merated declarations with which the note concludes. I now repeat them: First. Spain will come to no decision until satisfied an offense has been committed. Second. When so convinced through her own sources of information, or by the showing of the United States, due reparation will be made. SICKLES. No. 627. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Telegram.] MADRID, November 18, 1873. If my departure forthwith is approved, please cause orders to be cabled to Admiral Case, at Nice, to come to Valencia at once and convey me and my family to a port in France. No. 628. SICKLES. No. 846.] General Sickles to Mr. Fish. UNITED STATES LEGATION IN SPAIN, Madrid, November 19, 1873. (Received December 11.) SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith a copy and translation of a note, dated yesterday and received to-day, from Mr. Carvajal, in reply to my answer to his note of the 14th, rejecting the protest made against the inhumanities practiced at Santiago de Cuba. SIR: You having presented, under date of the 15th, the same day on which you also answered my reply of the 14th to your protest of the same date, reclamations based upon the seizure of the Virginius and the shooting of a certain number of her crew and passengers, the correspondence in relation to the protest might be considered terminated and merged in the correspondence upon the reclamation, did not the truth of the facts and a just appreciation of the conduct of the Spanish government make it fitting to call your attention to the unfounded supposition you advanced, that I "applaud the chief actors in the bloody tragedy," (I presume this means the Cuban authorities,) and that I denounce "the unfortunate victims of a cruel and sanguinary administration" (I presume this refers to the prisoners shot) "as criminals deserving instant death." I need to render evident the inexactitude of these appreciations. In the note to which you reply there was not an idea or a word which could have made such appre ciations valid, and my opinion remains the same as before, that until the facts are obtained to give a new phase to the question it is more proper to have confidence in the authorities than to censure them, and still less denounce them for the sentences they have authorized to be executed. As to the applause, it would be characteristic of hot-headed persons and not of the executive power, which keeps within the limits of a prudent and polite reserve; and as to whether the delinquents deserved the penalty they suffered, when the law speaks the government should be silent, and this government should not admit a doubt that the application of the law has been just, although rigorous, as long as it is ignorant of the character of the crime in each case, the details of the proceedings, and the relation between the crime and the punishment. Your attribution to me of opinions I could not have ventured to put forth, not only involves a suggestion that the proceedings may have been irregular, but it also tends to disculpate the captured persons from all criminality, whereas in every way, and from every point of view, those who rise in arms against a regularly-constituted government and foment insurrection in its territory are criminals, whose delinquency is not diminished by the legitimate and elevated sentiments excited by their misfortune. I improve this occasion, &c., J. DE CARVAJAL. No. 847.] No. 629. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. UNITED STATES LEGATION IN SPAIN, Madrid, November 19, 1873. (Received December 15.) SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith, for the completion of the series of communications passed between Mr. Carvajal and myself in the affair of the Virginius, a copy of the private note to the minister, written at the foreign office on the afternoon of the 6th instant, and referred to in my dispatch No. 804. I am, &c., [Inclosure in No. 847.] D. E. SICKLES. Private.] General Sickles to Mr. José de Carvajal. MADRID, November 6, 1873. DEAR MR. CARVAJAL: Having read in the Gazette of this morning the announcement of the capture of the Virginius some six miles off the coast of Jamaica, I have thought it proper to inform you that a question recently occurred in regard to a vessel of that name lying in the harbor of Aspinwall, and upon consideration it was held by my Government that she was a regularly documented American ship. In view of the fact that this capture seems to have been made on the high seas, and of the probability that the vessel may belong to the mercantile marine of the United States, I beg to suggest, in advance of any information or orders from my Government on the subject, that it might be well to direct the authorities in Cuba to abstain from any further proceedings respecting the ship or any persons captured with her until the orders of this government may be communicated to the captain-general. I make this suggestion in the interest of the friendly relations between the two countries, and in order to avoid any possible complications in the disposition of the case, should it prove to be one in which my Government may have occasion to send me instructions. Regretting that I have not the pleasure to meet you in your office, and especially that you are detained from the ministry by indisposition, I remain, &c., D. E. SICKLES. No. 630. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Telegram.] MADRID, November 19, 1873. Sent you three dispatches by cable yesterday. No reply received. I wait instructions. SICKLES. No. 631. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Telegram.] MADRID, November 19, 1873. Popular feeling runs high here against United States and this legation. Press violent and abusive, advising government to order me out of Spain. Last night a mob was collected to attack and sack the legation. The authorities interfered and preserved the peace. SICKLES. No. 632. