I also have the honor to inclose herein a copy, with translation, of a
note received from the Spanish Government in reference to the
disposition made by it of the seven tobacco cases named therein. From
this you will see that four of the seven of these cases, including that
of Hernsheim Brothers, have already been decided favorably, and that in
the three remaining cases further proof may be offered in Cuba in order
to supply the deficiencies which now exist. I can therefore take no
further steps in the three cases still open until further proof is
taken.
I have concluded to send you the following telegram in cipher, which
explains itself:
[Inclosure in No.
716.—Translation.]
The Duke of Tetuan to
Mr. Taylor.
Ministry of
State,
Palace, June 23,
1897.
Excellency: ln accordance with what I had
the honor to state to you on several occasions, the Government of
His Majesty has carefully examined the expedientes received from the
Island of Cuba, formed on account of the claims made by several
American citizens relative to the decree on the exportation of
tobacco from Havana and Pinar del Rio published by General Weyler
under date of May 16, 1896.
Grave and well-grounded considerations of just defense of the
national interests suggested the publication of that order; but the
Government of His Majesty, always respecting the rights acquired,
showed itself disposed to exempt from the same those lots of tobacco
which should be sufficiently proved that had been bona fide acquired
or contracted for by foreigners prior to the publication of the
decree. So I informed that legation in official note as soon as,
after the Government of His Majesty had taken such decision, your
excellency presented the first observations upon the matter, under
date of May 21, 1896. Afterwards and in different notes I have had
the honor to make the same statement to you. From the beginning, and
as Your Excellency will remember, the case was foreseen that
difference of opinions might arise as to the manner of carrying out
the instructions already sent, the decisions being reserved to the
agreement of both Governments.
For the purpose of putting a definitive end to this matter the
Government of His Majesty, giving another proof of its special
desire to please, as far as possible, that of the United States,
requested the authorities of Cuba to send copies of the expedientes
there formed on account of the mentioned American claims regarding
the exportation of tobacco. As soon as said copies have been
received by the Government it has proceeded to their study and
decision with its habitual spirit of equity and justice.
Seven have been the American claimants whose expedientes have been
received by His Majesty’s Government and to which yogi excellency
has referred in different notes, viz: (1) Bruno Diaz, (2) Doroteo
Herrera, (3) Luis Wertheimer, (4) Federico Bauriedel, (5) Seidenberg
& Co., (6) Hernsheim Bros. & Co., and (7) Sartorius &
Co.
Of these seven cases the first three, as your excellency knows, have
been already decided by granting the permission to ship requested by
the claimants. For that reason the Government of His Majesty needs
not enter into the examination of their respective expedientes, and
will do so exclusively in regard to the four others.
These four offered to prove that they acquired or contracted for the
tobacco prior to the decree, but the only one who actually proves it
with the documents presented is the claimant Hernsheim Bros. &
Co., especially with those documents which your excellency was good
enough to transmit as inclosures to your notes of May 15 and 21 and
4th instant, especially the letters of the buyer Fidel Fernandez, a
Spaniard, which being dated prior to the decree, are truly
convincing and bear effective proving power.
In view of them the Government of His Majesty, in compliance with its
primitive decision contained in my note of the 25th of May last
year, has ordered the Cuban authorities to permit the shipment of
the 1,200 bales of tobacco the property of Messrs. Hernsheim Bros.
& Co., sending the instructions by cable in order to avoid
unnecessary delay.
[Page 495]
As the same circumstances do not concur in regard to the value of the
proofs alleged in the three remaining cases, the decision has been
necessarily different. Messrs. Bauriedel, Seidenberg, and Sartorius
do not prove, but limit themselves to offer, in one or other form
that they shall prove, their assertions that they acquired or
contracted for the tobacco prior to the decree. For this purpose and
in accordance with their offers it will be necessary to open an
investigation by means of the examination of the commercial books,
correspondence, memoranda, notes, confirmation of drafts,
depositions of the sellers, buyers, and selecters, and other means
which may be considered proper; the purpose of which investigation
will be to clear the facts and to purge them with a severity
excluding good faith, equity, and justice. This investigation shall
be made at Havana, because neither in the expedientes nor in the
documents sent by your excellency appear sufficient evidence to
appreciate duly the proofs offered and reasons alleged. According to
the result of the investigation the permission for shipment shall be
given or not, it being understood that before said shipment is
permitted it is necessary to demonstrate that the tobacco is the
same one which was acquired or contracted for prior to the
decree.
