Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1902

Mr. Squiers to Mr. Hay.

Legation of the United States,
Habana, November 21, 1902.

No. 298.]

Sir: For the information of the Department I have the honor to inclose herewith a translation of a report made to the constitutional convention by a committee appointed therefrom to report upon the relations which, in the judgment of the convention, should exist between Cuba and the United States.

This committee was composed of Messrs. Diego Tamayo, as president, now secretary of government; Juan Gualberto Gomez, now editor of La República Cubana and leader of the Independent Republicans; Gonzalo Quesada, now minister at Washington; Mr. Enrique Villuendas, now Representative; and Mr. Manuel R. Silva, as secretary, now a Senator.

The report is particularly interesting at the present time, as it shows the views of the committee, adopted by the convention, relative to what are now known as Articles III and VII of the appendix to the constitution, and also that in the text of said report as prepared by this committee no provision was made for final ratification of all the provisions by treaty.

I have the honor, etc.,

H. G. Squiers.

[Inclosure.—Translation.]

November 19, 1902.

Report on the relations which should exist between Cuba and the United States—Presented by the committee corresponding.

The committee appointed to draw up a draft of the relations which in the judgment of the constitutional convention should exist between Cuba and the United States, to the convention.

In conformity with the orders of the American Government, published in the gazettes of this island on July 26 and November 6, 1900, with the Nos. 301 and 455,^a containing the convocation of the constitutional convention and the address read by the military governor on its inauguration, said convention has various duties to perform: Draw up and adopt a constitution for Cuba; render opinion on the relations which, in its judgment, should exist between the Government of Cuba and the Government of the United States; provide for the election of the powers or functionaries the constitution may establish; and, lastly, provide for the transfer to these said functionaries or powers of the government of the island.

Happily ended now the work of drawing up and adopting the constitution, it remains for the constitutional assembly to devote itself, as charged in the said order No. 455, to expressing its opinion on the relations which ought to exist between the United States and Cuba.

The commission to which such an honorable duty was intrusted imagined the first time it met that its task would be as easy as it would be brief. The sentiment of gratitude toward the people of the United States for the powerful and decisive aid they rendered our people in their struggle to separate themselves from Spain, to the end that they might establish themselves in an independent and sovereign State, is so alive in all Cuban patriots that in order to express the opinion requested it seemed to all that we could simply declare we thought the United States and Cuba should eternally maintain ties of the most intimate and fraternal friendship, inasmuch as there is not a glimmer of the slightest opposition between their legitimate interests, nor possible the least disparity in their reasonable aspirations.

But hardly had the commission convened when the military governor of the island asked it for a private interview, in which he made known a communication from the Secretary of War of the United States, containing suggestions as to the points which the American Executive suggests and recommends as basis of the opinion it requests.

From that moment the commission had to proceed with greater care, since the matter had to be considered under a different aspect.

It results, in effect, that both by the text of the convocation of July 26 (order 301) and address of November 5 (order 455) the convention was to freely formulate the kind of relations which in its judgment it would be advisable should exist between the United States and Cuba.

However, after the communication referred to—of the Secretary of War—the contents of which have since been sent in a letter of the military governor of the 21st instant, there exists something new suggested by the American Executive, of which the commission can not fail to take notice. There is no reason to insist on the importance of this occurrence; no delegate can help but recognize it; but it is important to state that after mature examination and careful study of the matter the commission believes that from the outset, and as soon as the suggestions referred to are known, the constitutional assembly should proceed with the same liberty of judgment, with the same independence of opinion, as before they were known. Various circumstances support this belief of ours.

We are the delegates of the people of Cuba. On this account our primordial duty consists in interpreting the will and heeding the interests of our country; and more, it happens that the suggestions of the executive department of the United States Government only contain the stipulations of that which, in its judgment, “the people of Cuba should desire be established and agreed upon as the relations between Cuba and the United States.”