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Telegram.] MADRID, November 19, 1873. Spain asked the good offices of England. Lord Granville declined, unless on the basis of ample reparation made to the United States. No. 633. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Telegram.] SICKLES. MADRID, November 19, 1873. Madrid papers this evening announce as by authority that the question of the Virginius is postponed by agreement with the United States until Congress meets. No. 634. SICKLES. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Telegram.] MADRID, November 19, 1873. Correspondence sent to London on the 16th is due there to-morrow. It includes several telegrams which you may desire to have repeated: also the Spanish text of the reply to our protest, which I hope you will order cabled in the original, as it will best show the temper of this government. SICKLES. No. 635. Mr. Fish to General Sickles. [Telegram.] WASHINGTON, November 19, 1873. Your telegrams of last evening received. An instruction will be sent immediately. No. 636. Mr. Fish to General Sickles. FISH. [Telegram.] WASHINGTON, November 19, 1873. Consul at Havana telegraphs that the report of further executions communicated by him and mentioned in my telegram of 15th is officially contradicted, and that until 13th the total number of executions was fifty-three, thus confirming minister's statement in note to you. Last evening Spanish minister communicated to me, by direction of his government, a telegram of yesterday's date, delaring the resolution of his government to abide by the principles of justice and to observe international law, to comply with the letter of treaties and to punish all those who shall have made themselves liable to punishment regardless of their station, and to make reparation if right should require it, urging at the same time that a knowledge of facts is necessary to proceed with the judgment required by the gravity of the case, and that the news which had reached them, like that received here, must be confused. The telegram to the Spanish minister is subsequent in date to the minister's note of 17th to you, and may be regarded as a reconsideration or later decision of the government. Appreciating this fact, and determined to continue to be right in the position he has assumed, the President holds that the demand for a proper length of time to learn the exact state of the facts is reasonable. In view of this request you will defer your immediate departure from Madrid, and await further instructions. No. 637. Mr. Fish to General Sickles. FISH. [Telegram.] WASHINGTON, November 20, 1873. Instruction sent yesterday by cable authorizes you to defer closing legation in order to allow a reasonable time to Spanish government to ascertain facts in response to their request through minister here, presented on 18th instant. No other postponement has been agreed to, and minister was informed that a satisfactory settlement would be expected by 26th. No. 638. General Sickles to Mr. Fish, [Telegram.] MADRID, November 20, 1873. Have received rejoinder of minister to my reply to his note in answer to our protest. Neither this nor either of the three communications in writing so far received contains any expression of regret or disapproval of the capture or the slaughter at Santiago. The press approves the whole business, and denies that any censure or regret has been expressed by this government. The ministerial journals acquiesce. No. 639. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Telegram.] SICKLES. MADRID, November 20, 1873. If permitted to offer a suggestion with reference to your instruction of the 19th, I would remark that the tone, temper, and substance of the written communicatious made to me by the minister of state are very different from the apparent purport of the telegram sent to the Spanish minister in Washington and communicated to you. The refusal to say a word about the merits of the case, in a reply to a demand repelled as arbitrary, inadmissible, and humiliating, was announced to me here on the same day that different professions were made to you. Mr. Carvajal's notes to me are exhibited here as showing the real position of this government. They are offensive in form and unsatisfactory in substance. If we besitate, it will be asserted and believed in Spain and Cuba that we pause before the defiant attitude assumed by this government and people. This boast will be supported by the official and formal declarations of this cabinet in reply to communications I have made to it, in obedience to your instructions. Misapprehending our forbearance, Spain would abuse any success obtainedby duplicity and delay, and show herself more than ever arrogant and regardless of our rights and dignity. On the other hand, any concession now obtained at Washington will appear to corroborate the intimation made here in high quarters and generally believed, that my action in the matter of the Virginius has not been in conformity with the instructions I have received and is not approved by my government. I have the best reasons for the opinion that my prompt withdrawal from Madrid in default of the reparation the President has directed me to demand will convince Spain we are in earnest, and she will yield to our terms and peace may be honorably preserved. The fact that Spain holds one attitude here and presents another in Washington on the same day would seem to impeach her sincerity, and this dissimulation I am sure is due to the fear of a diplomatic rupture or something worse. This cabinet have already obtained all the information they will ever get from Cuba about this transaction. The Italian government has kindly consented to allow Count Maffei, chargé d'affaires of Italy in Madrid, to take care of American interests here, and accept the custody of the library and property of this legation, on application being made, by your authority, through our minister in Rome. I hope you will make the request, and that this courtesy may be duly acknowledged. SICKLES. |