Mr. Hay to the Duke de Arcos.
Washington, December 28, 1899.
Sir: I duly referred for consideration by my colleague the Secreretary of War your note of December 13, instant, in which you reverted to the question of the extension of time for the registration of Spanish subjects in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands under the provisions of the ninth article of the treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, and modified your position so as to ask, not an extension of time, but for a full year from the time when the arrangements for registration should be made in the respective ceded and relinquished territories, which you take to be the intendment of the treaty. I am now in receipt of the reply of the Secretary of War, the substance of which I have the honor to communicate to you herewith as the views of my Government in the matter.
So far as Cuba and Porto Rico are concerned, there seems to be no substantial allegation of deprivation of right by any peninsular Spanish subject within the purview of the treaty stipulation, or of want of full opportunity to register; neither is there any suggestion that the courts of record of both those islands have not always been open, or that any Spaniard has sought to register his citizenship and been unable to find opportunity, or that any request for any further facility has been refused or ignored.
The treaty of Paris does not impose a specific duty upon the Government of the United States or upon the administration of either of the islands, in the way of imposing a special machinery or designating particular courts of record for the making of the prescribed declarations of Spanish citizenship. Its language is: “In case they remain in the territory they may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making before a court of record within a year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance.” This provision created a privilege in favor of such peninsular Spanish residents as might desire to establish an exceptional status for themselves while continuing to reside in the islands, any court of record being open to them for that purpose.
The furnishing of special machinery, and the designation of particular courts of record for the making of declarations of Spanish citizenship has, however, been done by the United States authorities, ex gratia, in order to facilitate the resident Spaniards in the exercise of their treaty right, and it has been done in both Cuba and Porto Rico at such time and in such manner as to afford the fullest opportunity therefor. There is not now, nor has there been since last July, the least difficulty in the way of every Spaniard in Cuba going at his leisure and convenience, to one of the offices designated, and making his declaration. Indeed, considering the comparatively small proportion which the natives of the Peninsula residing in that island bear to the total native insular population, the throwing open of the alcaldias of every town and hamlet for the purposes of the permitted declaration, instead of limiting the registration to courts of record, may be deemed a particularly considerate favor. It avoids even a short journey by a declarant to the nearest court town, and furnishes him with the desired facility almost at his door. In the much more compact and evenly settled island of Porto Rico the municipal courts [Page 720] have been in like manner designated and open since September last. When the process has thus been made so simple and convenient for the persons interested, there seems to be no occasion whatever for giving more time in Cuba and Porto Rico to do a thing for the doing of which there is already abundant time. It may rationally be assumed that the real purpose of allowing a full year for the doing of an act which in itself requires but a few minutes, or, at most, a few hours, is not that a year is required to do the act, but that a year is allowed within which to acquire information and to consider and determine whether the act shall be done or not. For this purpose a full year will have been enjoyed in Cuba and Porto Rico on the 11th of April next—that is, counting from the date of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace.
As regards the Philippine Islands, however, the Secretary of War thinks that there is in that quarter a different state of affairs, which may properly be taken into account, and that it would be but just and fair to extend the period allowed by the treaty, unless it shall prove that before the 11th of April, 1900, all the peninsular Spaniards, residents in those islands, have, in fact, had a full opportunity to make the optional declaration for which the treaty allows. In this opinion I cordially concur.
I shall, therefore, under the President’s direction, be pleased to confer with you at your convenience, with a view to agreeing upon and signing a supplementary convention or protocol extending, within the Philippine Islands, for six months from April 11, 1900, the opportunity for registration provided by article 9 of the treaty of peace. It will be necessary to give the agreement a form no less authoritative and binding than the treaty which it amends in so important a particular.
Accept, etc.,