for the
expenses and losses which attended and resulted from it, the ground for this
expectation being the confessedly wrongful action of the Spanish officials.
No reparation, however, has as yet been made. You are therefore instructed
to bring the matter again to the attention of the Spanish Government, and to
ask that suitable redress may be afforded.
As having relation to this subject, I inclose herewith, for your information,
a copy of a letter of the 13th instant, from the Rev. Judson
[Page 425]
Smith, foreign secretary of the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. By this letter, which is accompanied
with one from Mr. Doane to Mr. Smith, of the 23d of August last, copy of
which is also inclosed, it appears that Mr. Doane is now threatened with
deprivation of the lands which he has occupied in connection with his work
for many years, and upon which expenditures have been made to a large
amount. In this relation it is pertinent to call attention to the
correspondence which took place between this Government and that of Spain in
1886 on the occasion of the submission to His Holiness the Pope, Leo XIII,
of the question which arose between Spain and Germany in respect to the
sovereignty of the former country over the archipelagos of the Caroline and
Pelew islands. When information of the settlement of that question, through
the mediation of His Holiness, was conveyed to this Government (February 10,
1886) by the Spanish minister at Washington, this Government made, on March
2, 1886, the following reply:
As your Government is aware, the citizens of the United States have
been actively engaged in disseminating information among the
inhabitants of that quarter, with a view to their prosperity; and it
is not presumed that their treatment under the rule of Spain, which
this arrangement recognizes and confirms as between Germany and
Spain (and which has never been contested by the United States),
will be any less favorable than that of Germans or other foreigners
commorant therein.
On the 12th of March, 1886, the Spanish minister inclosed, in reply to the
above note, as well as to more specific representations previously made by
the United States to the Spanish Government through the American legation in
Madrid, a copy of a communication from his Government bearing date February
16, 1886, in which specific assurance was given that the rights and
privileges of citizens of the United States engaged in missionary or other
work in the islands in question would in no manner be infringed or
disturbed, but on the contrary, would be fully protected and secured. This
correspondence maybe found on pages
831–834 of the volume of Foreign
Relations for 1886, a copy of which is sent to you herewith.
You are instructed to bring the matters mentioned in this communication to
the attention of the Spanish Government, with an expression of the interest
felt by this Government in the subject.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure in No. 37.]
Mr. Smith to Mr.
Blaine.
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions,
Congregational House, 1
Somerset street, Boston, November 13, 1889.
Dear Sir: Recalling to your attention previous
communications concerning the Spanish occupation of the Caroline Islands
and its bearing upon the work of American missionaries representing this
board long resident in these islands, and expressing anew satisfaction
with the interest which our Government has shown in the protection of
American interests in these islands, I beg leave to report the present
state of affairs as brought to my attention by a letter just received
from Rev. Edward T. Doane, the veteran missionary of the board in these
regions. Mr. Doane is the gentleman who was so injuriously apprehended
and imprisoned by the first Spanish governor resident at Ponape, in the
summer of 1887, who was detained in custody for three months and
deported to Manila upon wholly groundless charges. The action of the
Spanish governor in this matter being repudiated by his superior, the
governor-general resident at Manila, Mr. Doane was in due time returned
to his work without
[Page 426]
trial or
penalty. For the wrong thus inflicted upon Mr. Doane and for the injury
done to American interests no suitable reparation has ever been made by
the Spanish Government. At least no intimation of such reparation has
ever reached Mr. Doane himself or the officers of this society. An
expense, all told, amounting to nearly $2,000 was involved in this
apprehension and removal of Mr. Doane from his residence and work.
Nothing could be more just in itself or more likely to induce proper
caution on the part of the Spanish authorities in the Caroline Islands
in their dealing with American citizens engaged in Christian work in
these islands than a dignified and firm insistence upon the payment of
this indemnity. I am sure that I do not need urge upon your attention
the importance of this step, both as an act of justice in itself and
especially as a proper safeguard of the honor of the nation and of the
American interests involved in the case.
The letter which I have just received from Mr. Doane shows that the
Spanish authorities at Ponape need a reminder of the sort which I have
intimated, with reference to their present and future relations to our
work in these islands. I am sure I do not need to remind you that our
Government, at the time when the question of the transfer of the
Caroline Islands from German jurisdiction to Spanish jurisdiction was
submitted to the arbitration of Pope Leo XIII, made an express
stipulation that such transfer should work no detriment to American
interests connected with our missionary work in these islands.
Information of this has been communicated to us through the Department
of State, and I only mention it as giving a just ground for present
action on the part of our Government, which I trust will be taken
without delay. When the character of the missionary work which for
nearly forty years the American board has carried on in these islands is
considered, its purely religious aim, free from all political motives or
complications, its beneficent results, and its happy bearing upon the
welfare of the islands and upon their prosperity, and when the fact is
further recalled that our board carries on similar operations in the
midst of the Turkish Empire, in China, and among many tribes of Africa,
and everywhere enjoys the protection even of heathen kings and rulers,
there seems no reason why, with all justice and right, the pledge of
protection given by Spain when she assumed sovereignty in the islands
should not be insisted upon in the fullest and most substantial
manner.
