No. 432.
Mr. Fish to Mr. Sickles.
Washington, October 29, 1872.
Sir: The present ministry in Spain has given assurance to the public, through their organs of the press, and have confirmed the assurance to you personally, (as you have reported in recent dispatches,) of their intention to put in operation a series of extensive reforms, embracing among them some of those which this Government has been earnest in urging upon their consideration in relation to the colonies which are our near neighbors.
Sustained, as is the present ministry, by the large popular vote which has recently returned to the Cortes an overwhelming majority in its support, there can be no more room to doubt their ability to carry into operation the reforms of which they have given promise, than there can be justification to question the sincerity with which the assurance was given. It seems, therefore, to be a fitting occasion to look back upon the relations between the United States and Spain, and to mark the progress which may have been made in accomplishing those objects in which we have been promised her co-operation. It must be acknowledged with regret that little or no advance has been made. The tardiness in this respect, however, cannot be said to be in any way imputable to a want of diligence, zeal, or ability in the legation of the United States at Madrid. The Department is persuaded that no persons, however gifted with those qualities and faculties, could have better succeeded against the apparent apathy or indifference of the Spanish authorities, if, indeed, their past omission to do what we have expected should not be ascribable to other causes.
The Spanish government, partly at our instance, passed a law providing for the gradual emancipation of slaves in the West India colonies. This law, so far as this Department is aware, remains unexecuted, and it is feared that the recently issued regulations professedly for its execution are wholly inadequate to any practical result in favor of emancipation, if they be not really in the interest of the slaveholder and of the continuance of the institution of slavery. While we fully acknowledge our obligation to the general rule, which requires a nation to abstain [Page 581] from interference in the domestic concerns of others, circumstances warrant partial exceptions to this rule. The United States have emancipated all the slaves in their own territory, as the result of a civil war of four years, attended by a vast effusion of blood and expenditure of treasure. The slaves in the Spanish possessions near us are of the same race as those who were bondsmen here. It is natural and inevitable for the latter to sympathize in the oppression of their brethren, and especially in the waste of life occasioned by inhuman punishments and excessive toil. Nor is this sympathy confined to those who were recently in bondage among us. It is universal as it is natural and just. It rests upon the instincts of humanity, and is the recognition of those rights of man which are now universally admitted. Governments cannot resist a conviction so general and so righteous as that which condemns as a crime the tolerance of human slavery, nor can governments be in fault in raising their voice against the further tolerance of so grievous a blot upon humanity. You will, consequently, in decisive but respectful terms, remonstrate against the apparent failure of Spain to carry into full effect the act referred to. We acknowledge that this may be a difficult task. The reproaches, open or covert, of those whose supposed interests may be affected by it, to say nothing of other underhand proceedings, must be trying to the patience and highly embarrassing to the statesmen who may be the best disposed toward the measure. All, however, who countenance lukewarmness or neglect in carrying it into effect must, more or less, be liable to the charge of duplicity or bad faith, a charge which every man of honor in high station ought to endeavor to avoid.
By the enactment of the law of July, 1870, the government of Spain is practically committed to the policy of emancipation. It is true that the law was far from being as comprehensive a measure as was hoped for by the friends of emancipation both in Spain and throughout Christendom, but it was regarded as the entering-wedge and the first step toward the extermination of a great wrong, and as the inauguration of a measure of justice and of peace, whereby Spain, to her high honor, declared herself in harmony with the general sentiment of modern civilization and with the principles of unquestioned human rights. It is so manifestly due to that sentiment and to those principles that their recognition, as thus evidenced, be made practical and effective by the enforcement of the law, that it cannot be questioned that Spain, with the pride and the honor that mark her history, will no longer delay the execution of the law and the observance of the pledge to humanity and to justice which was implied in the enactment.
There is another view which may be taken of this subject. The Spanish government and the Spanish people are understood to be almost unanimously adverse to the independence of Cuba. It will not be denied that the resistance to the enforcement of the emancipation law proceeds almost entirely from those interested in slave property in the island of Cuba, who have, through the successive ministries to which the government of Spain has been intrusted since the enactment of the law in July, 1870, been enabled hitherto to delay and to defeat its execution by preventing the promulgation of regulations effective for the end to which the law was directed.
