Mr. Moore to Mr. Hay.
Unless otherwise instructed the American Commissioners propose to present to the Spanish Commissioners, perhaps at the joint meeting to-morrow, the following proposition as embodying final position of our Government in the present negotiations:
“The proposal presented by the American Commissioners in behalf of their Government for the cession of the Philippine islands to the United States having been rejected by the Spanish Commissioners, and the counter proposal of the latter for the withdrawal of the American forces from the islands and the payment of an indemnity by the United States to Spain having been rejected by the American Commissioners, the American Commissioners, deeming it essential that the present negotiations, which have already been greatly protracted, should be brought to an early and definite conclusion, beg now to present a new proposition embodying the concessions which, for the sake of peace, their Government is under the circumstances willing to tender.
“The Government of the United States is unable to modify the proposal heretofore made for the cession of the entire archipelago of the Philippine Islands; but the American Commissioners are authorized to offer to Spain, in case the cession should be agreed to, the sum of $20,000,000, to be paid in accordance with the terms to be fixed in the treaty of peace; and, it being the policy of the United States to maintain in the Philippine Islands an open door to the commerce of the world, the American Commissioners are prepared to insert in the treaty now in contemplation a stipulation to the effect that for a term of years Spanish ships and merchandise shall be admitted into the ports of the Philippine Islands on the same terms as American ships and merchandise. The American Commissioners are also authorized and prepared to insert in the treaty, in connection with the cessions of [territory] by Spain to the United States, a provision for the mutual relinquishment of all claims for indemnity, national and individual, of every kind, of the United States against Spain and of Spain against the United States, that may have arisen since the beginning of the late insurrection in Cuba and prior to the conclusion of the treaty of peace.
“Upon the acceptance by the Spanish Commissioners of the proposals herein made as to the Philippine Islands, in connection with the demands as to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other Spanish islands in the West Indies, and Guam, heretofore provisionally agreed to, but not otherwise, it will be possible for the Joint Commission to proceed to the consideration and adjustment of other matters, including those which, as subsidiary and incidental to the principal provisions, should form a part of the treaty of peace. In particular, the American Commissioners desire to treat of religious freedom in the Caroline Islands as agreed to in 1886, of the release of prisoners now held [by] Spain for political offenses in connection with the insurrection of Cuba and Philippine Islands, the acquisition of the island of Kusaie or Ualan1 in the Carolines for a naval and telegraph station, and of cable-landing [Page 951] rights at other places in Spanish jurisdiction, and the revival (of) certain treaties heretofore in force between the United States and Spain.”
- Kusaie and Ualan are different names for the same island.↩