File No. 437.00/42.

The American Chargé d’Affaires to the Secretary of State.

No. 442.]

Sir: Referring to the Department’s instruction N° 138 of the 16th instant, in regard to the so-called “insurrectionary claims” against the Cuban Government, I have the honor to enclose herewith copy of a note which, as directed in that instruction, I addressed to the Cuban Secretary of State on the 24th instant, together with copy and translation of Mr. Sanguily’s reply of today’s date.

Mr. Sanguily expresses the belief that Cuba could hardly proceed forthwith to arrange for the arbitration of the question at issue because, in the first place, the powers concerned have not yet replied to certain counter-propositions made by his Government, and because, in the second place, the presidential election is to be held a month hence at which a new Government (possibly of a different party) will be chosen, and “reasons of delicacy, fairness and propriety” would seem to make it desirable to defer action in the sense indicated by the Department.

[Page 289]

The Department’s attention is respectfully invited to Mr. Sanguily’s concluding request for authorization to make public our indication as to the appropriateness and desirability of submitting these claims to arbitration.

I have [etc.]

Hugh S. Gibson.
[Inclosure 1.]

The American Chargé d’Affaires to the Cuban Secretary of State.

No. 366.]

Your Excellency: Referring to your excellency’s esteemed note of July 9, 1912, in regard to the so-called “insurrectionary claims” against the Government of Cuba, I have the honor, in pursuance of instructions received from my Government, to say that in view of the insistence with which the matter in being urged upon the attention of the Cuban Government, it is the conviction of the Government of the United States that the fundamental question which has arisen between Cuba and certain European nations as to the liability of Cuba for damages arising out of acts of the Cuban forces during the war of independence from 1895 to 1898 is of such a nature and gravity that it should forthwith be submitted for determination and settlement to the decision of an impartial international tribunal of arbitration, and that the Government of the United States trusts that this method of solution will be employed by the Governments concerned.

Deeply interested in the welfare of Cuba and in any and all obligations which may be imposed upon the Cuban people, the Government of the United States will be glad to lend to the Government of Cuba all proper assistance not only in the matter of framing the protocol under which the questions involved in the controversy shall be submitted to arbitration, but also in the matter of conducting later the actual proceedings before the tribunal.

I avail [etc.]

Hugh S. Gibson.
[Inclosure 2—Translation.]

The Cuban Secretary of State to the American Chargé d’Affaires.

No. 1201.]

Mr. Chargé d’Affaires: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your esteemed note N° 366 of the 24th instant relative to instructions received from your Government and kindly transmitted to me, in regard to the claims of European nations against the Government of Cuba for damages arising during the war of independence from 1895 to 1898, as alleged by their respective subjects, which your Government considers of such a nature and gravity that in its judgment they should be submitted forthwith to the decision of an international tribunal of arbitration, a method of solution which your Government trusts will be adopted both by Cuba and the Governments concerned. Those Governments had since 1911 expressed to the Cuban Government their desire and purpose to have recourse to arbitration in order to settle the question involved in all its aspects.

So far as the Government of Cuba is concerned, it could hardly proceed forthwith in this matter. In the first place, because the powers in question have not yet answered the memorandum which on behalf of the Cuban Government I had the honor to hand to their representatives on February 28 of the current year making certain observations in regard to the contents of the memorandum which they had handed to me on November 7 last year; and because moreover this Government awaits a reply to a note sent them on the 7th instant, and acknowledged by them on the 9th, in which, referring to the Cuban memorandum [Page 290] of February 28th, they were offered, with a request for an expression of their views, an easy and expeditious method of presenting the claims, and procuring settlement of those found to be just and substantiated in accordance with the First Transient Provision of our Constitution.

And, in the second place, because, as general elections are to be held about a month hence—in which the party at present in power may be returned or the opposition may be chosen—reasons of delicacy, fairness and propriety seem to make it incumbent upon the present Government of Cuba to maintain an attitude of prudent reserve rather than to precipitate negotiations that perhaps might not be agreeable to the new Government soon to succeed it, which, as all things are possible, might be the opponent of the party which now shoulders the responsibility of power in Cuba.

But whichever of the two parties will be called upon ultimately to decide the question, it will doubtless appreciate with equal sincerity the offer which you so kindly make on behalf of your Government in the contingency that arbitration is agreed to and put into practice by the Governments concerned; although when the time comes it would be but natural that we should endeavor to relieve the Government of the United States of all trouble and any sort of responsibility, direct or indirect.

I do wish, however, that the Government of the United States would, authorize the Cuban Government, if—as I assume—there is no objection thereto, to make public the intimation conveyed in your note under acknowledgment that the Government of the United States considers it indispensable and appropriate that Cuba should arrange with the three claimant powers an arbitrament before an international tribunal for the impartial determination and settlement of the question at issue, in all its aspects and particularly in fundamental part; for the Government of the United States will recall that I made the same request of His Excellency Mr. Knox, Secretary of State of the American Government, on the occasion of a conference held on the 13th of April last at the Hotel Telégrafo in this city, for reasons and purposes which I then had the honor to state to him.

I renew [etc.]

Manuel Sanguily.