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[Translation.]

GOVERNMENT, CAPTAIN GENERALCY, and Delegated SUPERINTENDENCY
OF THE EXCHEQUER OF THE EVER-FAITHFUL ISLAND OF CUBA.

I transmit to you herewith, duly authenticated, a copy of the report made by his excellency the general commanding this naval station, in accordance with the opinion of the legal adviser of the same, upon the subject of the communication of the 13th instant, wherein you were pleased to answer mine of the 12th I fully concur in the opinions given by his excellency and pursuant thereto I address, under this same date, her Catholic Majesty's minister at Washington, in order that, by an understanding with the government, may be fixed, in a precise and definite manner, the course which, in cases analogous to those of the "Bamberg" and "Allan A. Chapman," should be pursued, respectively, by you and by the superior authority of Cuba. Thus barren debates will be avoided, and a course adopted consonant with the loyalty and harmony which this government always uses in the treatment of international affairs.

In the meanwhile I will state to you that, for the purpose of exhibiting practically my desire of acceding as far as possible to your requests, I have made known, confidentially, to the captains that they are not to hoist any more the flag of the United States; and they have pledged to the captain of the port their word of honor not to do it.

This communication should terminate here, inasmuch as I have stated I cannot accede in an official form to what is required by you, without anything else being thereby implied, but that I do not believe the moment has arrived for the aid of jurisdiction that you solicit. But I cannot allow to pass unnoticed two remarks made, respectively, in the communications of the 1st and 13th instants, without setting forth in regard to them my manner of appreciating them. The first is the relation you find between the cases of the "Bamberg" and the "Allan" and the circular, which you say was issued by my authority, to the collectors of customs respecting the tolera tion towards the flag of the seceded States. I will frankly confess to you that I find no connexion or link between the two subjects. In the first the object is not to injure the interests of our national trade, because you already understand Spain never could have bound herself to discontinue her commercial transactions with the south, whatever may be the state of its internal relations with the north. In the other the matter in question is that you require two vessels to be notified that they shall not use the flag under which they entered the port, which was hitherto, and still is officially, according to the papers they produced, that of their true nationality.

The second remark is that my declining to make the notification called for might be interpreted as a species of opposition to your consular authority. Upon this particular I will make only two observations. One is that you are well aware that in all questions hitherto occurring the government of this island has not spared any means of showing its deference to that of the United States, represented by you; examples of which might be adduced, which I omit, not to make this writing too long. The second is that such opposition could not in any way be supposed, when the subject in question. solely is that you yourself wish to cut off vessels which till now have belonged to the United States, and have been by you, in conjunction with your government, denationalized, by the fact of taking their papers from them. I consider as sufficiently answered the observations you make upon the subject, without my entertaining, even remotely, the idea that the consulate could have doubted for a single moment of the good faith of this gov

ernment, in the same manner that I have not doubted or will ever doubt of that which animates you, whose high qualities in all respects I take pleasure in acknowledging.

God preserve you many years.

HAVANA, September 20, 1861.

The CONSUL GENERAL of the United States in this city

Fico SERRANO.

[Translation.]

COMMANDANCY GENERAL OF THE HAVANA NAVAL STATION,

Havana, September 15, 1861.

MOST EXCELLENT SIR: The auditor of marine of this station, to whom I referred for his opinion upon your excellency's official letter of yesterday accompanying the new communication in which the consul general of the United States insists on his reclamation relating to the use of the American flag by the ship "Bamberg" and brig "Allan A. Chapman," says to me under this date as follows:

