Señor Polo de Bernabé to Mr. Sherman.
Washington, April 10, 1898.
The minister plenipotentiary of Spain has the honor to state to the honorable Secretary of State of the United States of America that Her Majesty the Queen Regent, acceding to the reiterated desires of His Holiness, and inspired by the sentiments of concord and peace which animate her, has given appropriate instructions to the general in chief of the army of Cuba, to the end that he shall concede an immediate suspension of hostilities for such time as he shall deem prudential, in order to prepare and facilitate people in that island.
General Blanco has to-day published the corresponding bando, and reserves to himself to determine in another bando the duration and other details of its execution, with the sole aim that so transcendental a measure shall lead within the shortest possible time to the desired pacification of the Great Antilla.
In deciding upon the duration thereof, the general in chief, inspired by the highest sentiments, far from raising difficulties or obstructions, is prepared to grant every possible facility.
The Government of Her Majesty, by this most important step, has set the crown to her extraordinary efforts to obtain the pacification of Cuba through the instrumentalities of reason and of right.
The autonomic constitution, which gives to the inhabitants of the island of Cuba a political system at least as liberal as that which exists in the Dominion of Canada, will within a short time enter upon the stage of complete development, when, after the elections have been held, the insular parliament will meet at Habana on the 4th of May next; and the franchise and liberties granted to the Cubans are such that no motive or pretext is left for claiming any fuller measure thereof.
[Page 748]Nevertheless as the island of Cuba is represented in the Cortes of the Kingdom, a privilege which is not enjoyed by any other foreign autonomic colony, the Cuban senators and deputies in the Cortes may there present their aspirations if they desire more.
No one knowing the liberal spirit of the majority in the recently elected Spanish Cortes and the patriotic attitude of the principal parties in opposition can doubt that the Cubans will obtain whatever changes they may justly desire, within the bounds of reason and of the national sovereignty, as is solemnly offered in the preamble of the royal decree of November 5, 1897, at which time the Government of Her Majesty declared that it would not withdraw or permit the withdrawal of any colonial liberties, guaranties, and privileges.
The abrogation of the decree of reconcentration and the assistance of every kind which the Government of Her Majesty has granted and permitted to be extended to the reconcentrados have at last terminated a lamentable condition of things, which was the unavoidable consequence of the sanguinary strife provoked by a small minority of the sons of Cuba, and who have been mainly led and sustained by foreign influences.
No impartial mind, having full knowledge of the facts, which have never on any occasion been perverted, as those relating to the Cuban question have been and are now perverted, can justly impute to Spain remissness in endeavoring to reach the means of pacification of the island nor illiberality in granting privileges, liberties, and franchises for the welfare and happiness of its inhabitants. The Government of Her Majesty doubts not that this will be recognized by the United States Government, even as it must recognize the manifest injustice with which a portion of the public opinion of this country claims to discover responsibilities on the part of Spain for the horrible catastrophe which took place on the calamitous night of the 15th of February last. Her Majesty the Queen Regent, her responsible government, the Governor-General of Cuba, the insular government, and all the higher authorities of Habana displayed from the first moment the profound sorrow and the sentiments of horror which that measureless misfortune caused to them, as well as the sympathy which on that melancholy occasion linked them to the American Government and people.
Proof of this is found in the visits of Her Majesty’s chargé d’affaires to the illustrious President of the United States, the visits made by the highest officers of the Spanish State to Mr. Woodford, the assistance unsparingly given to the victims, the funeral obsequies which were provided for them by the municipal council of Habana, and the notes addressed to the Department of State by this legation under date of February 16 and 17 and the 2d instant, bearing the respective numbers 12, 13, 14, and 23.
The officers and crews of Her Majesty’s war vessels lying near the Maine, heedless of the evident peril that menaced them, as is testified by the officers of that American ironclad, immediately lowered their boats, saving a large number of the wrecked ship’s men, who alone owe their lives to the instant and efficient aid of the Spanish sailors.
It is singular that these well-known facts and impressive declarations seem to have been forgotten by public opinion, which instead lends credence to the most absurd and offensive conjectures.
The Government of Her Majesty would very greatly esteem the [Page 749] sense of justice and the courtesy of the United States Government were an official statement to set the facts in their true light, for it would seem that they are ignored and the failure to appreciate them is potentially contributing to keep up an abnormal excitement in the minds of the people that imperils, causelessly and most irrationally, the friendly relations of the two countries.
As for the question of fact which springs from the diversity of views between the reports of the Spanish and American boards, the Government of Her Majesty, although not yet possessed of the official text of the two reports, has hastened to declare itself ready to submit to the judgment of impartial and disinterested experts, accepting in advance the decision of the arbitrators named by the two parties, which is obvious proof of the frankness and good faith which marks the course oi Spain on this as on all occasions.
The minister of Spain trusts that these statements, inspired by the earnest desire for peace and concord which animates the Government of Her Majesty, will be appreciated at their just worth by the Government of the United States.