File No. 837.911/24.
[Inclosure—Translation.]
the beaupré-gibson-“cuba” incident
our last word.
In view of the magnanimous reception which the press and public
opinion have accorded to the speech delivered day before yesterday
by Sr. Soto in the House of Representatives in regard to this
incident, we wish, on our part, in just interpretation of the
sincere and highminded intentions of our editor to throw further
light upon the matter and explain what really happened in this
unpleasant affair. Our editor has, in fact, already set it forth in
his speech in the following words:
I did not mean to wound the reputation of any person, nor to
heap discredit upon any respectable representative
accredited to our country; it could not occur to me, who
fought on the fields of the Revolution and who am mindful of
the timeliness of the assistance rendered us by the
Americans in putting an end to the Revolution, to direct a
wicked, cruel and unjustified attack against the
representative of the American nation, which has always
commanded our utmost respect. I attempted merely, in the
heat of journalistic fray, to defend something that I
regarded as sacred and to put a stop to a state of affairs
that seemed to me harmful to the interests of my
country.
The articles published in our columns upon this regrettable affair
were in defense of Cuban interests thought to be jeopardized by the
conditions to which Sr. Soto referred in his speech: by the frequent
intervention of the American Legation in our affairs—often due, we
must confess, to the misconduct of our internal policy.
Subsequently we have become convinced that our fears for the Cuban
interests mentioned were unfounded and that the data that had been
furnished us for their defense were untrue. We ought to have so
stated at the time, in all sincerity; but, as our editor said in his
speech:
Unfortunately, when that struggle was begun and a
satisfactory solution might have been found, there arose,
not the anger, rancor nor malevolence of those whom I
attacked, but the untimely, malicious and interested
intervention of a compatriot of ours, who sought to take
advantage of this little incident, perhaps to reap pecuniary
profit from any triumph over me that he might obtain.
In view of the campaign started against us by certain of our
contemporaries, had we then come out and made the statement that we
now make, advantage would surely have been taken of the occasion to
attribute our conduct to fear; and we continued pitilessly to fight.
The journalist, who must feel human weaknesses more intensely than
others because he feels them publicly, in the presence of all his
readers and of public opinion, prefers, rather than have himself
adjudged fearful of the consequences of what he writes, to face all
dangers.
But now, with our liberty of action completely restored and the
attitude of our editor—which is naturally the attitude of
“Cuba”—viewed with justice and noblemindedness, first by the House
of Representatives and afterwards by the press and the public,
“Cuba” takes pleasure in making the foregoing statement and in
recognizing the honorable character of Mr. Beaupré and Mr. Gibson,
Minister and Secretary of Legation, respectively, of the United
States in our country.