"MOST EXCELLENT SIR: I insist in considering that the aid of jurisdiction which, from the superior authority of the island, the consul of the United States again requires in respect to the ship 'Bamberg' and brig 'Allan' should be based or justified upon the opposition or resistance of the captains of those vessels to the orders and instructions given them directly by the consul himself in the circle of his consular functions. And this not from respect to the principle of neutrality, which has no application nor could be violated in the present case, but because his excellency the governor, captain general, is not the medium of communication between the consul of the United States and the masters of the vessels of his nation, nor has there been committed on board of the ship 'Bamberg' or the brig 'Allan A. Chapman' any act which was a disturbance of order or of the peace of the port, or which has violated the laws of the country-the only case that would justify the officious action of the local authorities against the captains and crews of those vessels. It is very true that every government has the exclusive right of prescribing the flags that their vessels are to use, and which they are not to use; but it is also true that the infraction of the laws of a country, while it does not affect others, is only to be proved in the country that made those laws. The ship 'Bamberg' and the brig 'Allan,' as the consul himself states, were received in this port as vessels of his nation duly authorized. Both have hoisted the flags of the United States at the stern, which is the principal place for the national flag; those which are said to be used at the same time at the fore and main mast heads have no official character or signification. If the use of them on any part of a vessel, or for whatever purpose, constitutes a crime in the eyes of the government of the United States, it should be tried before the courts of that nation. Had the consul limited himself to ask that through the captaincy of the port the captain should be ordered not to hoist those flags together with the one that denoted their nationality, he could have easily obtained this proof of deference to the American flag, and of consideration to his government. But in lieu thereof the consul has condemned those vessels to deprivation of their legitimate flag-a penalty which constitutes an indefinite embargo of the same in this port, and a simulated confiscation of the property-a

penalty that does not affect the delinquent captains, but the owners and shippers, who may perhaps have no culpability in the proceedings of the former. So summary a proceeding against the property is not in conformity to our usages, and every species of confiscation is forbidden by our laws. For this reason the consul ought not to deem it strange that the superior authority of this island should hesitate to be officious in a foreign affair which is initiated with such grave proceedings on the part of him who has in this place the character of commercial agent to protect and support the interests of the citizens of the United States, and not the severe office of a judge. It is likewise well founded that if there is responsibility involved in the consul's action, it belongs solely to the government of his nation to demand it of him; but for the same reason his and his only should be the responsibility; and the consul should not unnecessarily demand the foreign assistance, as the authority rendering it might find itself involved therein. The apprehension of being disregarded by the captains is not a sufficient reason to justify that assistance, which, being extemporaneous, would have a character of officious and voluntary. As the consul has already referred the solution of this affair to Washington, transmitting the registers of the 'Bamberg' and the 'Allan,' he might await the resolution of his government, which may perhaps save all future difficulty; and to this end it might be expedient that his excellency the governor, captain general, should also, with a copy of all the communications and reports, bring the subject before his excellency the minister of her Catholic Majesty in Washington, in order that his excellency may be posted up for the event of any communication being addressed to him thereupon by that government, or may avail himself of the occasion, should it present itself, of avoiding other reclamations of the same nature from the consul, if he deems it expedient, or considers himself authorized therefor. Notwithstanding all that is stated, your excellency will be pleased to inform his excellency the governor, captain general, what you may deem most proper."

And in conformity with what is above set forth I have the honor of transcribing it to your excellency in answer, returning the two documents that your official letter refers to. God preserve your excellency many years. Most excellent sir, in the absence of his excellency the commanding general, the 2d in command.

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After having closed our conversation on the Mexican business, I called Mr. Calderon's attention to a report going through the American and European press that Spain was about to recognize the independence of the Southern Confederacy and to break up the blockade of our southern ports. I added that it was impossible for me to believe that Spain could entertain any such intentions, and inquired whether anything had occurred to give rise to such a rumor.