Thus it is that on communicating them to us, insinuating that we should adopt them, it is explicitly recognized that the desires of Cuba are the ones which are to prevail, since it is the endeavor to obtain that Cuba should desire in a certain way. Lastly, it is necessary to bear in mind that the stipulations suggested do not, absolutely, have a definitive or legal character, considering that the formal reservation is made that nothing of what is communicated to the commission “can in any manner be interpreted as binding the United States to a policy which should properly be fixed by Congress.” Even more is said, that “these stipulations, it may result, are not in conformity with the conclusions Congress may finally reach when this body considers the matter.” Thus it is, then, that they are simply presented “as the opinion of the executive department.”

Clear it is that this is already sufficient for us to give it “careful consideration,” much more so when they are recommended to us as “wise and prudent and for the best interests of both countries.” However, integral remains our authority to accept or not accept; to choose from among them what seems proper to us, and to add to, amend, or substitute them, in conformity with the dictates of our conscience, having always in view our duty to aid whatever may be a legitimate interest and a reasonable purpose of the people of the United States, and the supreme interest and sacred rights of our own.

As a consequence of these ideas, the commission, the suggestions of the Executive of the United States having been carefully considered, believes that the interests of both countries are preserved, as far as human foresight will reach, within the precepts of the constitution we have just adopted for the Republic of Cuba. It is drawn from the communication of the Secretary of War of the United States, in effect, that the departing point of all his suggestions is the following: “The United States must have the assurance that the island of Cuba is to forever be an independent country.”

The executive department of the Union believes it can feel this assurance if the convention will opine in favor of these five stipulations:

1. That no government organized under the constitution shall consider it has authority to enter into any treaty or contract with any foreign power that may lessen or oppose the independence of Cuba, or to grant to such foreign power any special right or privilege without the consent of the United States.

2. That no government organized under the constitution will have authority to assume to contract any public debt which will exceed the capacity of the usual revenues of the island to pay the interest after defraying the current expenses of the government.

3. That on the transfer of the control of Cuba to the government established under the new constitution, Cuba consents that the United States shall reserve and retain the right to intervene for the preservation of the independence of Cuba, and the maintenance of a stable government that will duly protect life, property, and individual liberty and fulfill, with respect to Cuba, the obligations imposed upon the United States by the treaty of Paris and now assumed and taken upon itself by the Government of Cuba.

4. That all the acts of the military government and all the rights thereby acquired will be valid and maintained and protected.

5. That to enable the United States to fulfill such duties as will fall upon her by the stipulations mentioned, and for her own defense, the United States may acquire title to, and preserve it, lands for naval stations, and maintain such naval stations in certain specified places.

The undersigned commission, taking the American Executive’s departing point that it is important that the independence of Cuba be absolutely guaranteed, considers that some of these stipulations are not acceptable, exactly because they impair the independence and sovereignty of Cuba. Our duty consists in making Cuba independent of every other nation, the great and noble American nation included, and, if we bind ourselves to ask the Governments of the United States for their consent to our international dealings, if we admit that they shall reserve and retain the right to intervene in our country to maintain or precipitate conditions and fulfill duties pertaining solely to Cuban governments, and, lastly, if we grant them the right to acquire and preserve titles to lands for naval stations and maintain these in determined places along our coast, it is clear that we could seem independent of the rest of the world although we were not in reality, but never would we be independent with reference to the United States.

In the constitution we adopted we have used special energy in founding our independence and sovereignty on solid bases. The organisms to which legislative and administrative functions correspond are taken from the very vitals of the people; therefore they have the qualification that gives greatest stability to governments, the consent of the governed. Furthermore, we have taken care to establish a reasonably wide range between these organisms, to the end that they may work in harmony and that contentions and even friction may be thereby avoided. It can even be asserted that with free play of the institutions created, this people’s suffering either of the two maladies, despotism and anarchy, which have alternately placed the life of other societies in danger, will be prevented. We have likewise taken all proper precautions to render the disorder or ruin of our treasure impossible, adopting motu propio the precept that none of the organisms authorized to contract loans, be such loans of municipal, provincial, or national character, can do so without voting at the same time the permanent tax or taxes to be applied to the payment of their interests and redemption, and without fulfilling other requirements equally foreseeing, as determined in articles 59, 93, and 103 of the constitution.

