Foreign Relations of the United States, 1894, Appendix I, Chinese-Japanese War, Enforcement of Regulation Respective to Fur Seals, Mosquito Territory, Affairs at Bluefields, Claim of Antonio Maximo Mora, Import Duties on Certain Products of Colombia, Haiti, and Venezuela, Affairs in the Samoan Islands

Mr. Gresham to Mr. Taylor.

No. 95.]

Department of State,
Washington, February 14, 1894.

Sir: Your dispatches, No. 94. of December 30, 1893, and 97 of January 4, 1894, together with your other dispatches and telegrams in relation to the Mora claim, have been received and have had careful consideration.

In your No. 94 you state that, in an interview with Señor Moret on the 29th ultimo, you presented the conclusions of this Government in regard to the matter 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.

This presentation of the conclusions of this Government is approved.

The position of this Government with reference to all other claims now pending between the two countries is stated in my No. 16, of July 14 last, as follows:

This Government is still willing to enter into an agreement for the settlement of all pending claims, but not with any understanding that payment of the Mora claim shall in any wise depend upon the consummation of said agreement or settlement.

To the position thus stated this Government still adheres.

I herewith inclose a draft of a convention which the President is willing to have executed on his behalf for submission to the Senate, whose consent, as the Spanish Government, of course, understands, is necessary. It contemplates a commission to which shall be referred all unsettled claims on the part of citizens of either country against the Government of the other which have arisen and have been diplomatically presented since the date of the last general claims convention between the two countries, to wit, that of February 17, 1834. This covers the case of claims based upon the failure or refusal of this Government to pay interest to Spanish subjects on account of the East Florida awards. Spain, of course, is not concerned in the failure or refusal of this Government to pay interest to its own citizens on such awards. It also covers the claims of Spanish subjects against this Government growing out of our civil war. It likewise includes all claims, except that of Mora, growing out of the embargo of the estates of American citizens in Cuba, which were not disposed of by the arbitrator and umpire appointed under the agreement concluded at Madrid, February 11–12, 1871, between the Spanish minister of state, Señor Cristino Martos, and the minister plenipotentiary of the United States, Gen. Daniel E. Sickles.

In respect to the last-mentioned claims, I desire to call your attention to the fact that most of them were very fully considered, during the year 1887, by Mr. Strobel, then American secretary of legation at Madrid, an Mr. Figuera, an official of the Spanish foreign office.

Of the claims examined by these gentlemen (10 in all) they concluded, and so reported, that 4 should be rejected and 6 should be paid by Spain, fixing the amount of the latter.

It is understood that the Spanish Government at the time the Strobel-Figuera agreement was made, was willing and desirous that it should be accepted by both governments. If that Government still so desires, this Government is willing as part of the proposed convention to accept and confirm that agreement. A draft is herewith sent of a clause, to be added to article I at the end thereof, which it is thought will accomplish that purpose.

I desire to suggest the very great importance that the proposed convention be signed as soon as possible, in order that it may be at once submitted to the Senate of the United States, whose consent thereto must be obtained after it is signed. In this connection it should be remembered that, as Señor Moret has stated, it is not necessary that provision for paying the Mora claim should be embraced in the Cuban budget.

There are certain expressions in Señor Moret’s note to you of January 1 which may be construed as an insistence on his part that payment of the Mora claim should be made conditional on the liquidation and payment of the Spanish claim is against the United States, and in the same note he intimates that you also understood the matter in the same way.

In your reply of January 4 to Señor Moret’s note of January 1, you distinctly repudiate the idea that payment of the Mora claim was to await proceedings under the convention; and referring to your conversation with him on the Friday previous, you say:

I therefore understood that while the making of the separate provision for the payment of the Mora claim and the signing of the convention for the settlement of all unadjudicated claims were to be concurrent acts, the payment of the Mora claim was in no event to await the proceedings under the convention.

It is possible that Señor Moret might, from this language, draw the inference that payment of the Mora claim should be postponed until the proposed convention is concluded on behalf of both governments. Should he have received any such impression you will be careful to remove it from his mind, by calling his attention to that portion of my No. 16, of July 14 last, which declares that while this Government is willing to enter into an agreement for the settlement of all pending claims, it is “not with any understanding that payment of the Mora claim shall depend upon the consummation of said agreement or settlement.”

While it must be distinctly understood, as so often heretofore declared, that payment of Mora’s claim can in no way be made dependent on the conclusion of the proposed convention, yet it is sincerely hoped that all embarrassment with the Cortes in regard to said payment may now be removed.

You are authorized to read this instruction to the minister for foreign affairs, and, should he request it, you may leave with him a copy.

I am, etc.

W. Q. Gresham.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 95.]

Draft of a proposed convention.

The United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, animated by a desire to settle and adjust amicably the claims hereinafter specified, pending between the two governments, have agreed to refer the same for examination and decision to a commission to be constituted as hereinafter provided, and to this end the governments of the respective countries have named as their plenipotentiaries as follows: The President of the United States, Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, who having communicated to each other their respective full powers found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:

Article I.

There shall he appointed a commission consisting of three members, one of whom shall be named by the President of the United States, one by Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, and the third by the President of the United States and Her Majesty the Queen Regent conjointly, and in case the third commissioner shall not have been so named within a period of three months from the date of exchange of ratifications of this convention, then the third commissioner shall be named. * * *

To said commission shall be referred all claims yet remaining unsettled, which, prior to the date of exchange of ratifications of this convention, shall have been diplomatically presented by either Government on behalf of its corporations, companies, or individual citizens or subjects, to the other Government, arising out of rights denied or wrongs committed since the 17th day of February, 1834, to the persons or property of citizens or subjects of the Government presenting the claim, not in the service of the enemies of the other Government or voluntarily giving them aid and comfort: Provided, That no claim shall be within the competence of the commission, which is based upon the refusal of the United States to pay interest (either eo nomine or by way of damages for loss of use of property or delay in payment) on claims known as East Florida claims, belonging to or derived from persons who were never Spanish subjects or who, subsequently to the occurrences out of which the East Florida claims arose, ceased to be Spanish subjects.

