Mr. Curry to Mr. Bayard.
Madrid, July 9, 1886. (Received July 26.)
Sir: The Cuban embargoed-estate claims have been a source of much labor and annoyance. The particular claim of Antonio Maximo Mora has elicited memorials, testimony, arguments, instructions, dispatches, and notes sufficient to fill a large folio volume. On May 3, 1883, after the United States and Spanish Commission had closed their labors, instructions were issued to this legation to present the case of Mora anew and, in view of its intrinsic importance and the lapse of time since the original seizure of the property, to secure, if possible, an early consideration and payment. A strong note was presented on the 4th of July, 1883, but the records of this legation show no departure from the chronic habit of postponement and delay. The case and papers were probably “pigeon-holed” until “mañana” should arrive.
In No. 28 of January 22, 1886, fresh instructions were presented with injunctions to “press” the claim. The wish of the Department has been followed literally. Orally and in writing, arguments and energy have been put forth, as opportunity offered or could be made. The Spanish Government has felt reluctant to make itself pecuniarily responsible for the bad conduct of remote officials, and has looked with suspicion upon the claims for restoration of property, or indemnity, made by persons who, it is alleged, had become American citizens to shelter themselves under that ӕgis, and thus stimulate more effectively and with impunity the insurrectionary spirit that prevailed in the Island of Cuba. Impecuniosity has coerced or increased an unwillingness to assume liabilities with which the home Government had no immediate connection and no responsibility beyond what grows out of the general liability of principal for the acts of agent.
The policy of concentrating instead of diffusing effort, sustained by unflagging diligence, has borne early fruit. The letter of Minister Moret, of which a copy and a translation are inclosed, is a distinct and unequivocal agreement to pay what will represent an equitable indemnity for the value of the property of which Mr. Mora has been dispossessed. My reply to this satisfactory note is inclosed.
Soon I asked for the conference which the minister suggested in order to agree upon the amount of the indemnity. As the late treaty between Spain and Great Britain is under discussion in the Cortes, the minister of state, to expedite a settlement, appointed two sub-secretaries to act for him. On the 5th instant I repaired, in company with the secretary of legation, to the office of the minister. The sub-secretaries met us and we entered upon the conference. To their suggestion that formal and [Page 365] reliable proof was needed to sustain the specifications and that reference must be had to the consul-general, I replied that the claim had been pending for sixteen years, that the note of the secretary was full acknowledgment of Spain’s obligation and willingness to pay, and that the demand for other documents seemingly looked to a prolongation for another sixteen years. The secretaries protested against such a construction, stated that the note sent to me had been approved by Mr. Mores’s colleagues, and, that there might be an adjustment of the matter, asked me to mention a sum which would be accepted in liquidation of the claim. I mentioned $1,800,000. We were informed that the proposition would be submitted to the minister and an early reply was promised. As yet we have no sign of acceptance or rejection. The old Romans in Carpe diem confirmed a Christian duty. Spaniards seem not to have learned that the present ever is; the future never is.
I commit, during my needed vacation (for the experiences of the last few months have kept me in a strain of nervous inquietude and mental excitement) the further prosecution of this case, under the unequivocal promise made, to Mr. Strobel, with fullest confidence. It may become necessary, in order to leave no loop to hang a doubt upon, to apply to the Department for the original documents, or authenticated copies of them, on which instructions No. 3, May 3, 1883, were issued to this legation.
I have, etc.,