File No. 437.00/42.
The American Chargé
d’Affaires to the Secretary of
State.
No. 442.]
American Legation,
Habana,
September 26, 1912.
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.]
[Inclosure 1.]
The American Chargé
d’Affaires to the Cuban Secretary
of State.
No. 366.]
American Legation,
Habana,
September 24, 1912.
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.]
[Inclosure 2—Translation.]
The Cuban Secretary of
State to the American Chargé
d’Affaires.
No. 1201.]
Department of State,
Habana,
September 26, 1912.
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.]