And provided further. That no claim against the United States based upon the emancipation or loss of slaves since the 13th day of April, 1861, shall be within the competence of the commission.

The claim of Antonio Maxima Mora against Spain, having been already settled, shall not be within the competence of the commission.

Article II.

In case of the death, absence, or incapacity of any commissioner, or in the event of any commissioner omitting or ceasing to act, the vacancy shall be filled in the manner hereinbefore provided for making the original appointments.

The commissioners named, as hereinbefore provided, shall meet in the city of Washington at the earliest convenient time within six months after the exchange of the ratifications of this convention, and shall then make and subscribe a solemn declaration that they will impartially and carefully examine and decide, to the best of their judgment and according to public law, justice, and equity, all claims within the description and true meaning of Article I, which shall be laid before them on the parts of the governments of the United States and Spain, respectively, such declaration to be entered upon the record of their proceedings, and the concurring judgment of any two commissioners shall be sufficient for an award or decision upon any claim laid before them, or upon any question to be decided preliminary thereto.

Article III.

The commissioners shall without delay, after the organization of the commission, give notice to the respective governments of the day of their organization and of their readiness to proceed to the transaction of business. They shall investigate and decide said claims in such order and manner as they may think proper, but upon such evidence or information only as shall be furnished by the respective governments. They shall be bound to receive and consider all written documents or statements which may be presented to them by the respective governments in support of or in answer to any of such claims or questions, and to hear, if required, one person on each side on behalf of each government as counsel or agent of such government on each and every claim or question, and each Government shall furnish at the request of the commissioners, or of any two of them, such papers as may be in its possession which may be relevant to the just determination of any of the claims or questions which may be laid before the commission.

Article IV.

All matters by this convention referred to the commissioners shall be presented to them within six months of the day of their first meeting, unless in any case reasons for delay shall be established to their satisfaction, and then, in such case, the period for presentation maybe extended by them not exceeding three months, and they shall be bound to examine and render an award or decision upon every claim within one year from the date of their first meeting.

Article V.

All sums of money which may be awarded by the said commissioners on account of any of the claims described in Article I of this treaty shall be paid by the one government to the other, as the case may be, at the capital of the government to receive such payment, within twelve months of the date of the final award, without interest, and without any deduction, save as specified in Article VI.

Article VI.

The commissioners shall keep an accurate record and correct minutes of all their proceedings, and the governments of the United States and Spain shall each appoint and employ a secretary versed in the language of both countries, and the commissioners may appoint any other necessary employés to assist them in the transaction of the business which may come before them.

Each government shall pay its own commissioner, secretary, agent, or counsel, an equivalent compensation, as near as may be, to that paid like officers on the other side. All other expenses, including the compensation of the third commissioner, shall be defrayed by the two governments in equal moieties.

The entire expenses of the commission including those necessarily incidental, shall be defrayed by a ratable deduction on the amount of the sums awarded by the commissioners or payable under their decision, provided always that such deduction shall not exceed the rate of 5 per centum on the sums so awarded or payable.

If the whole expenses shall exceed this rate, then such excess shall be defrayed jointly by the two governments in equal moieties.

Article VII.

The high contracting parties agree to consider the decisions and awards of the commissioners upon all claims and questions within the true meaning of Article I, as final and conclusive, and to give such decisions and awards full effect; and they further agree that all such claims not presented to the said commission shall, after the conclusion of its proceedings, be considered as finally barred.

Article VIII.

The present convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by the Government of Spain, and the ratification shall be exchanged at Washington at as early a day as may be possible, within twelve months from the date thereof.

In testimony whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention, in the English and Spanish languages, in duplicate, and hereunto affixed their respective seals.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 95.]

Draft of a proposed clause to same.

The claims against Spain of Frederick Martinez, of Francisco C. Izquierdo, of Manuel José de Rojas, of José Gregario Delgado, of Pablo Battle, of Manuel Felipe Lopez, of Nestor Ponce de Leon, of José R. Simoni, of Martin Castillo y Agramonte, and of Francesco M. de Acosta y Foster, shall also be deemed to have been settled and shall not be within the competence of the commission. The disposition made of the ten last-mentioned claims by Mr. Edward H. Strobel and Mr. Francisco R. Figuera as shown by the memorandum signed by them at Madrid on the 3d day of May, 1887, is hereby accepted and confirmed. That is to say, the Government of the United States agrees on its part that it will not further present or press for payment, diplomatically or otherwise, the claims against which Mr. Strobel and Mr. Figuera agreed that Spain had valid defenses; to wit, those of Nestor Ponce de Leon, of José R. Simone, of Martin Costello, Agramonte and of Francisco M. de Acosta y Foster against the Government of Spain; and the Government of Spain agrees on its part that it will pay to the United States the amounts determined by Mr. Strobel and Mr. Figuera to be due on the other claims against Spain considered by them as follows:

On account of the claim of Martinez	$7,056
On account of the claim of Izquierdo	2,310
On account of the claim of Rojas	156,677
On account of the claim of Delgado	117,155
On account of the claim of Battle	25,184
On account of the claim of Lonez	20,000
	328,392

The aggregate amount of the six last-mentioned claims, viz, $328,392, shall be paid by Spain to the United States at the city of Washington, within twelve months of the date of the final award and decision of the said commission without interest and without any deduction.