Mr. Williams to Mr. Uhl.
Habana, March 23, 1895.
Sir: With reference to previous correspondence on the subject, I have the honor to inclose copy of the official note of the secretary of the general government of the island, dated the 16th instant, received on the 18th, informing me that in accordance with my solicitation of the 26th ultimo his excellency the Governor-General has ordered the transfer of Mr. Julio Sanguily from the court-martial to which he had been committed to the civil or ordinary jurisdiction for trial, with the strict observance in his favor of all the guarantees of the protocol of the 12th of January, 1877.
In submitting this correspondence to the Department I beg to make the following observations in explanation of my reasons for calling so early and so promptly on the Governor-General, which action appears to have given rise to the belief on his part that I was acting indiscreetly, and, perhaps, at an inopportune moment:
On going to the Governor-General at the early hour of 8 o’clock in the morning of the 25th ultimo, I was solely animated by a sense of public duty: to inform him as soon as possible of the facts relating to the American citizenship of Sanguily, thinking he might not be acquainted with them, and to ask for his transfer from the court-martial to the civil jurisdiction for trial, in accordance with the terms of the agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, since I had been assured that he had not been arrested with arms in hand in any attempt against the public security, but when quietly at his home in this city.
I also conceived it to be a part of my duty on this occasion to do all in my power to prevent the issuance of any misunderstanding out of this affair between the Governments of the United States and Spain from hasty action, either from inadvertence or inobservance on the part of the court-martial of the terms of that agreement. I thought that I had good reasons for this promptness of action, because when I remonstrated in 1893 in the case of Howard, who had been subjected to court-martial for trial on account of an incident sprung from a sailor’s spree, and asked for his transfer to the ordinary or civil jurisdiction, as the correspondence on file at the Department will show, the deputy prosecuting attorney, to whom my remonstrance had been referred for his opinion, denied the existence of that agreement, and assumed that I had committed a mistake; and he further assumed that the only agreement made between the United States and Spain during 1877 was the convention of the 5th of January of that year for the extradition of criminals fugitive from justice; and, besides, that my remonstrance against [Page 756] the trial of Howard by court-martial was tantamount to the pretension, on the part of this consulate-general, that American citizens had greater rights within Spanish territory than the law allowed to Spanish subjects in identical cases, and closed his opinion by remanding Howard back to the court-martial. The same correspondence will show, also, that at this stage of the proceedings I called on His Majesty’s prosecuting attorney (fiscal de S. M.), who I found was acquainted with the existence of the agreement; and ascertained from him that the error of his deputy had originated from the fact that the agreement had never been published by the Spanish Government. The latter then withdrew his opposition to my petition, and Howard was tried by the superior court, having had for his defense one of the best lawyers of the bar of Habana appointed by the same conrt, he not having had wherewith to pay the expenses of his defense. He was convicted, and is still serving out his sentence.
Soon afterwards Oglesby was arrested and the fact reported to the Department. The judge of the primary court committed the like error of turning him over to the military instead of to the ordinary jurisdiction for trial. But on my interference he was transferred to the civil court, tried, and was acquitted.
Then followed the case of Rosell, another American citizen, at Santiago de Cuba, who by like mistake was sent to the court-martial for trial. But on my representation to the then acting governor-general he was turned over to the civil court, tried, and acquitted.
Immediately following the arrest of Mayolin, also another American citizen, took place at Santa Clara. He was likewise subjected through error of the primary judge to court martial, and on presenting my petition to the Governor-General now in charge he asked me in rather a curt manner if it was the duty of this office to defend such men. I answered him very civilly that I had not come as the advocate of Mayolin, as that was a matter of his own appointment, under the agreement, his defense before the courts not being a consular function; and furthermore that I knew nothing of the charges against him, and that my petition was limited solely to the asking that he should be tried by an ordinary civil court instead of by a court-martial, in accordance with the agreement, since I was assured that he had not been captured with arms in hand in any attempt against the Government. The Governor-General then understood the object of my call, received my remonstrance, and soon after decreed the transfer of Mayolin to the civil court, by which he was in turn tried and acquitted, thus by his own decree justifying my action in the case.
Returning now to the case of Sanguily, the subject of my visit to the Governor-General on the morning of the 25th ultimo, I found that my conjecture proved correct, for he was surprised on learning the fact of the American citizenship of Sanguily having been recognized by the Governments of the United States and Spain. Neither did he understand or appreciate the motives of my visit to him.
On the morning of the 26th ultimo I called again on his excellency to present him my official communication of the same date. On this occasion, as on the previous one, he showed unmistakable signs of displeasure. But he received my communication, and his decree of the 16th instant, ordering the transfer of Sanguily from the court-martial to the civil court for trial, is a full justification of my action and conduct throughout this whole affair,
I am, etc.,
Consul-General.