An important law is thus nullified through the influence and agency of a class in Cuba who are the most loud in profession of devotion to the integrity of the Spanish territory and to the continuance of Spanish dominion over the island. The example of disregard to laws thus set cannot be without its influence. If Spain permits her authority to be [Page 582] virtually and practically defied in that island by a refusal or neglect to carry into effect acts of the home government Of a humane tendency, is not this tantamount to an acknowledgment of inability to control? If she refuse to enforce her authority in one instance, why may it not be spurned in others, and will not her supremacy, sooner or later, become nominal only, with no real advantage to herself or her colonies, but to the serious detriment of both, as well as of those other powers whose relations, whether of neighborhood or of commerce, give them special interest in the welfare of those possessions?
It is also represented that the grasping cupidity of sugar-planters in Cuba has succeeded in enabling them virtually to annul their contracts with coolies for a limited term of service, coupled with the privilege of returning to their homes at its close, and that those unfortunate Asiatics, under regulations for an enforced re-engagement when their former contract may have expired, are being practically reduced to the same abject condition as the African slaves. If this be true, it is impossible for the government of any civilized country to be indifferent to so atrocious a proceeding. You will mention this subject to the Spanish minister for foreign affairs, and will not conceal the view which we take of it.
The insurrection in Cuba has now lasted four years. Attempts to suppress it, so far futile, have been made probably at a sacrifice of more than a hundred thousand lives and an incalculable amount of property. Our commercial and other connections with that island compel us to take a warm interest in its peaceful and orderly condition, without which there cannot be prosperity.
Cuba being separated from this country by a narrow passage, the temptations for reckless adventurers here to violate our law and embark in hostile expeditions thither is great, despite the unquestioned vigilance of this Government to maintain its duty and the efforts with which the approaches to the island have been guarded by the Spanish cruisers. The said proximity has led Cubans and others, partisans of the insurgents, to take up their abode in the United States, actuated by the hope that that proximity would enable them ad vant ageou sly to plot and act for the advancement of their cause in the island. We certainly have reason to expect that the great strain upon our watchfulness to thwart those schemes occasioned by the long duration of hostilities in Cuba, should have some termination through a cessation of the cause which hitherto has been supposed to make it necessary for the discharge of our duties as a neutral.
Ever since the insurrection began, we have repeatedly been called upon to discharge those duties. In the performance of them we are conscious of no neglect, but the trial to our impartiality by the want of success on the part of Spain in suppressing the revolt is necessarily so severe that unless she shall soon be more successful it will force upon this Government the consideration of the question, whether duty to itself and to the commercial interests of its citizens may not demand some change in the line of action it has thus far pursued.
It is intimated, and is probably true, that the corruption which is more or less inseparable from such protracted contests is itself a principal agent in prolonging hostilities in Cuba. The extortions incident to furnishing supplies for the troops, the hope of sharing in the proceeds of insurgent or alleged insurgent property, would of course be put an end to by the restoration of tranquillity. These must be powerful agencies in fettering the arm which ought to strike home for peace, for order, and the quiet enjoyment of the citizen. It is reasonable to suppose, too, [Page 583] that the saving of the public money which must result from a termination of the conflict would alone be a sufficient incentive for a patriotic government to exert itself to the utmost for that purpose.
Besides a measure for the abolition of slavery, and assurances of the speedy termination of the contest in Cuba, we have been assured that extensive municipal reforms would be introduced in the colonies, and that their government would be liberalized. Certainly the Spanish government, with its experience of the past, and with the knowledge which it cannot fail to have of the tendencies of the age, can never expect peaceably to maintain the ancient colonial system in those islands. The abuses of that system press heavily upon the numerous educated natives of the same race, and, if not reformed, must be a constant source of bitter antipathy to the mother country. The repeated assurances of the intention of the government to abolish slavery and to grant liberal reforms in the administration of the island are admissions by Spain of the wrong of slavery, and of the existence of evils which need reform, but are still allowed on the illogical and indefensible ground that concession cannot be made while resistance continues.
