Mr. Taylor to Mr. Gresham.
Madrid, December 30, 1893. (Received January 11, 1894.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that in response to my note of the 25th instant (a copy of which I inclosed in my No. 91) the minister of state fixed yesterday as the time for the long-promised interview concerning the Mora claim. I met him at the time appointed in the ministry of state and after he had indulged at some length in a general conversation touching matters of interest to both countries, I reminded him that I had come especially to receive his response to your unanswered note No. 16) of July 14. He then began by suggesting further delay by reason of his absorption in matters incident to the conclusion of the war at Melilla, as well as to the European treaties soon to be submitted by him to the Cortes. After I had firmly, yet politely, resisted the plea for further delay, Sr. Moret began the discussion by going over the whole matter in a general way, insisting as he advanced that the responsibility had really been shifted from his shoulders to those of the minister of ultrainar, whose duty it was to see to it that the $1,500,000 admitted to be due by the council should be provided for in the Cuban budget, upon which it must become a charge. He then proceeded to review what had been done in the Cortes, saying that the settlement which he had proposed in his letter of November 29, 1886, was of course contingent upon parliamentary action, which he had not been able to control. He then passed to the subject of Spain’s counterclaims against the United States, suggesting that the Cortes could hardly be induced to sanction any measure which did not embrace some concurrent provision for their adjustment and settlement. When he had concluded, I began by reminding him that he was the only organ of communication between the two governments, and that I could look to him alone.
I then went on to say that every objection which he had urged as #n obstacle to the prompt payment of the Mora claim had been deliberately [Page 430] considered and answered in your note of the 14th of July, which I held in my hand as my only rule of action. From that note, I told him, that it was manifest that after much negotiation and long deliberation, my Government had reached four definite conclusions in reference to the matter at issue which I believed to be irrevocable. These conclusions I restated as follows:
- (1)
- That when the proposition of settlement contained in his note of November 29, 1886, was accepted by my Government, an international convention was completed which precludes the discussion of all questions except that of payment.
- (2)
- That the unconditional promise to pay carried with it the obligation to pay in a reasonable time, which had long ago expired, seven years having now elapsed since such unconditional promise had been made.
- (3)
- That my Government will not consent “that payment shall depend upon the willingness of the Cortes to make the appropriation.”
- (4)
- That it will not consent “that payment shall await the final adjustment of claims asserted by Spain against us.”
I told him that I was careful to thus repeat to him these four conclusions because I believed that his refusal to accept any one of them would be regarded by you as a bar to an amicable settlement of the matter. I insisted that the time had come when a practical result must be reached; that if I should be compelled to report to you that our interview had borne no such fruit, that you would be compelled to regard such a report as a refusal from him to make any answer at all. I then said that nothing would then remain to my Government but the introduction in Congress of a hostile resolution directing the President to take such action as would place the two nations in a very painful attitude toward each other. He at once replied that he perfectly understood that if my Government could obtain redress in no other way that nothing would remain but the last resort, a condition of things which he said should by all means be avoided. He then appealed to me in an earnest manner to suggest some way through which a practical result could be reached in the midst of the difficulties by which he was surrounded, special reference being made to His unwillingness of the minister of ultramar to cooperate with him in the matter.
At that point I reminded him of the suggestion made in his letter of May 12, 1888, (to Dr. Curry) to the effect that it is not necessary that the provision for paying the Mora claim should be embraced in the Cuban budget; that a separate bill for its payment may be introduced in the Cortes at any time. After much discussion he admitted that such a separate bill could be introduced, he suggesting at the same time that another bill might be introduced concurrently, providing for the consideration and settlement of all other claims and counterclaims now pending between the two countries. I finally won from him the promise that he would introduce in the approaching session of the Cortes two bills, (1) the one to embody an unconditional appropriation to pay the Mora claim out of the Cuban revenues, he insisting that it could be paid in no other manner; (2) the other to embody a separate and independent plan or scheme for the examination and settlement of all claims and counterclaims now pending between the two countries which might be ascertained to be valid. He said that if he should succeed, as he believed he would, in bringing the war at Mellila to a satisfactory conclusion, he would have the power to pass the proposed measures through the Chambers; that if he failed, the responsibility of a [Page 431] refusal to pay would then, rest where it belonged, upon the nation. I then asked him if I was authorized to report his promise to introduce the above described measures in the Cortes as his answer to your note of the 14th of July. He replied in the affirmative, suggesting at the same time that he would be glad for you to promptly submit to him, the draft of a plan or scheme for the examination and settlement of all other claims and counterclaims now pending between the two countries, with adequate provisions for the payment of such as might be ascertained to be valid. He desires to receive from you the draft of such a plan or scheme before his second bill is drawn, so that it may be incorporated into it, if it shall prove acceptable to him.
While it seems to me that what Señor Moret has now agreed to do is all that he has the constitutional power to do, I simply accepted what he said as a message to be transmitted to you for your consideration and action. I felt sure that the concession that the payment of the Mora claim should be regarded as an independent matter was an important one.
To prevent possible difficulties in the future as to the result of the interview, I have deemed it desirable to address to Señor Moret a note embodying my understanding of such result, a copy of which I have the honor to inclose herein. If any question shall be raised as to the correctness of my view of the matter, I shall promptly inform you.
I am etc.,