[Inclosure 1 in No.
282.]
Mr. Taylor to Mr.
Groizard.
Legation of the United States of America,
Madrid, December 28, 1894.
Excellency: It now becomes my duty to
impress upon you the fact that on the 22d of June last I delivered
to your predecessor, Señor Moret, an important communication from my
Government touching the payment of the already adjusted Mora claim.
Failing to receive a prompt reply from Señor Moret to the
communication referred to, I reminded him by note on the 20th day of
September that an answer was expected by my Government without
further delay, as the correspondence in the case had been called for
and submitted to the Senate at its last session. On the 1st of
October Senor Moret replied that no answer had been sent to the
communication of June 22 because before an answer could be given it
would be necessary to consult the whole council of ministers upon
the subject. He promised, however, that “as soon as the ministers
meet again in Madrid, and the president is present at the sessions,
I will consult with him on the subject.” Since then I have waited in
vain for the promised reply. As the note of June 22 has already
remained unanswered for more than six months, you will now
understand why I am now instructed to respectfully, yet firmly,
insist upon a reply without further delay.
I seize this occasion, etc.,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
282.—Translation.]
Mr. Groizard to
Mr. Taylor.
Ministry of
State,
Palace, December 31,
1894.
My Dear Sir: I have received your note of
the 28th instant, in which you remind me of the dispatch which, by
direction of your Government, you delivered to my predecessor on the
22d of June last relative to the payment of the sum agreed upon as
indemnity to Don Antonio Maximo Mora.
Surely your excellency, whose impartiality is well known, will not
fail to appreciate the regret experienced by Señor Moret, when, on
account of the circumstances, he found himself unable to fulfill, as
he earnestly desired, the offer made to your excellency in the note
of the 29th of September.
For my part, as soon as the urgent duties of the department under my
charge have allowed me, leaving aside arguments already discussed
and commencing from the actual state of the question, I have made,
inspired by the friendly spirit which animates the Government of His
Majesty in its relations with that of the United States, a profound
and careful study, even in its smallest details, of all that relates
to the Mora claim; and I am bound to declare, with the sincerity and
frankness of my character, that the opinion which I have formed in
the matter agrees with that which my predecessors in the department
which I have the honor to represent have been maintaining, because
this claim is based upon principles which the United States, such
faithful and zealous observers of their Constitution, can not
ignore.
This opinion is, in short, that the payment of the indemnity in
question depends not at present upon any resolution of the executive
power. To accord such payment is only within the attributes of the
Cortes, which has shown very clearly the difficulties found in
voting it. (I believe, however, as my predecessors did also, that
when the occasion arrives the Cortes will be disposed to vote the
necessary credit for the Mora indemnity, provided such vote
coincides with the decision of the United States to settle the
pending Spanish claims.) To try now to ask from the Spanish
Parliament the necessary credit would be to run the risk of
repeating what happened on the presentation of the Cuban budget for
1887–88 by the minister of ultramar to the Congress of Deputies, and
also would perhaps, to the evident regret of the Spanish Government,
make more difficult, when the proper time comes, a satisfactory
solution so interesting to both countries.
To this laudable end will contribute in no small part the execution
of the convention, whose draft your excellency presented, and whose
bases are being made the subject of a most careful study in this
department in my charge. But as this question affects directly the
ministry of ultramar, the opinion formed of that convention by the
ministry of state will have to be submitted to its judgment in the
first place.
Notwithstanding, I may now make in anticipation to your excellency
the statement that, in conformity with one of the clauses of the
convention, the Mora claim will be excluded from the decision of the
commission, it being a fact that the voting of its payment belongs
to-day to the Cortes of the Kingdom.
For the rest, your excellency may be firmly persuaded, and may so
assure your Government, that that of His Majesty, animated by the
[Page 1162]
best wishes and as
another proof of its sympathy for the United States, will use every
means in its power in order that this matter may receive a
satisfactory termination.
I seize this opportunity, etc.,
