Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 7, 1896, and the Annual Report of the Secretary of State
Mr. Rockhill to Mr. Taylor.
Washington, July 25, 1896.
Sir: Adverting to the Department’s No. 503 of May 11, 1896, and to your No. 536 of the 8th instant, I have now to inclose for your consideration and for such use as you may find them in substantiating the claim of Dr. José Manuel Delgado, a copy of a letter from his attorney, Mr. José Ignacio Rodriguez, dated the 20th instant, with its accompaniments, upon the subject, excepting Dr. Delgado’s power of attorney, constituting Mr. Rodriguez his legal representative in this matter.
I am, etc.,
Acting Secretary.
Mr. Rodriguez to Mr. Olney.
Sir: I have the honor to inclose the power of attorney which Dr. José Manuel Delgado has executed in my favor and by which I am accredited as his lawful agent and representative in the matter of his claims against the Government of Spain, and I respectfully beg you to cause said instrument to be kept on file at your Department.
I beg also to accompany, for such uses as you may deem proper, (1) the original order, and the translation thereof into English, issued by General Weyler, of Cuba, on March 14, 1896, directing all persons concerned to render Mr. Delgado’s father all the assistance which he might need for the transportation of his wounded son to Habana; (2) the permit to leave Cuba, issued on the 5th of June, 1896, in favor of Dr. Delgado, by the civil governor of the province of Habana, and (3) the original American passport which Dr. Delgado had in his pocket when taken into the presence of General Melguizo, which he showed to the [Page 619] latter, and upon the presentation of which he (General Melguizo) slapped three times the face of the prisoner and stated that if the American consul would have been present he would also cause him to be shot on the spot.
The importance of the two papers first named consists, in my opinion, in the fact that they are official evidence of the brutal injustice with which my client was treated by General Melguizo. If any charge could possibly have been made against Dr. Delgado or his father, Captain-General Weyler, instead of making efforts to undo with them what his subaltern had done, would at least have placed them under arrest. Permission to leave the island would not have been granted to Dr. Delgado had his record as a neutral not been above suspicion.
The importance of the passport merely consists in the fact that it is a silent witness of one of the greatest indignities ever perpetrated upon a citizen of the United States, for no other reason than because he was a citizen of the United States. Had General Melguizo killed Dr. Delgado, as he killed six peaceful tenants and employees of the plantation, one of them a boy who, upon his knees, begged in vain for his life, his action would have been wrong and brutal and deserving severe condemnation, but would have been divested of that peculiarly grave character which is imparted to it by the gratuitous, unnecessary insult perpetrated upon Dr. Delgado and to the country of which he is a citizen. Slapping on the face of even a criminal convicted of the most heinous crimes is an indignity which demands immediate punishment.
If Dr. Delgado in his statements and protest on file estimated at $200,000 the indemnification which the Spanish Government must pay him, he did so only because he was informed that some amount of money had necessarily to be stated. Two hundred thousand dollars is no money to compensate what Dr. Delgado has suffered, or to punish sufficiently the unnecessary and absolutely uncalled-for outrages of which Dr. Delgado was the victim. But if the amount stated would give Spain occasion—and this is the only thing she can do—to argue, and therefore to delay, I beg to state that I am fully authorized by Dr. Delgado to say to you, as I do, that independently of the fact that you, as the representative of the American Government having absolute control of this claim, have the power to exercise absolute discretion on the matter, a power which he and I cheerfully recognize, he wishes to leave to you entirely the determination of the question whether the said amount must be increased or decreased.
There are two principles to be saved in this case: (1) That American citizens can be tried, and even put to death upon a proper trial, but never be shot without trial; and (2) that American citizens can not be slapped in the face when they say to a Spanish general that they are citizens of the United States and neutral in the contests of Spain. If the decrease of the indemnification claimed by Dr. Delgado could in any way facilitate the prompt vindication of those two principles, Dr. Delgado is willing to be governed by what you may decide on the subject.
I am, etc.,
Power of attorney to José I. Rodriguez.
Be it known by these presents, that I, José Manuel Delgado, a citizen of the United States of America, of the State of New York, now a resident of Washington, D. C., do hereby name, constitute, and appoint José Ignacio Rodriguez, of the same city of Washington, D. C., my true and lawful attorney, for me and in my name, place, and [Page 620] stead, to prosecute and conduct until final termination, before the State Department of the United States of America, or before Congress, or before any mixed commission, tribunal, or court having competent jurisdiction therefor, the claims which I have presented against the Government of Spain, arising, one of them, out of the personal injuries and indignities inflicted upon mo by the Spanish military authorities of the island of Cuba; and the other out of the destruction of the property which I owned in the same island in association with my father, José Gregorio Delgado, as it appears from the papers on file in the State Department; and I do therefore give the said José Ignacio Rodriguez full power and authority to take all proper and lawful steps tending to secure the success of said claims, as efficiently and validly as I myself could or might do personally, if present, and the faculty to appoint a substitute or substitutes, when at his discretion such appointment may be useful or necessary, and to revoke said appointment whenever required. And I do hereby affirm and ratify all that the said José Ignacio Rodriguez or his substitute or substitutes may lawfully do in the two cases above referred to in the exercise of the present power of attorney.
Witness:
District of Columbia, City of Washington, to wit:
I, Benjamin Martin, jr., a notary public in and for the said District, do hereby certify that on the day of the date hereof, before me in my District aforesaid, personally came the above-mentioned José M. Delgado, the same being personally known to me to be the identical person named in and who executed the foregoing power of attorney, and acknowledged the same to be his free act and deed.
[seal.]
Notary Public, D. C.
Order of Captain-General Weyler.
E. M. G.:
Allow José Gregorio Delgado to bring his son from the Morales plantation. All assistance necessary for that purpose should be given him, whether in the railroad train, or in any other place, as his son is wounded.
Consulate-general of the United States of America, Havana, Island of Cuba.
certificate of nationality.
| Description. |
The consul-general of the United States of America in Havana does hereby certify that José Manuel Delgado, upon having shown in this consulate-general to be a naturalized American citizen, was inscribed as such in the books of this consulate-general, with the number and description herein given. Havana, May 25, 1896. [seal.] Ramon O. Williams, |
| No 2901 year 1877 | |
| Age, 56 years. Place of birth, Cuba. Condition, unmarried. Profession, physician. How is here, transiently. Place of residence, Prado 5. |
To his excellency the governor of the province of Havana.
Office of the governor of the province of Havana:
188. Allow him to go to the United States.
[seal.] [The name of the governor illegible.]
Passport of Mr. José M. Delgado.
United States of America, Department of State.
To all whom these presents shall come, greeting:
I, the undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States of America, hereby request all whom it may concern to permit José M. Delgado, a citizen of the United States, safely and freely to pass, and in case of need to give him all lawful aid and protection.
|
Description. Age, 26 years; stature, 5 ft. 8 in. Eng.; forehead, medium; eyes, brown; nose, medium; mouth, small; chin, medium; hair, dark brown; complexion, light; face, oval. |
Given under my hand and the Seal of the Department of State, at the city of Washington, the 14th day of July, in the year 1877, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and second. [seal] Wm. M. Evarts. |
| No. 452 | Signature of the bearer. José M. Delgado. No. 2506. |
Visto en este Consulado General de Espana, Bueno para la Habana.
Nueva York, 18 de Julio de 1877.
Por el Consul-General.
El Vice-Consul.