Finally, we have specially endeavored to avoid every contention with those foreign to us, making foreigners equal to natives in all that refers to protection of their persons and property, and with regard to the enjoyment of civil rights, individual guaranties, and protection of the Cuban laws and authorities. From this it is to be deduced that the undersigned commission could very well advise the constitutional assembly to answer the suggestions made by the American Executive simply as follows: “With the loyal observation by ourselves and all others of the precepts of our constitution, the aspiration you have, and for which we have been and are willing to zealously care that the independence of the island of Cuba may be made secure, is attained.” The commission, however, desirous of strengthening the confidence which the United States should feel with regard to our gratitude and the decisiveness with which we are resolved that the independence of our native land shall never run any risk through our fault, believes there is no objection to the convention opining that the constitutional power of the Republic of Cuba, if they deem it proper, may declare:

• First. The Government of the Republic of Cuba will make no treaty or convention with any foreign power or powers which compromises or limits the independence of Cuba or in any other manner permits or authorizes any foreign power or powers to obtain, by means of colonization or for military or naval purposes or in other manner, settlement in, authority, or right over, any portion of Cuba.
• Second. The Government of the Republic of Cuba will not permit that its territory serve as a basis of war operations against the United States nor against any other foreign nation.
• Third. The Government of the Republic of Cuba will accept the treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, in its integrality, the same in what affirms Cuba’s rights as with regard to the obligations it limitedly assigns her, and especially those obligations imposed by international law for the protection of lives and properties, substituting the United States in the obligation they acquired to that effect in conformity with articles 1 and 16 of said treaty of Paris.
• Fourth. The Government of the Republic of Cuba will recognize as legally valid the acts done for the good government of Cuba by the American military government in representation of the Government of the United States during the period of its occupation, likewise the rights proceeding therefrom, in conformity with the joint resolution and section 2 of the United States army bill for the fiscal year from 1899 to 1900, known as the Foraker amendment, or with the laws existing in this country.
• Fifth. The Governments of the United States and of the Republic of Cuba should regulate their commercial relations by means of a convention based on reciprocity, and which, with tendencies toward free trade in their natural and manufactured products, will mutually assure them ample and special advantages in the respective markets.

If the future Government of the Republic of Cuba believes acceptable the opinion we have just rendered, and which is set forth in the five preceding articles, we hold that with the same and the constitution adopted the United States will be able to consider that they should not entertain the slightest suspicion regarding our future. On preparing, as they assert, to cease in the exercise of the intervening authority, their generous work of liberty and pacification can be called ended by them with the entire conviction that no one is more interested and resolved than ourselves in maintaining the absolute independence of our native land, living in peace with all the world, orderly and pacifically governing ourselves, and being to the people of the United States a brotherly, deferent, and thankful people.

For all these reasons the commission recommends that the convention agree to communicate the opinion which has been asked of us to the Government of the United States in the following form:

The constitutional convention, in compliance with its duty to indicate what, in its judgment, might be the relations of the people of Cuba with that of the United States, and in its desire that they should be the most cordial, inalterable, and fruitful, to the end that common interests may be promoted and guaranteed, has carefully considered the suggestions transmitted to it through the military government.

From the context of those suggestions it results that the United States Government is infused with the preoccupation that the independence of Cuba should not be for the United States a cause of apprehension, on account of the dangers to be wrought by the instability of our future institutions, disorder of our treasure, or noncompliance, on our part, with international duties.

The convention is sure that the immediate future will not justify either those apprehensions or any fear as to the capacity of the Cuban people for independent life, nor also the least uneasiness with regard to the operation of the government established by the constitution it has just adopted.

The entire world has been witness of the moderation, respect for law, and generous qualities evidenced by the Cuban people during these two years it has lived under the régime of the intervention, when it had just gotten out of a terrible war that subverted the organization of society and sowed the soil with ruins, leaving the country exhausted and in a state of confusion. It can be proclaimed that in no people, even during less profound crises, have virtues been contemplated that were so excellent and commendable as those which in the midst of these reverses have exalted the people of Cuba.

