File No. 837.6112/2.
The Secretary of State to the American Chargé d’Affaires .
Washington , August 15, 1912 .
Sir: Referring to your2 telegram dated July 10, 10 p.m., wherein you transmit to the Department a translation of a note received by [Page 315] you from the President of Cuba in response to your communication addressed to him regarding the proposed Zapata Swamp. Concession, you are now directed to acknowledge this note, adding, after the acknowledgment, the following language:
Without at this time attempting fully to set forth the position of the United States I am directed by the Secretary of State of the United States to present to Your Excellency the reply of the United States to your note under acknowledgment in the following language:
“Apart from any question as to the legality or illegality of the concessions and fiscal measures adopted or projected by the Cuban Government and objected to by this Government, it must be evident to the Cuban Government that if the apprehension of this Government as to the effect of these concessions and measures is well-founded, then it is inevitable that ultimately a situation will result requiring intervention by the United States. In any event this Government believes that the Cuban Government is pursuing a fiscal policy which will ultimately lead to a situation requiring intervention, and therefore, inasmuch as from the standpoint of both Governments intervention is not desired, it must be evident to the Cuban Government that the United States is not only justified but is acting in accordance with its rights and obligations in warning the Cuban Government against the course it is pursuing.
“The United States transferred the control of the Island of Cuba to a government organized in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution adopted by the people of Cuba recognizing certain rights on the part of the United States, among which are those set forth in Article III of the Appendix to the Cuban Constitution, which article, in accordance with a condition imposed by the United States at that time, under the authority of an Act of Congress, has since been embodied in the Treaty of May 22, 1903, between the United States and Cuba. This article which thus forms part of the fundamental law of Cuba as well as a treaty stipulation between the two Governments is in terms as follows:
That the Government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of Cuba.
“Clearly this right of intervention, which was accepted and recognized by the Cuban people in the manner above described, entitles this Government to caution the Cuban Government against adopting an improvident or otherwise objectionable fiscal policy on the ground that such policy might ultimately, either by itself or in connection with general conditions in Cuba, produce a situation there requiring the United States to intervene for any of the purposes recited in this article; so also it is clear that this Government would be justified for the same reasons in urging upon the Cuban Government the advisability of reforming and modifying any objectionable projects in order to guard in every possible way against the eventualities contemplated in this article.
“Furthermore, it is evident that in case intervention becomes necessary, questions will arise as to the legality of any concessions or fiscal measures which by their own consequences or in connection with general conditions in Cuba have made intervention necessary. The legality of such acts can not be permitted to go unchallenged, and the United States will be at liberty in the event of intervention to take such steps as may be appropriate and necessary to undo and redress any wrongs which the Cuban people may have suffered at the hands of the Cuban Government.
“For these reasons the Government of the United States feels that in Your Excellency’s note under reply you have misinterpreted the purpose of this Government in expressing its disapproval of the particular concession under consideration, and that the expression of its objections to this and other concessions and measures affecting the financial condition of Cuba is justified by the apprehension which this Government feels as to the disastrous results which are threatened by the fiscal policy pursued by the Cuban Government and should not be regarded by that Government as unfriendly acts on the part of the United States.’”
I am [etc.]
- Mr. Beaupré’s.↩