Mr. Calderon replied with the strongest protestations of good faith and friendship towards the United States. He assured me that nothing could be further from the intentions of her Majesty's government than to depart from the policy indicated in her Majesty's proclamation of neutrality. But, he added, there are things-and, interrupting himself, he asked me whether I had not, within the last two days, received despatches from my government. I answered in the negative. Then he went to his desk and took out a paper, which turned out to be a copy of your despatch (No. 30) addressed to me, bearing date September 18. This despatch, as he said, had been communicated by you to Mr. Tassara, and Mr. Tassara had sent it to him. He handed it to me, and you may well imagine that I was somewhat disagreeably surprised. Instead of my communicating this despatch to him, he communicated it to me, and I found myself obliged to confess that I had not the least official knowledge of a matter to which, according to the contents of the despatch, my government attached the highest importance. Mr. Calderon informed me that he had received the document the day before; that he had at once inquired whether any report had been sent in by the captain general of Cuba; and that, there being none, he was not prepared to give an answer to your despatch. I replied that I would not ask for an answer until I should have received the original of your instructions and the reports of our consular officers on the Island of Cuba; that as soon as I should be in possession of these documents, I would lay them before him, and then discuss the matter with him in all its bearings. He replied that this would be agreeable to him, but that it would be impossible for him to give a definite answer without having heard from the captain general of Cuba.

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I am, sir, with the greatest respect, your obedient servant,

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SIR After having waited for the arrival of your despatch No. 30 until yesterday, I deemed it necessary to make an effort to obtain an answer from Mr. Calderon as to the general merits of the case. I therefore called on Mr. Calderon yesterday, and have the honor to transmit a report of our conversation.

I noticed, in the course of that conversation, that Mr. Calderon, although he denied the receipt of official communications from the captain general of Cuba, seemed to be well informed of what had happened there, while I had no other knowledge of the facts referred to in your despatch than a general impression gathered from newspaper statements, which, in this case, had been distressingly indefinite and contradictory.

You will notice that, in my conversation with Mr. Calderon, I confined myself entirely to putting questions, partly because I was ignorant of what actually had happened, and partly because I consider it impolitic, under present circumstances, to join issue with foreign governments on things

which may or may not happen. The latter is especially applicable to the case under consideration.

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Memorandum of a conversation between Mr. Calderon Collantes and Mr. Schurz on October 16, 1861.

Mr. Schurz informed Mr. Calderon that the original of Mr. Seward's despatch [No. 30,] a copy of which had been forwarded by Mr. Tassara to him, (Mr. Calderon,) had not reached the American legation, and that he was therefore unable to lay before Mr. Calderon the reports of the consular officers of the United States alluded to in the despatch; but that he considered it important that a matter which was so apt to lead to disagreeable consequences should be promptly disposed of, and that he therefore requested Mr. Calderon to state the views of the Spanish government in a general manner, even if it was impossible, in the absence of special information, to judge of the exact merits of the cases which had occasioned Mr. Seward's despatch.

Mr. Calderon replied that he had received no official communication on this subject from the captain general of Cuba, but that he was prepared to make the following statement:

Spain had followed, in relation to vessels coming from the ports of the socalled Southern Confederacy, the same rules of action which she had adopted in the case of vessels clearing from the ports of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies after the assumption of royal authority in that kingdom by King Victor Emanuel. It was well known that Spain had not recognized the socalled kingdom of Italy, and that the consular agents of King Francis I were still exercising their functions in the Spanish ports. Nevertheless, Spain did not oblige the masters of vessels arriving in Spanish ports from the ports of the kingdom of Naples to submit to the authority of the consuls of Francis I, but permitted them to address themselves either to these or to the consular officers of King Victor Emanuel, as they saw fit. But this permission given to vessels coming from the Neapolitan ports to transact their business with the consuls of Victor Emanuel was by no means intended to imply a recognition of the Italian kingdom; for Spain recognized in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies no other authority as lawful and legitimate than that of King Francis I.

In like manner it was permitted to vessels coming from the ports now under the control of the so-called Confederate States, upon their arrival in Spanish ports, to address themselves to the consular authorities of the United States, if they saw fit to do so; but, as in the case of vessels coming from Neapolitan ports, Spain did not think proper to oblige them to do so. This practice, however, was by no means intended to imply, in any manner, a recognition of the so-called Confederate States as an independent nation. But in the case of these vessels the action of Spain was still more justifiable than in the case of the Neapolitan vessels. The government of the United States was, with its naval forces, blockading the southern ports, and it was their business to see to it that no vessels should escape from the ports thus guarded. It could not be expected of Spain to supply the deficiencies of the maritime police of the United States, nor was it reasonable to expect

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