Only oblivion or ignorance of these facts could engender doubts and suspicions with regard to the patriotism and prudence of our people.

Furthermore, in the convention which we have just turned over to the military governor we have taken special pains in founding our independence and sovereignty on solid bases. The organisms to which legislative and administrative functions correspond are taken from the very vitals of the people, therefore they have the qualification that gives greatest stability to governments—the consent of the governed.

Furthermore, we have taken care to establish a reasonably wide range between these organisms, to the end that they may work in harmony and that contentions and even friction may be thereby avoided. It can even be asserted that with free play of the institutions created this people’s suffering either of the two maladies, despotism and anarchy, which have alternately placed the life of other societies in danger, will be prevented. We have likewise taken all proper precautions to render the disorder or ruin of our treasure impossible, adopting motu propio the precept that none of the organisms authorized to contract loans, be such loans of municipal, provincial, or national character, can do so without voting at the same time the permanent tax or taxes to be applied to the payment of their interests and redemption, and without fulfilling other requirements equally foreseeing, as determined in articles 59, 93, and 105 of the constitution.

Finally, we have especially endeavored to avoid every contention with those foreign to us, making foreigners equal to natives in all that refers to protection of their persons and property, and, with regard to the enjoyment of civil rights, individual guaranties, and protection of the Cuban laws and authorities.

Other measures more efficacious for the purpose of the United States, which at the same time are the supreme interest of Cuba, to guarantee order and secure the pacific development of our country, are not possible to the human.

The relations between the two peoples, which perforce will continue to grow closer through intercourse, that is, through mutual interest and the invariable ties of our gratitude and our affection, will tend to establish between two collectivities so different, and despite their absolute independence respectively, an intimacy which, favoring American interests, will develop at the same time a community which will be a tie of union between the two great races populating this hemisphere.

Working to these noble ends, the new Government which the constitution establishes will certainly agree with the United States to such measures as may facilitate dealings between the two countries, adopting first of all such decisions on local and international hygiene as may be directed to the extinction of transmissible diseases, as well as many others as may most contribute to the development of mercantile and social relations.

The convention considers that with the foregoing the Government of the United States could deem its interests sufficiently guaranteed and aspirations satisfied; however, it desires to strengthen the confidence which the United States should feel with regard to our gratitude and the decisiveness with which we are resolved that the independence of our native land shall never run any risk through our fault. With this idea it is of the opinion that the constitutional powers of the Republic of Cuba, if they deem proper, should declare and adopt the following stipulations:

• First. The Government of the Republic of Cuba will make no treaty or convention with any foreign power or powers which compromises or limits the independence of Cuba or in any other manner permits or authorizes any foreign power or powers to obtain, by means of colonization or for military or naval purposes, or in any other manner, settlement in, authority, or rights over any portion of Cuba.
• Second. The Government of the Republic will not permit that its territory serve as a basis of war operations against the United States nor against any other foreign nation.
• Third. The Government of the Republic of Cuba will accept the treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898, in its integrality, the same in what affirms Cuba’s rights as with regard to the obligations it limitedly assigns her, and especially those obligations imposed by international law for the protection of lives and properties, substituting the United States in the obligation they acquired to that effect in conformity with articles 1 and 16 of said treaty of Paris.
• Fourth. The Government of the Republic of Cuba will recognize as legally valid the acts done for the good government of Cuba by the American military government in the representation of the Government of the United States during the period of its occupation, likewise the rights proceeding therefrom, in conformity with the joint resolution and section 2 of the United States army bill for the fiscal year from 1899 to 1900, known as the Foraker amendment, or with the laws existing in this country.
• Fifth. The Governments of the United States and of the Republic of Cuba should regulate their commercial relations by means of a convention based on reciprocity and which, with tendencies toward free trade in their natural and manufactured products, will mutually assure them ample and special advantages in the respective markets.

Convention Session Hall, February 26, 1901.

• Diego Tamayo, President.
• Juan Gualbekto Gomez.
• Gonzalo de Quesada.
• Enrique Villuendas.
• Manuel R. Silva, Secretary.

1. Printed ante.