Mr. Strobel to Mr.
Bayard.
No. 345.]
Legation of the
United States,
Madrid, August 9, 1888.
(Received August 25.)
Sir: It seemed to Mr. Curry advisable to present to
the new minister of state a summary of the negotiations which had taken
place with Señor Moret in reference to the case of A. M. Mora, resulting in
the promise of the Spanish Government to pay the claims, and a note
containing such summary, a copy of which is inclosed, was addressed, to I
the Marquis de la Vega de Armijo on June 30 last.
I now have the honor to inclose copy and translation of the reply of the
minister of state. It seems clear from the terms of his note that the claim
on its merits is admitted to be res adjudicata. The
explanation of failing to pay is the same as is given in Señor Moret’s note
of May 12 last, which was sent to the Department in Mr. Curry’s 320 of May
14 last, and rests on the declaration that it would be impossible in I the
present state of public opinion on the subject to secure the necesary
appropriation from the Cortes without accompanying the proposition with an
arrangement for the final disposal of all claims pending between the two
Governments.
In view of the readiness expressed in the note to proceed to such an
arrangement, and of the references in the Department’s No. 305 of June 23 to
the failure of the Spanish Government to raise any specific objections to
the proposed agreement submitted by Mr. Curry to Señor
[Page 375]
Moret on December 15, 1887, it may not be
improper for the legation to attempt to extract from the minister of state
why, if the payment of the Mora case, despite the anxiety of the Government
to dispose of it, is blocked by the other claims, no reply has been made to
the propositions of the United States, and when the Spanish Government
intends to forsake its present meditative attitude towards that proposition
by either accepting it or by making counter proposals on its own side.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 345.]
Mr. Curry to the
Marquis de la Vega.
Legation of the Ukited States,
Madrid, June 30,
1888.
Excellency: I have the honor to invite the
attention of your excellency to the status of the claim of Antonio
Maximo Mora, which was originally presented to the Spanish Government on
the 2d of June, 1883, at the time when your excellency was in charge of
the ministry over which you so worthily preside.
It Is unnecessary for me to refer to the correspondence and to the
different stages of the negotiations which preceded the note of your
excellency’s distinguished ‘predecessor, Señor Moret, of the date of
June 30, 1888, which, after explaining the impossibility of returning
the property itself, stated that “deseando el Gobierno español dar una
prueba más de consideracion al Gobierno de los Estados Unidos y á V. E.
quetan dignamente lo representa, no vacile en proponer la entrega de una
cantidad en metalieo que represente una equitativa indemnizacion del
valor de aquellos bienes.” (As the Spanish Government desires to give
one proof more of its consideration for the Government of the United
States and for your excellency, who so worthily represents it, it has
not hesitated to propose the delivery of a sum of money which will
represent an equitable indemnity for the value of said property.)
A prompt response was made by this legation on the following day, July 1,
accepting the above proposition.
It is also needless to trace the different steps in the further
negotiations which had for their object a just estimate of the value of
the property, and which led to the note of Señor Moret of November 29,
1886, containing the following statements and propositions:
“El consejo de Ministros se ha ocupado detenidamente del asunto, y
animado del deseo de satisfacer los compromises anteriormente contraidos
y de coresponder á las reclamaciones del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos,
ha tornado las siguientes resoluciones que tengo el honor de participar
á V. E.:
- “1a. Fijar como cifra definitiva
del valor de los bienes embargados á los Sres. Mora que el
Gobierno decidió devolver en 1873 y 1876, la suma de 1,500,000
duros en la cual se comprende la indemnización de cuanto puedan
reclamar tanto por capital como por intereses y daños y
perjuicios.
- “2a. Pagar esta suma con cargo al
Presupuesto de Cuba para lo cual el Ministro de Ultramar
propondra a las Cortes en el projimo presupuesto de 1887–88 los
medios de satisfacerla.” The (Council of Ministers has been
occupied in detail with the matter, and, animated of the desire
of fulfilling the engagement formerly contracted and of
responding to the claims of the United States, has decided upon
the following terms of settlement, of which I have the honor of
informing your excellency.
- (1)
- To fix as a definite amount of the value of the embargoed property
of Messrs. Mora which the Government decided to return in 1873 and
1876 the sum of $1,500,000. In this sum is included all indemnity
that can be claimed for the principal as well as interest, damages,
and injury.
- (2)
- The sum to be paid by a charge upon the Cuban budget and the
minister of uitramar will propose to the Cortes the means of payment
in the next budget of 1887–1888.
On December 7, the legation replied to the above note, agreeing to accept
the sum offered in full discharge of the claim.
In view of the above correspondence the Government of the United States
naturally believed that the Mora case was definitely settled, and looked
forward with confidence to a provision for its payment in the Cuban
budget of 1887–1888.
The Cortes adjourned without having passed this budget. The report of the
committee, however, without referring particularly to this case, had a
qualifying reference to the American claims in general, which, whatever
application it might have to
[Page 376]
other claims, could not, in the face of the exchange of notes to which I
have referred, have any relation to the claim of Antonio Maximo Mora,
and exception was taken to affect that case in the note which I had the
honor to address to Señor Moret on December 15, 1887, transmitting a
project of agreement for the settlement of other outstanding claims
between the two Governments.
