Message of His Excellency the Duke of Almodovar del Rio, minister of state of Spain, submitted by His Excellency Mr. J. Cambon, ambassador of the French Republic, to Honorable William R. Day, Secretary of State of the United States.
Mr. Secretary of State: The French ambassador at Washington, whose good offices have enabled the Spanish Government to address a message to the President of the United States, has forwarded by cable your excellency’s reply to this document.
In examining the arguments used as a preamble to the specification of the terms upon which peace may be restored between Spain and the United States, it behooves the Spanish Government to deduct from the order of events that the severance of diplomatic relations with the United States had no other purpose than to decline the acceptance of an ultimatum which Spain could only consider as an attempt against her rightful sovereignty over Cuba.
Spain did not declare war; she met it because it was the only means of defending her rights in the Greater Antilles. Thus did the Queen and the United States see fit to transform and enlarge the purely local question of Cuba.
From this fact your excellency draws the conclusion that the question at stake is no longer only the one which relates to the territory of Cuba, but also that the losses of American lives and fortunes incident to the war should in some manner be compensated.
As to the first condition, relating to the future of Cuba, the two Governments reach similar conclusions in regard to the natural inability of its people to establish an independent government. Be it by reason of inadequate development, as we believe, or on account of the present distracted and prostrate condition of the island, as your excellency states, the fact remains that Cuba needs guidance. The American people are willing to assume the responsibility of giving this guidance by substituting themselves to the Spanish nation, whose right to keep the island is indisputable; to this intimation we have nothing to oppose. The necessity of withdrawing from the territory of Cuba being imperative, the nation assuming Spain’s place must, as long as this territory shall not have fully reached the conditions required to take rank among other sovereign powers, provide for rules which will insure order and protect against all risks the Spanish residents, as well as the Cuban natives still loyal to the mother country.
In the name of the nation the Spanish Government hereby relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over or title to Cuba, and engages to the irremeable evacuation of the island, subject to the approval of the Cortes—a reserve which we likewise make with regard to the other proffered terms—just as these terms will have to be ultimately approved by the Senate of the United States.
The United States require, as an indemnity for or an equivalent to the sacrifices they have borne during this short war, the cession of Porto Rico and of the other islands now under the sovereignty of Spain in the West Indies, and also the cession of an island in the Ladrones, to be selected by the Federal Government.
This demand strips us of the very last memory of a glorious past, and expels us at once from the prosperous island of Porto Rico and [Page 823] from the Western Hemisphere, which became peopled and civilized through the proud deeds of our ancestors. It might, perhaps, have been possible to compensate by some other cession for the injuries sustained by the United States. However, the inflexibility of the demand obliges us to cede, and we shall cede, the island of Porto Rico and the other islands belonging to the Crown of Spain in the West Indies, together with one of the islands of the archipelago of the Ladrones, to be selected by the American Government.
The terms relating to the Philippines seem, to our understanding, to be quite indefinite. On the one hand, the ground on which the United States believe themselves entitled to occupy the bay, the harbor, and the city of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace, can not be that of conquest, since in spite of the blockade maintained on sea by the American fleet, in spite of the siege established on land by a native supported and provided for by the American admiral, Manila still holds its own, and the Spanish standard still waves over the city. On the other hand, the whole archipelago of the Philippines is in the power and under the sovereignty of Spain. Therefore the Government of Spain thinks that the temporary occupation of Manila should constitute a guaranty. It is stated that the treaty of peace shall determine the control, disposition, and government of the Philippines; but as the intentions of the Federal Government by regression remain veiled, therefore the Spanish Government must declare that, while accepting the third condition, they do not a priori renounce the sovereignty of Spain over the archipelago, leaving it to the negotiators to agree as to such reforms which the condition of these possessions and the level of culture of their natives may render desirable.
The Government of Her Majesty accepts the third condition, with the above-mentioned declarations.
Such are the statements and observations which the Spanish Government has the honor to submit in reply to your excellency’s communication. They accept the proffered terms, subject to the approval of the Cortes of the Kingdom, as required by their constitutional duties.
The agreement between the two Governments implies the irremeable suspension of hostilities and the designation of commissioners for the purpose of settling the details of the treaty of peace and of signing it, under the terms above indicate.
I avail myself of this occasion to offer to your excellency the assurances of my highest consideration.