INDEMNITY TO, AND RETURN OF, THE CAROLINE ISLANDS MISSION. ARIES. Mr. Uhl to Mr. Taylor. No. 73.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 26, 1893. SIR: I inclose herewith copies of the correspondence recently had with the secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in relation to the offer of the Spanish Government to indemify the American missionaries at Ponape in the sum of $17,500 for losses sustained during the troubles of 1887 and 1890. You will accordingly notify the minister of state of your readiness to receive the tendered amount, and in so doing you will make it clearly understood that this Government does not thereby waive, and is not to be regarded as impliedly waiving, its coincident demand for the return of these despoiled American citizens to the spot where they have established, vested, and recognized rights through half a century of residence and tenure. That question is inseparable from the matter of reparation for certain ascertained losses. I am, etc., EDWIN F. UHL, [Inclosure 1 in No. 73.] Mr. Smith to Mr. Gresham. AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS, Boston, Mass., November 24. (Received November 25.) SIR: Understanding that the Spanish Government is prepared to make indemnity for the losses and injury sustained by the American missionaries resident on Ponape at the hands of the Spanish forces in that island, and that the sum in which such indemnity should be made has been fixed at $17,000, it has seemed best to the prudential committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions that the terms of such settlement should be accepted by our Government and the proposed indemnity received; and I am authorized to communicate this judgment of the prudential committee to our Government, and to request that this matter be brought to an immediate conclusion. The sum named will fairly cover the losses which our missionaries experienced, and there seems no good reason why there should be longer delay in bringing this part of the general question in deliberation between our Government and the Government at Madrid to a final conclusion. It is our hope that instructions will be communicated to the U. S. minister at Madrid, authorizing him to express to the Spanish Government this decision, and to receive at the hands of that Government and duly transmit the indemnity aforesaid. I shall learn with great satisfaction the happy accomplishment of this object, and shall turn over this indemnity to our committee with the greatest pleasure. It is our distinct understanding, in connection with a settlement of this part of the question, that the remaining demand which has from See Foreign Relations 1892, pp. 394-409, 410, 413-419, 433, 435-485, 489, 492, 504, 513, and 1893, pp. 558-571, 576-588. the first been steadfastly insisted upon by us, namely, that the Spanish Government shall remove every obstruction to the return of our missionaries to their residence and work on Ponape, remains in full force, and we desire and expect that this permission will be promptly granted. Contrary to distinct stipulations at the time when the Government of Spain in the Caroline Islands was acknowledged by our Government, the Spanish authorities on Ponape in 1890 placed such restrictions upon the residence and liberty of action on the part of our missionaries there as to suppress all their missionary activity, and to make them practically prisoners of war; and it was under circumstances like this that our missionaries withdrew temporarily from the island, until this question to their right and liberty to the free pursuit of their proper missionary work could be adjusted between the two governments. All this is matter of record, and is as well known at Madrid as it is at Washington. It is confidently believed that if our Government makes a distinct and peremptory requirement upon Spain for the fulfillment of this demand, it will be yielded and the whole question will, after this long delay, be happily settled and removed from further consideration. It will be a happy day for our missionaries, and for the good name of the nation in Micronesia, when tidings reach these exiled men and women that the door of return to their beloved work in Ponape is open, and especially if the tidings shall be brought to them by a war ship of the nation bearing them back. With unshaken confidence in the power and purpose of our Government to maintain the rights of its humblest citizens, and to see that justice is done in their behalf in the remote parts of the earth, and with very high respect, I am, etc., SIR: I have received and considered your letter of the 24th ultimo, in which you state the view of the prudential committee of your board that the indemnity of $17,000 agreed upon to cover the actual losses of the American missionaries resident on Ponape, Caroline Islands, should be received from the Spanish Government, thus "bringing this part of the general question in deliberation between our Government and the Government at Madrid to a final conclusion," and leaving the remaining demand "that the Spanish Government shall remove every obstruction to the return of our missionaries to Ponape," in full force with the desire and expectation that it will be fully granted. Before instructing the United States minister at Madrid in the sense of your present request, it seems proper to place you in possession of the full translated text of the note of the Spanish minister of state to the U. S. envoy, making the offer of payment under certain expressed reservations touching the eventual return of the missionaries. The "distinct and peremptory requirement" that these people be permitted to return and resume their beneficent labors which you recommend has been repeatedly made, but so far as this Department is able to judge, compliance therewith is relegated to some indefinite future time. You will note Señor Moret's statement that the safety of the persons and prop erty of the missionaries, in the event of their return, can not be guaranteed "until the opinion, now rooted in the minds of those inhabitants, that the missionaries will never again establish themselves there, disappears." The Department has throughout the discussion endeavored to keep the questions of return and reparation for actual losses intact and inseparable. It is clear that the response of the Spanish Government virtually separates the two demands, treating the incident as closed by the offer to pay the agreed indemnity, and by its promise to announce the date when in its judgment the state of affairs in Ponape will permit the missionaries to return in safety. If, upon further consideration, your board is still of the opinion that the offered indemnity should be accepted, the United States minister will be instructed to receive and transmit the sum offered, announcing at the same time the