The theory that the payment of the Mora case was in some way connected
with or dependent upon the payment of other claims which first appeared
in the report of the above commission received further development in
the speech of Señor Moret during the debate on this question of the 23d
and 24th of February last. As soon as the official report was before me,
I again, on the 5th of March last, took the liberty of calling the
attention of Señor Moret to the fact that the correspondence between
this legation and the Government of Spain on this subject clearly showed
that the statement of his excellency in reference to reciprocity of
payment of claims could not apply, to the case of Mora. In another not
of April 24 I also expressed surprise and regret at the omission of any
provision for the payment of the claim from the, Cuban budget as
published in the Gaceta of the 19th of the same month.
In reply to the latter note, dated May 12, 1888, Señor Moret explained
that the failure to provide in the budget for the payment of the el aim
was caused by the unfavorable sentiment in the Chamber of Deputies,
which would have produced an unfavorable vote, but that the omission of
this provision had no signification because “el Gobierno puede en
cualquier momento presentar nn proyecto de Ley á las Cámaras y pedirlas
los medios al efecto necesarios.”
I have taken the liberty of making the above summary in order that your
excellency may observe how important, from an international point of
view, is the position occupied by this subject. By the distinct
proposition of the Spanish Government to pay $1,500,000 in full
discharge of the claim, and by the distinct acceptance of this
proposition on the part of the Government of the United States, the Mora
case was raised from the debatable and negotiable ground which it had
previously occupied to the height of an international compact binding
upon both Governments. For the early and final disposal of the question
the Government of the United States, therefore, relies with confidence
upon the justly celebrated promptness and punctiliousness with which the
Spanish Government fulfils its engagements, and awaits with interest any
information which your excellency will be good enough to transmit
through me as to the method and details of payment.
I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to reiterate to your excellency
the assurances of my highest consideration.
His Excellency the Marquis de la Vega de
Armijo.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
345—Translation.]
The Marquis de la
Vega to Mr. Strobel.
Ministry of
State,
Palace,
August 7, 1888.
My Dear Sir: I have received the note which the
minister of the United States at this court was good enough to address
to me on June 30th last, in which he gives a summary of the
correspondence which during the last two years has passed between the
legation under his worthy charge and this ministry, relative to the
claim of D. Antonio Maximo Mora, and declares the confidence felt by his
Government that the Government of Her Majesty will, at an early date,
adopt suitable measures for the payment of the sum to which the
indemnity in the case amounts.
It does not appear to me to be necessary for the moment to enter upon an
examination of the considerations set forth by your legation in the note
to which I now have the honor of replying, in reference to the
engagement contracted in the special case of Mr. Mora because the
cabinet of which I form a part, nourishes the purpose and the desire of
satisfying, as far as lies in its power, the Government which you
represent.
I may he allowed to add, however, that this desire and this purpose are
now as they were during the previous administration, subject to the
decision of the Cortes of the Kingdom, and the clear proof of this was
the inclusion in the colonial budget of 1887–1888 of the appropriation
necessary for the payment of the above claim, which explicitly showed
that the proposition had to be definitely submitted to the examination
and approbation of the legislative bodies. This necessity was also made
clear by Señor Moret whenever he handled this subject in the discussions
which arose in egard to it in the congress of deputies.
[Page 377]
My worthy predecessor, in his note of 12th of May last, explained the
potent reasons which had influenced the mind of Her Majesty’s Government
in not reproducing in the Cuban budget of this year the provision
inserted in the same the year before respecting the indemnities of
American subjects. Señor Moret feared—in my judgment with a
superabundance of reason—that in view of the discussion in the Congress
during the months of December and January, and of the state of public
opinion in reference to the subject now occupying us, the Cortes would
not sanction what had been done by the Government, unless the request
for the appropriation necessary to pay the sum to Mr. Mora should be
accompanied by an agreement between the two Governments in reference to
the whole amount of American claims, and should include the decision and
settlement of these in such terms that both the claims of the United
States against Spain, which have been the object of the last
negotiations, and the claims presented by Spain against the Government
of the United States, which are being negotiated in Washington, shall be
definitely disposed of.
In view of the above facts, Her Majesty’s Government hopes that the
Government of the United States will facilitate the execution of what
was agreed upon in the case of Mora, which, without the general
settlement to which I have referred, might be rendered impossible or
indefinitely postponed, in opposition to the desires of the Madrid
cabinet. The bases of such a settlement were stated in the note which,
with the due authorization of his Government, Mr. Curry addressed to my
predecessor on December 15th of last year.
These bases, an examination of which is being made by the ministry under
my charge, can serve as a starting point for said settlement, always
providing that the Mora claim be included—although not discussed—and in
this way be placed on the same footing as the others and be deprived of
the character of priority in payment, which is the principal, difficulty
in the way of its approbation by the Cortes of the Kingdom.
You, with your good judgment will not fail to understand the
impossibility of contending with success against the opinion of
Parliament and the country, when both see that while Spain has duly paid
all the claims presented by the United States, the day never comes when
the claims which have for so many years been presented in their turn by
Her Majesty’s Government are attended to and paid. Hence there results
an inequality which has no place in the rectitude and impartiality of
the men who succeed each other in the Government of the Union.
The Cortes of the Kingdom, I am convinced, will not fail to vote the
necessary appropriation for the payment of the Mora claim, if they
understand that this payment coincides with the payment of the Spanish,
claims to be effected by the American Government. Hence the necessity of
proceeding during the parliamentary recess to an immediate general and
definite settlement of all pending claims, to the advantage not only of
the claimants of the two nations, but to the increase of the friendly
relations the maintenance of which is such a source of gratification to
the Government of Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain.
I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurances of my
distinguished consideration.
El Marques de la Vega de
Armijo.
To the Chargé d’Affaires of the United
States.
