Mr. Palmer to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Madrid, July 11, 1889.
(Received July 29.)
No. 8.]Sir: Referring to the Department’s No. 13, of the
22d ultimo, I have the honor to report that, in the absence of a reply on
the part of the Spanish Government to a note of the legation of May 7, 1888,
presenting the claim for the remission of excessive duties imposed at Havana
in 1884, on coffee shipped by Messrs. Calixto, Lopez & Co., of New York,
I addressed a communication of the 9th instant to the minister of state,
requesting early action on the claim.
[Page 683]
On yesterday I received from the foreign office a note, dated the 9th
instant, and written, apparently, before the receipt of my note of the same
date, communicating a royal order, providing for the return of the amount of
duty in question to Messrs. Lopez & Co. The entire correspondence is
transmitted.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 8.]
Mr. Curry to Mr.
Moret.
Legation of the United States,
Madrid, May 7,
1888.
Excellency: I am instructed by my Government to
invite your attention to the following facts and to ask for such action
as will be adequate to the relief of the injured parties.
The commercial agreement entered into at Madrid between Spain and the
United States on February 13, 1884, had for its object the abolition of
the differential duties on the part of Spain and the retaliatory duties
on the part of the United States, mutually imposed prior to that time on
the trade between the United States, Cuba, and Porto Rico, and
conversely between those islands and the United States. Such was the
original interpretation and execution of the agreement. The United
States promptly removed the retaliatory duty of 10 per. cent, ad valorem which had been imposed since 1834 upon
the products of and articles proceeding from the islands of Cuba and
Porto Rico, in Spanish vessels, placing them on an equal footing with
American vessels in the ports of the United States. On the part of
Spain, it was likewise simultaneously enforced in the islands, and the
customs authorities began to collect import duties, as stipulated in
said agreement under the third column of the Cuban tariff, on all
cargoes brought to the islands either in American or Spanish vessels
from the United States regardless of national origin. As a consequence,
merchandise, the product of other countries which had been carried to
the United States and entered there in bond, and had been trans-shipped
afterwards to Cuba, paid only the same rates of tariff duties as those
collected upon the natural products of the United States.
Messrs. Calixto, Lopez & Co., of the city of New York, under the
impression, very naturally, that the agreement would be executed in
accordance with the interpretation above mentioned, on the 16th of
February, 1884, shipped in the port of New York on board the American
steam-ship Saratoga, bound for Havana, 286 bags
of Venezuelan coffee. On the lauding of this coffee, the custom house
authorities of Cuba, a sudden change having been made in their original
interpretation, exacted a differential duty, collecting under the fourth
instead of under the third column, and thus compelled an excess of
payment of $67.56 Spanish bank bills, and $608.11 Spanish gold, over and
above what would have been paid if the coffee had been imported from New
York in a Spanish vessel.
Complaint against this discrimination being made to the United States
consul at Havana, and all the necessary proofs being made he
remonstrated before the governor-general, and asked that the error be
corrected. On the refusal of the Cuban authorities to remit the excess
the case was reported to the Government of the United States, but action
was suspended in consequence of the pendency of negotiations to secure a
harmonious construction of the modus vivendi. It
would be quite superfluous to enter into the old and adjusted
controversy over the word, “procedencias,” or to renew the argument of
the right of a signatory power to change an interpretation of an
agreement without the assent of, or consulting with, the other party.
The protocol signed by your excellency and myself, in December last,
confirming and continuing the agreement previously made in Washington,
has brought the two governments into oneness of view on the disputed
points. The vessels of both nations in the carrying of cargoes from the
United States to Cuba are placed upon an equal footing.
The submission of the claim of Messrs. Calixto, Lopez & Co. to have
refunded the excess paid by them is made to your excellency with
complete confidence, because the amendments since made to the vague
language of the modus vivendi of February, 1884,
have settled the principle. It would seem, therefore, both equitable and
just, that cases which arose pending the controversy as to the
construction of the agreement, should be decided in accordance with the
principles which both governments have sanctioned.
I feel well assured that your excellency and myself can readily dispose
of this
[Page 684]
claim in a
satisfactory manner, and that the Spanish Government will not deny to a
vessel of the United States the favor accorded to a Spanish vessel
making a like voyage and carrying the like merchandise under the same
conditions.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 2, in No. 8.]
Mr. Palmer to
Marquis de la Vega de
Armijo.
Legation of the United States,
Madrid, July 9,
1889.
Excellency: I have been instructed to recall to
the attention of the Government of Her Majesty the claim of Messrs.
Calixto, Lopez & Co., of New York, for the return of $67.56 Spanish
hank bills, and $608.11 Spanish gold, excess of duty paid on 286 bags of
coffee shipped from that city for Havana on the American steam-ship Saratoga, in February, 1884.
The facts and details of this claim were presented at length in the note
of this legation of May 7, 1888, to which no reply has been received,
and to which I now beg to call your excellency’s attention.
At the same time I will request your excellency to urge upon the ministry
of ultra-mar an early and favorable settlement of the case, which, like
several others growing out of this same cause, has been for a long time
pending in that department.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 3 in No.
8.—Translation.]
Marquis de la Vega de
Armijo to Mr. Palmer.
Ministry of
State,
Palace,
July 9, 1889.
Excellency: I have the honor, in reply to your
note of May 7, 1888, to transmit, to your excellency the royal order of
June 26 last, which has been sent to me by the minister of the
colonies.
“Considering the documents of the case prepared in consequence of the
note of the representative of the United States which was transmitted to
this Department by the ministry of state with the royal order of the
18th of last May, in reference to the erroneous interpretation of the
Havana custom-house of the commercial agreement between Spain and the
United States in applying the fourth instead of the third column of
duties to a shipment of 286 bags of Venezuelan coffee, imported into
Cuba in February, 1884, by Messrs. Calixto, Lopez & Co. Considering
the agreement referred to and the royal orders of November 22, 1886, and
of March 12, 1887, the first declaring that the amount of duty credited
the treasury from 1884, the date of the first agreement, in consequence
of the application of the third column of the tariff instead of the
fourth, by which the duty ought to have been assessed, should be
regarded as an accomplished fact, and as giving no right to reclamation
(on the part of the Government), and the second, providing that
merchandise imported in American vessels into the islands of Cuba and
Porto Rico, should pay duty by the third column, irrespective of the
place whence they proceed, the King (whom may God protect) and in his
name the Queen regent has decided that the amount of duty be returned to
Messrs. Calixto, Lopez & Co., which was paid by them on account of
the application of the fourth instead of the third column of the tariff
to the coffee im-imported.”
By royal order I transmit this to your excellency for your information
and that you may notify the representative of the United States.
I avail, etc.,
