I take this to be a plain intimation that no further advance can be made in
the way of friendly negotiation until some common understanding is reached
as to the abstract question of constitutional law in which we have become
involved.
[Inclosure in No.
149.—Translation.]
Señor Moret to Mr.
Taylo.
Ministry of
State,
Palace,
March 27, 1894.
My Dear Sir: On my return to Madrid I find the
note of your excellency, under date of the 21st of this month, in which
you are so kind as to communicate to me an abstract of a telegram
recently received by you from Washington. The importance of the question
which your excellency lays before me, accentuated by the telegram
referred to, obliges me to reply immediately with the same purpose as
that which animates your excellency, namely, that all doubt or
uncertainty in regard to the obligations contracted by the Spanish
Government may disappear.
The loyalty with which the Government of His Majesty is proceeding in
these questions demands that the attitude to one another of the two
Governments should be clearly defined, so that any difficulties that may
subsequently arise in the course of the negotiations may not be
attributed to a want of clearness. It is, therefore, incumbent upon me,
once and for all, to make it quite clear that the Spanish Government has
not in the past, and can not in the future enter upon any obligation
which would imply the payment of moneys of any kind, without first
having obtained the consent of the Cortes.
This is not a matter which admits of discussion or one in anyway
dependent upon the will of particular governments. It is a logical
sequence of the Constitution, the foundation of the law of the country,
and this being known to the Government of the United States as well as
to all other governments which entertain relations with Spain, it will
be unnecessary to enter into further demonstration of our commentaries
on the subject. It would be furthermore quite useless to enter upon
further exposition of the question, because should any government or any
minister contract such an obligation, it would prove null and void of
itself, as having been assumed by one who possessed no such full
powers.
Such most certainly was not the case in former years, when the minister
of the colonies, and consequently through him the Government, was able
to decree by himself the payment of such sums as were to be charged
against the treasury of Cuba and of Puerto Rico. But since this
legislation was modified, as I had occasion to call your attention to in
my note of February 26, no payment can be made without the express
consent of the Chambers. For this reason, special attention was called
to the matter and on this account doubtless Mr. Curry signed, when the
negotiations in regard to the payment of the claim of Antonio Maximo
Mora was concluded. The recognition of which was pushed by the
Government of the United States with such perseverance, well assured
that without this condition the obligation assumed
[Page 446]
by the Minister of State could not be
realized by the only means at the disposition of the Government.
This point being unquestionable, it can not be disputed, as a natural
consequence, that Parliament is at perfect liberty to approve or
disapprove of the conduct of the Government. There is no want of
argument to prove this and the less in a discussion with the Government
of the Republic of the United States, ruled by a constitution the strict
interpretation of which regulates and directs the course of national
politics. Still it is not idle to repeat that the stipulation—most
formal and most solemn of those that are negotiated between the
governments, that is, treaties of commerce—can not be ratified without
the approval of Parliament, whose full power to accept or refuse them no
one as yet has ever placed in doubt.
It is very important to have this point completely cleared up, so that
all misunderstanding may disappear and the Government of the United
States see that just as it would be impossible for it to decree the
recognition of the Spanish claims without the concurrence of the Senate,
so it is that the Spanish ministers are not invested with the power to
pay the Mora indemnity or any other indemnity without an express vote of
the Cortes.
When on this point all ambiguity shall have disappeared, which I can not
understand, as the question is one of public law, the negotiation will
be proceeded with in the loyal and friendly manner in which your
excellency and I have arranged to conduct it.
I avail myself, etc.,