A nation gives justification to resistance while admitted wrongs remain unredressed; resistance ceases to be justifiable when no wrongs are either admitted or alleged. Redress wrongs and resistance will cease.
Spain is too great a power to fear to do what she admits to be right, because it is asked vehemently; or because its attainment is sought improperly, she need not apprehend that the reforming of abuses and of wrongs, which she admits to exist, and declares herself ready to correct, will be attributed to an unworthy motive, while delay in removing admitted wrongs when it is within her power to remove places her in a false position, and goes far to justify and to attract sympathy to those who are sufferers from the unredressed wrongs.
Spain itself has been the scene of civil commotion, but prisoners taken in arms have not been put to death as they are in Cuba, nor have amnesties been regarded as dangerous in the peninsula; why should they be so regarded in the colonies? or why should concessions be dishonorable in Cuba that are not so considered at home? The suggestion that they would be is the offspring of the selfishness of those interested in prolonging the contest for private gain.
A just, lenient, and humane policy toward Cuba, if it would not bring quiet, and order, and contentedness, would at least modify the judgment of the world that most of the evils of which Cuba is the scene are the necessary results of harsh treatment, and of the maladministration of the colonial government.
You are aware that many citizens of the United States, owners of estates in Cuba, have suffered injury by the causeless seizure, in violation of treaty-obligations, of those estates, and by the appropriation of their proceeds by those into whose hands they had fallen. Though in some one or two instances the property has been ordered to be restored, so far there has been no indemnification for the damage sustained. In other instances, where restitution has been promised, it has been evaded and put off in a way which cannot fail to excite the just resentment of the sufferers and of their Government, whose duty it is to protect their interests.
The decree of 31st August last, prescribing regulations for the proceedings concerning sequestrated property in Cuba, so far as it recognized the embargo or confiscation of the property of those charged with complicity in the insurrection, as a judicial proceeding, in which [Page 584] the parties are entitled to be fairly heard, may be regarded as a concession to the frequent remonstrances of this Government, as well as to the requirements of justice. But, unless the action of the board to be constituted under that decree exhibit a very different measure of promptness and of activity from that which has been given to the remonstrances of this Government against the proceedings whereby the property of citizens of the United States has heretofore been seized, the organization of the board will serve only to increase the very just causes of complaint of this Government. It is hoped that it will not be allowed to become the means or the excuse of further procrastination, or of delaying beyond the extremest limits of patience, which have already been reached, the decision upon the many cases which have been the subject of protracted diplomatic correspondence. There will readily occur to you several cases, which need not be specifically enumerated, which have been referred backward and forward between Madrid and Havana to the very verge of the exhaustion of all patience. In the mean time the property of citizens of the United States has been held in violation of the treaty between this country and Spain.
In some of these cases you have been promised the release of the embargo. It is expected that the tardy redress thus promised will not be further delayed by any alleged necessity of reference to this newly-constituted board.
It is hoped that you will present the views above set forth, and the present grievances of which this Government so justly complains, to the government to which you are accredited, in a way which, without giving offense, will leave a conviction that we are in earnest in the expression of those views, and that we expect redress, and that if it should not soon be afforded Spain must not be surprised to find, as the inevitable result of the delay, a marked change in the feeling and in the temper of the people and of the Government of the United States. Believing that the present ministry of Spain is in a sufficiently confirmed position of power to carry out the measures which it announces, and the reforms which have been promised, and to do justice by the removal of the causes of our well-founded complaints, and not doubting the sincerity of the assurances which have been given, the United States look confidently for the realization of those hopes which have been encouraged by repeated promises that all causes for estrangement, or for the interruption of those friendly feelings which are traditional, as they are sincere, on the part of this Government toward Spain, will be speedily and forever removed, I am, &c.,