Office of the Historian

Mr. Williams to Mr. Uhl.

United States Consulate-General,
Habana, February 27, 1895. (Received March 5.)
No. 2429.]

Sir: I have to inform you that last Sunday afternoon, the 24th instant, Mr. Manuel Sanguily, of this city, called on me at my residence to inform me, in the name of his brother, Mr. Julio Sanguily, that the latter had been arrested in this city on the morning of that day and lodged in the Cabana fortress, subject to the military jurisdiction, by order of His Excellency the Governor-General of this island, and to ask from me the intervention of this consulate-general in behalf of his brother, on the ground of the latter being an American citizen.

On reaching the office the next morning I found that Mr. Julio Sanguily is registered in this consulate-general as an American citizen on a certificate of naturalization issued to him on the 6th of August, 1878, by the superior court of New York, and passport 9310 of the Department of State, dated the 7th of same month and year, and also upon the personal document issued to him on the 22d of the same month and year by the government-general of this island.

In consequence, and after having ascertained on verbal information that Mr. Sanguily had been arrested upon suspicion of conspiring against the Government of Spain, and not having been captured with arms in hand, but arrested at his home, amid his family in this city, and urged by the entreaties sent me by his wife and others, who feared he might be immediately shot by order of the court-martial, I made a visit to the Governor-General to acquaint him with the facts concerning the American citizenship of the accused, and to inform him that I would at once prepare and address him a communication to ask that Sanguily be transferred from the military to the civil or ordinary jurisdiction for trial, with the right to appoint whatever advocates, solicitors, and notaries for his defense as he might choose, in accordance with the Collantes-Cushing agreement of the 12th of January, 1877. Accordingly, I addressed and delivered the next day to his excellency my communication of same date, [Page 752] copy and translation of which are herewith accompanied for the information of the Department.

In connection with this subject, I have to say that the friends of Mr. Sanguily, seem to be under the impression that this consulate-general has to take exclusive charge of his case. I have answered that the functions of this office in the matter, until otherwise instructed by the Department of State, are limited to the claiming and to the seeing that Mr. Sanguily, since he was not captured with arms in hand, be tried by the civil or ordinary and not by the military jurisdiction, with the exercise of his right of naming his own advocates, solicitors, and notaries for his defense before the court, and for the securing to him of a fair trial, in accordance with the terms of the said Collantes-Cushing agreement, the legal expenses of his defense being for his own account.

Awaiting the instructions of the Department, I am, etc.

Ramon O. Williams,
Consul-General.
[Inclosure in No. 2429.—Translation.]

Mr. Williams to the Governor-General.

United States Consulate-General,
Habana, February 26, 1895.

Excellency: Complying with the general instructions of my Government, and with reference to the conversation I had the honor to hold with your excellency yesterday respecting the arrest of Mr. Julio Sanguily, a citizen of the United States, and held in Fortress Cabanas for trial by the military jurisdiction, as I understand, for supposed connection with an attempt to disturb the public peace of this island, I have to ask in the name of my Government that your excellency be pleased to order the strict observance of the agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, between the United States and Spain, in the trial of this American citizen, the first article of which agreement provides that:

“No citizen of the United States residing in Spain, her adjacent islands, or her ultramarine possessions, charged with acts of sedition, treason, or conspiracy against the institutions, the public security, the integrity of the territory or against the supreme government, or any other crime whatever shall be subject to trial by any exceptional tribunal, but exclusively by the ordinary jurisdiction except in the case of being captured with arms in hand.”

Therefore, as this individual has not been captured with arms in hand in any attempt against the sovereignty of Spain in this island, but at his home amid his family circle in this city, I have, likewise, to ask that your excellency be pleased to inhibit the military jurisdiction from cognizance of this case, and to order at the same time that the trial of the accused be transferred to the ordinary jurisdiction, with his right to appoint such advocates, solicitors, and notaries as he may choose for his defense before the corresponding court, in accordance with the said agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, and with the provisions of article 7 of the treaty of the 27th of October, 1795, between Spain and the United States.

I have, etc.,

Ramon O. Williams, Consul-General.
[Subinclosure in No. 2429.]

Extract from the Register of Citizens of the United States kept at this Consulate-General.

August, 1878. Julio Sanguily, 32 years of age; native of the Island of Cuba; married; profession, commerce; transient, residence San Rafael Baths.

Naturalized as a citizen of the United States on the 6th of August, 1878, by the superior court of New York. Passport No. 9310 issued by the Department of State, at Washington, on the 7th of August, 1878. Government-general of the Island of Cuba issued him personal document (“cedula personal”), dated the 22d of August, 1878.

I certify that the preceding is a faithful extract from the register kept in this consulate-general.

(Signed) Ramon O. Williams, Consul-General.