The disposition of the present Spanish governor to ignore title to lands
and property enjoyed by our missionaries for many years past is
distinctly brought to view in the letter from Mr. Doane. You will not
need to be told, I am sure, that our missionaries have no business
interests in these islands. The lands and property referred to are
simply such as are needful to give to the missionary work they carry on
a footing and suitable surroundings, and the property is administered
absolutely with reference to the welfare and progress of this missionary
work. It yields no income of any sort to any person connected therewith.
Should the present effort of the Spanish governor to dispossess our
missionaries of the mission lands which they now occupy go on unchecked,
the result would be the entire uprooting of our missionary work, and the
necessary banishment of all our American laborers from these fields.
That such a purpose should be allowed to forward to its fulfillment
without a distinct protest, made effective if need be by the visit of an
American man-of-war to the harbor of Ponape to express the purpose of
our Government to protect its citizens and their lawful interests there,
I am sure you will not for a moment consent to or permit. The remoteness
of these islands, the defenseless position of our American citizens
engaged in Christian work there, and the time required to communicate
with these islands, alike make needful prompt and energetic action. When
the Spanish Government and its representatives in these islands
understand that the American Government stands behind the American
citizens who reside there, and guards their welfare and their just
claims with all its wealth and strength, justice will be done, and the
devoted men and women there who look to this country with all confidence
for protection will be assured that they have not looked in vain.
It seems to me important that you should have before you, in connection
with what has been said above, a copy of the material parts of the
letter from Mr. Doane, just received, which accordingly I inclose.
Assured that this representation will receive your prompt and efficient
consideration, and assuring you of my highest personal esteem,
I am, etc.,
Judson Smith,
Foreign Secretary American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions.
[Page 427]
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Doane to Mr.
Smith.
Dear Brother: It is but a few days since I
wrote you. Since then certain matters with the Spanish have come up
which I think I need to record for your reading. Just now the governor
has begun to meddle with the lands. I am surprised he has seen fit to do
so; perhaps there was a necessity for it, as his time of office holding
is soon to cease, and may call for it. He resigns, staying here only two
years instead of three.
- I.
- The point just now is the old Mejiniong and Kenan lands. As with
Señor Possadillio (the first governor) he calls the high chief Lepen
Not into his office; puts the question to him, “Did you pass to Mr.
Doane the land known as Mejiniong? “He replies, “No.” Sad that there
is that man’s name, Lepen Not, signed to the paper. As with
Possadillio he has gone hack on his own word, given and written by
me, nearly ten years since. This man is a high chief; a church
member; has all along professed to be a warm friend of mine, but
here he is going right back on his word, and for sympathy he takes
another man, Kro Rue, with him, and both falsify their word, and
that places me as a maker of false deeds. This, of course, will
bring on me the ire of the governor, as it did that of Possadillio,
and there is talk of my being sent to Manila again. I may say here
this high chief is aided in his dark work by an Englishman of the
lowest type, telling the chief by denying my title he will be taken
into the favor of the governor, and no doubt receive some sum of
money the governor will pay for the land.
- II.
- I have stated the outline of the dark work respecting Mejiniong,
given to the mission in 1880. I need here to say a word as to Kenan,
a small piece of land, some 20 acres, given by another chief to the
mission in 1870. To this paper there are, I think, four names
signed; two of the witnesses are dead, myself and the deacon of the
church are the only ones left. It would seem as to this small piece
of land there could possibly be no mistake; but the governor puts
the same question to Lepen Not, “Did you give Mr. Doane, Kenan.” He
replies, “No, all the land he owns was where formerly his house
stood.” This is true; Lepen did not give the Kenan land; that was
done, as I have said, in 1870, long before Lepen Not secured his
high title. It was given by another King, since dead, the transfer
made by one Jouen Metip, a deacon in my church. He acted for the
said King. The lines to this land we both ran. But the Spanish
governor, not seeming to have taken in this fact, acts on Lepen
Not’s assertion that he gave no land. And that piece of land, which
the board has possessed for nearly twenty years, on which it has
spent nearly $20,000 for missionary work, dwellings, schools, etc.,
is all taken from under us. We have no land at all in that region.
Is this justice? It is difficult to feel other than that the Spanish
are not what they should be. The effort seems to be to dispossess us
of our lands, and then the workday totter to its fall. Now let me
say here, thus tar I have taken no part in the matter, nor do I mean
to do so. The whole thing is so one-sided, so wanting in true
justice, I can do nothing. We make the whole matter a subject of
prayer. And we will “stand still and see the salvation of God.” We
have put the whole matter into His hands. There I will rest. I have
narrated these facts that you may see on what tempestuous seas we
are again sailing. If the board can do anything with the home
government, action needs to be taken at once. * * *
We are kept walking amid hot fires. May we ever walk in the Lord’s
fear.
Affectionately,