As regards the case of Messrs. Bauriedel & Co., the investigation
shall refer, not to the total quantity originally requested, but
only to the 5,000 bales of tobacco, these being the only ones they
offer to prove, in a petition of September 10, 1896, that were
acquired or contracted for prior to the decree.
Resuming, the Government of His Majesty, after making a careful study
of the respective expedientes and of the documents submitted by your
excellency, has decided—
- First. To authorize the immediate shipment of the 1,200
bales of tobacco requested by Messrs. Hernsheim Bros. &
Co., of New Orleans, issuing to this end the proper orders
by cable.
- Second. To order the Treasury authorities of the Island of
Cuba to make the proposed investigations or those which may
be considered necessary to prove whether Messrs. Bauriedel,
Seidenberg, and Sartorius acquired or contracted for, bona
fide, prior to the order, the respective amounts of 5,000,
600, and 750 bales of tobacco, which they desire to ship,
and if they are the same which they acquired or contracted
for prior to the decree. The matter of the permission to
ship shall be decided according to the result of the
proof.
As your excellency will see, the decision of the Government of His
Majesty is inspired both in the equity and justice promised, which
is the constant feature of its conduct, and in a desire to please as
far as it can that of the United States, thus answering to the
friendly sentiments uniting both countries.
Said decision is very specially based upon the last documents
presented by your excellency in official notes, some of them of a
very recent date, and upon the express text of the depositions
presented by the claimants. The Government of His Majesty has acted
with as much dispatch as circumstances permitted since the receipt
of your note of the 24th of March last, ordering the remission of
the expedientes from the Island of Cuba and keeping them in its
hands only the time indispensable for their examination. If the
exportation is only permitted in one case, it is because that is the
only one in which the assertion of the bona fide acquisition prior
to the order is confirmed: and this is due, not to the documents
presented by the claimant at Havana, but to those submitted by your
excellency in your notes, the last of which was of the 4th instant.
The Government of His Majesty [Page 496] could not be, therefore, more solicitous,
contrasting its rapid action with the scanty diligence employed by
the claimants.
The latter, instead of using the right of administrative appeal
granted by the Spanish law, and which would have enabled the central
Government to decide the matter much sooner, preferred to go
to-the-diplomatic channel, slower and less adequate, thus bringing
about delays and annoyances imputable only to the claimants, and for
which the Government of His Majesty can not answer at all, as I had
the honor to state to your excellency in my note of April 24 of the
present year.
Of that fault and of the delay with which the parties interested have
presented the documents of proof may have originated losses, in case
they have existed; and as of them His Majesty’s Government has not
been the cause, it can not admit the existence of any right to
indemnity, as that claimed without sufficient ground by Messrs.
Sartorius & Co. I must therefore so inform your excellency,
hoping that the Government of the United States will appreciate in
their full value the reasons exposed, which, being based upon strict
justice, will not fail to merit its approval and respect.
After the claims of American subjects in regard to the decree of May
16, 1896, have been definitively decided in the manner above set
forth, and the refusal to admit, any demand for indemnity which on
that account might be presented has been justified, it only rests
for me to state to your excellency my conviction that in view of the
time elapsed no new claims may be presented with foundation, since
it is more than a year that the exportation of tobacco from Havana
and Pinar del Rio has been prohibited, and therefore there has been
ample time for the presentation of complaints of those who should
consider their interests injured. The Government of His Majesty, for
this reason, has the pleasure of considering this matter as
definitively ended.
I avail myself, etc.,
The Duke of Tetuan.
