Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 5, 1898

Mr. Hay to Mr. Thiebaut.

October 29, 1898.

No. 127.]

Sir: I had the honor duly to receive the note which you addressed to me on the 4th instant, in which, at the request of the minister of state of Spain, you lay before me certain observations of the Spanish Government made in reply to this Department’s notes to Mr. Cambon of the 5th, 8th, and 16th ultimo.

Among these observations are included several subjects which are now under discussion by the peace commission at Paris, and for that reason the Government of the United States does not think it convenient to discuss them here.

I deem it proper, however, to say:

1. That the Government of the United States is not able to accept the interpretation placed by the Government of Spain upon the respective effects in law and in fact of the protocol of August 12 and the capitulation of August 14 upon the military situation at Manila.

2. That the President has given orders to the American authorities in the Philippines to use their good offices, wherever possible, to prevent any excesses of the insurgents or any cruel treatment of prisoners or Spanish subjects.

3. That the American men-of-war to which your note referred as having been ordered to Manila are actually under orders to visit the coast of Brazil and afterwards to proceed to the Hawaiian Islands.

Accept, sir, etc.,

John Hay.

[Translation.]

French Embassy,
Washington, October 11, 1898.

The minister of state at Madrid has been informed that the American commission of evacuation in Cuba has particularly insisted, with the Spanish commission, on the three following points:

1. By the terms of the protocol of August 12 the renunciation of Spain’s sovereignty over Cuba is a condition precedent to the negotiation and conclusion of a treaty of peace.

2. In accordance with the same act the evacuation must be irremediable (absolute), which implies the entire abandonment of the country by all Spanish authorities, both civil and military.

3. The evacuation must be completely effected by December 1 next, at the latest.

The Government of Her Majesty the Queen Regent is of the opinion that Articles I and IV of the protocol are inseparably connected with Article V, and that, consequently, the evacuation before the signature of the treaty of peace can not involve the legal significance of the renunciation of the sovereignty. That legal significance will not be acquired until the treaty of peace shall been approved “in accordance with the constitutional forms of the two countries.” It was for this reason that the future tense was employed in the protocol in stipulating, on the one hand, the renunciation by Spain of the sovereignty of Cuba, and, on the other hand, the cessions of territory made by her as a war indemnity. The evacuation provided by Article IV of the protocol can not, therefore, be confounded with the transfer of the sovereignty, which can only become legal after the exchange of the ratification of the treaty of peace. Hence it follows that it is evident that the substitution of American troops in Cuba does not put an end to the sovereign power of Spain, and that all the Spanish authorities shall continue to act after the evacuation so long as there shall not exist, by virtue of the ratification of the treaty of peace, another sovereign power.

Upon the hypothesis that her renunciation of the sovereignty is irremediable (absolute) and simultaneous with the evacuation, it is the duty of Spain, under penalty of incurring grave responsibilities, to know who will succeed her in that sovereignty, and what guaranties such successor will offer for the security of Spanish interests in Cuba.

Her Majesty’s Government, far from placing difficulties in the way of the evacuation, desires that it be effected as speedily as possible, and is seeking the material means of effecting it; but it has not at its disposal the enormous fleet which would be required to complete it within so short a period. Spain, while promising to hasten, by all possible means, the return of her troops to their own country, hopes that the United States will grant her a reasonable extension of time.

The Royal Government would be gratified if the Federal Government would have the goodness to reply promptly to the present note.

Memorandum.

The Government of the United States is not able to accept the conclusions of the Royal Government of Spain in regard to the relinquishment of sovereignty by Spain in the island of Cuba under the terms of the protocol of August 12, but, as this question is one of those under discussion by the peace commission now in session at Paris, it is not considered expedient to enter upon any such discussion here at this moment.

The subject of the limit of time to be allowed for the evacuation of Cuba has received the careful consideration of the President, and, in view of the material difficulties in the way of completing the repatriation of the Spanish troops by the 1st of December, he has extended the period to the 1st of January, 1899, and has informed the commission of evacuation of this conclusion.