Mr. Dupuy de Lôme to Mr. Olney.
Washington, October 2, 1895.
Mr. Minister: I have had the honor to receive the note which you were pleased to address me on the 27th ultimo, concerning the expulsion from Sagua la Grande, Cuba, of the American citizens Joseph. A. Ansley, Aurelio Ansley, Maria Luis Ansley, and John A. Sowers.
I have communicated its contents to the minister of state and to the Governor-General of Cuba.
Although I have no official information of the facts which you communicate to me, I can assure your excellency, from some confidential though imperfect information which I have received, that there is evident exaggeration in the account given of them.
I am induced to believe this from the fact that I recently had occasion to mention to Hon. Alvey A. Adee, Acting Secretary of State, but without laying stress on the matter, that Gen. Martinez Campos had been compelled to call the attention of the United States consul-general at Havana to the conduct of the consul of this Republic at Sagua la Grande, who appears not to have exercised in his relations with the authorities that correctness and moderation which are so becoming to the representatives accredited, in whatever capacity it may be, to a friendly nation.
I have also some recollection of having heard that Gen. Martinez Campos had discussed confidentially with Mr. Wiliams the case of the four citizens above mentioned, and that the legitimate defensive measure of expelling them, adopted in their case, had been agreed upon as less vexatious, less annoying, and less severe than those which might have been applied to them if they had been subjected to a prosecution.
The order given them to present themselves to the consul-general, as the superior authority of their nation and their legitimate protector, must be referred to that fact alone, and not to the wish to share with [Page 1231] him a responsibility which, being based upon right, did not need to be shared.
I have no doubt that if the Spanish authorities had been informed that the persons mentioned had no money and could not procure any from their consuls, they would have received charitable assistance; but the position in which they found themselves does not appear to me very different, though certainly less painful to them, from that of the unfortunate Spaniards of whom I had occasion to speak to Mr. A. A. Adee not long ago, who, expelled from the United States for violation of the immigration laws, of which they were probably ignorant, were confined in the jail at Tampa and kept there several days, merely because the navigation company which had brought them over refused to carry them back, thereby disobeying the order of a judge who had directed it to be done.
The Acting Secretary of State told me in reply that the law gave the Secretary of the Treasury no authority to alleviate their situation, and I, holding that every citizen of a country who goes abroad must, first of all, obey the laws, accepted his reply.
I make these statements to your excellency in order to convince you that not only has there been no intention of causing the least annoyance to American citizens, but that nothing has been done deserving the energy of language and intention employed by your excellency in your said note of September 27.
The Governor-General of the Island of Cuba has pursued and has directed all his subordinates to pursue a policy of moderation and tolerance, which I doubt not has been justly appreciated by the United States Government, and he has done so under really difficult circumstances, as American citizens enjoy in Guba, by virtue of a convention, a privileged position with regard to the courts which have to try them, and because it is well known that many of them, natives or naturalized, violating the laws of the country in which they are living, those of the country in which they were born or whose flag they have chosen, and the eloquent commands of the President’s proclamation, lend open aid to the Cuban insurrection.
If I am mistaken in what I have had the honor to say, if the American citizens whom your excellency mentions have been annoyed and persecuted, His Majesty’s Government, which is resolved that the laws shall be respected, both by those who live in Spanish territory and by those who are bound to guard the laws and to have them executed, will punish all who have committed any wrong, and will make reparation for it if there has been any.
I avail, etc.,