reservation by this Government of its full right to insist upon the return of the missionaries should that event be unduly postponed, or to demand indemnity for the vested property rights of these American citizens in those islands in the case of their continued deprivation of its enjoyment. I am, etc., EDWIN F. UHL, Acting Secretary. [Inclosure 3 in No. 73.1 Mr. Smith to Mr. Gresham. AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS, Boston, Mass., December 19, 1893. (Received December 22.) SIR: Referring to the communication from the Department of State under date of December 7, with inclosed translation of the note of the Spanish minister of state to the U. S. envoy, I beg leave to state that the entire correspondence has been submitted to the prudential committee, and that I am instructed what reply to make. The committee heartily appreciates the care with which the negotiations upon this subject have been carried on by our Government and the carefulness with which the present situation has been stated in this recent communication. I am instructed, in the name of the prudential committee, to authorize our Government to receive from the Spanish Government the proposed indemnity of $17,000 for losses incurred by the American missionaries on Ponape during the troubles of 1887 and 1890; and I shall be most happy to receive from the State Department the information that the payment has been made and that this sum is ready to be turned over to our committee. The committee, however, wishes that in receiving this money indemnity for losses from the Spanish Government our Government shall at the same time insist upon the fulfillment of the further demand, which has uniformly been made in these negotiations, for the early return of the American missionaries formerly at work upon Ponape to their residence and work upon that island, under the same conditions which existed and were recognized by Spain when her jurisdiction upon the Caroline Islands was acknowledged by the United States. This condition we can not for a moment withdraw or modify. It is a matter of justice and right, and we should seem to ourselves to betray a sacred cause if we should voluntarily abandon the Christian people upon Ponape, who have received their greatest blessings at the hands of the missionaries, and who still are looking and longing for their return. The delay of the Spanish Government in authorizing such return has already been very greatly protracted, and while we would gladly allow every reasonable consideration of this sort, we can not think that many months more are needful to clear the way of every obstruction and open a plain path for our missionaries to return to their work among that people. The Government of Spain should understand that the United States do not regard the incident as closed until the missionaries who have been wrongly kept from their work stand again upon Ponape, reinvested with all the rights they enjoyed upon the arrival of the Spaniards there. Expecting soon to receive information of the payment of the indemnity, and that our Government is ready to hand it over to the committee here, and rejoicing in the assurance that our Government will maintain the remaining condition with temperate wisdom and firmness until it shall be granted, I remain, etc., [Inclosure 4 in No. 73.] Mr. Uhl to Mr. Smith. JUDSON SMITH. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 26, 1893.. SIR: I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, in relation to the offer of the Spanish Government to indemnify the American missionaries at Ponape in the sum of $17,500 for losses sustained during the troubles of 1887 and 1890. The United States minister at Madrid has been instructed to receive the tendered amount, making it clear, at the same time, that this Government does not waive its coincident demand for the return of the missionaries to the spot where they have established vested rights through half a century of residence and tenure. I am, etc., EDWIN F. UHL, Acting Secretary. No. 100.] Mr. Taylor to Mr. Gresham. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Madrid, January 9, 1894. (Received January 22.) SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 73, of December 26, 1893, touching the Caroline incident, in which you instruct me to notify the minister of state of my readiness to accept the sum of $17,500 as indemnity for certain ascertained losses, subject to conditions which you may very clearly define. Inclosed please find a copy of my note to the minister of state, in which I have been careful to reiterate his promise to permit the return of the missionaries at a date to be hereafter indicated, along with the conditions annexed by you to FR 9438 the receipt of the money indemnity. Those conditions I have stated in your own language as nearly as possible. I am, etc., [Inclosure in No. 100.] HANNIS TAYLOR. Mr. Taylor to Mr. Moret. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, EXCELLENCY: Under instructions recently received from my Government, I now have the honor to reply to your note of the 12th of October, 1893, touching the Caroline incident. In that note, after stating that "the Government of His Majesty, ratifying what it has already promised, will be specially careful, as soon as the reports from the superior authorities of the Philippines (who have been again consulted) permit it, to announce to the Washington Government the date at which the missionaries may effect their return to Ponape without any risk," you express a desire to pay to the proper authority the sum of $17,500, the certain indemnity already agreed upon. I am instructed by my Government to notify you of my readiness to receive the tendered amount, and at the same time to inform you that it does not thereby waive, either expressly or by implication, its coincident demand for the return of the despoiled American citizens to the spot where they have established vested and recognized rights through half a century of residence and tenure, that question being inseparable from the matter of reparation for certain ascertained losses. I avail, etc. HANNIS TAYLOR. No. 113.] Mr. Taylor to Mr. Gresham. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Madrid, January 24, 1894. (Received February 6.) SIR: On the 9th instant I inclosed to you in my No. 100 a copy of my note of that date to the minister of state informing him of my readiness to accept the indemnity of $17,500 in the Caroline matter, subject to the condition stated by you. I have to-day received his reply, a copy of which I inclose herein, with translation. MY DEAR SIR: I have the honor to inform your excellency, in reply to your note of the 9th instant, touching the indemnity awarded on behalf of the Methodist missionaries of Ponape (Eastern Carolines), that the minister of ultramar informs me that he has given the proper |