Excellency:

[Appendix D to Mr. Lowell's No. 215.-Translation.]

The Duke of Tetuan to Mr. Lowell.

MINISTRY OF STATE,

Palace, October 17, 1879.

MY DEAR SIR: I have received the note of your excellency under date of the 5th of August last, in which you were pleased to request definitive action in the case of the whaling ship Edward Lee, which had already been treated of in the note of your excellency of the 18th of December of last year.

In reply I feel it my duty to inform your excellency that there being no later grounds or evidence which could lead to a modification of the opinion formed by the government of His Majesty, communicated to you by my worthy predecessor in the last part of the note directed to your excellency on the 16th of January, 1878, treating the case of the Edward Lee as coming under conditions essentially distinct from those which led to the reclamations of the two other vessels, Ellen Rizpah and Rising Sun, to whose owners was conceded, and at the proper time paid, a pecuniary indemnification, the government of His Majesty does not consider that the claim of the owners of the Edward Lee is well founded, but still insists on the arguments contained in the above-mentioned note of the 16th of January, which I shall not reproduce here, in order not to weary the attention of your excellency.

You will permit me, however, to insist anew that the alleged infraction of the treaty of 1795 could not have taken place, as the Spanish gunboat was ignorant of the nationality of the Edward Lee, and being authorized by Article XVIII of the treaty above referred to, to inquire into it, used, preventively, the only measure admitted by maritime customs of firing a blank cartridge, to which signal the fishing vessel paid no heed, but precipitately abandoned those waters without hoisting her flag, the gunboat not being able, therefore, to ascertain the nation to which she belonged.

This fact, acknowleged by the owners, destroys the base on which the claim is founded, since it was not possible to inflict wrong on a flag not carried or made known, nor was excess on the part of the Spanish gunboat possible in having employed a measure admitted in all the navies of the world to ascertain the nationality of merchant vessels who do not fly their flag or have some interest in concealing it. As to the damages alleged to have been suffered by its precipitate flight from the waters in which she was fishing, and her removal to others less favorable for her industry, the captain of the whaling vessel is himself to blame if he preferred to encounter such consequences rather than to comply with his duty in obeying the signal legally made by a vessel of the State in whose jurisdictional waters he was found, by hoisting the flag of his nation.

The example lately given by the government of His Majesty of the friendly sentiments which animate it in its dealings with that of the United States, in an affair closely connected with that of the Edward Lee, proves sufficiently the spirit of equity in which the Spanish Government always treats the claims of American citizens when founded on facts and rights duly justified, and that nothing is omitted, on its part, to contribute to the maintenance of the cordial relations which exist between Spain and the United States.

The undersigned believes, therefore, that the government at Washington, inspired by similar sentiments, will recognize that the government of His Majesty has only complied with its unavoidable duty in not deeming admissible the claim of the owners of the fishing vessel Edward Lee.

I avail myself, &c.,

No. 574.

The DUKE OF TETUAN.

No. 216.]

Mr. Lowell to Mr. Evarts.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

Madrid, November 11, 1879. (Received December 1.) SIR: The preoccupation of all minds and the topic of all public and private discussion for the last few weeks have been the reforms of the island of Cuba. Both the opposition and the immediate followers and dependents of the minister most important and influential as a political manager of those who went out of office in March (Señor Romero Robledo) are hoping to gain something by the embarrassments of the govern

ment. The Martinez Campos cabinet submitted their plan of emanci pation and reforms to the Córtes on the 5th, and I inclose copy and translation of it. This will without doubt be accepted, receiving, as it will, the support of Señor Cánovas del Castillo, of the bulk of the liberal conservatives, and of the constitutionalists, who, though they might prefer another plan, are committed in favor of abolition. The scheme of the government is a kind of compromise, as you will see, between gradualism and immediatism, between compensation and no compensation to the masters, but will serve its purpose of complete emancipation without directly recommending it; for I believe nobody expects that the system of guardianship will work, or that slaves can be kept by emancipation, the attempt to cross slavery with freedom being in its very nature futile. The proposed law was no doubt framed to satisfy the scruples of those who are willing to vote for immediate abolition, provided they can be made to seem to be voting for something else.

It is understood that the convention of Zanjon committed General Martinez Campos to very prompt and comprehensive measures not only in respect of slavery, but of commercial, financial, and tributary reforms likewise, and the pledges of the general are certainly binding on the government that accepted and approved them.

The real pinch of the Cuban question is not slavery, but commercial reform. It is here that the ministry will encounter the active and strenu ous opposition of the protectionists, who form a large and influential part of their own supporters, and who have many specious pleas which appeal in turn to provincial selfishness and peninsular pride. The cabi net have deferred as long as they decently could the bringing of the Cuban question before the Cortes, and now they have begun with that part of it about which all parties are agreed that something decisive must be done and done soon. Of the more difficult politico-economic topic they still hesitate to provoke a discussion. In the mean time the deputies and senators from Cuba, though generally belonging or profess ing to belong to the liberal-conservative party, are said to have held a meeting in which they resolved to withdraw in a body from the Chambers, should there be any further unreasonable delay on the part of the government in making the nature, extent, and scope of such commer cial reforms as it is disposed to recommend.

It would be premature to indulge in any prognostication before the questions are brought before the Córtes, and the debates begin.

*

The only firm conclusion I have been enabled to draw is that the gravity of the Cuban question is hardly yet understood in Spain, that one of the very few persons who seems to have some conception of it is General Martinez Campos, and that everything will depend on the ability he may show of impressing his opinions on others, either by force of argument or by political pressure.

*

Predictions of his overthrow are more rife than ever, but that would leave the situation unchanged, and the Cuban sphinx would confront his successor with the old riddle. I do not see why Señor Cánovas del Castillo should be readier for the part of Edipus in December than in March.

Great opportunities imply corresponding risks, and in this instance the Spanish statesman who is clear-sighted enough to see the one, and resolute enough to incur the other, has not yet betrayed himself. J. R. LOWELL.

I have, &c., 、

[Appendix B to Mr. Lowell's No. 216.-Translation.]

PROPOSED LAW.

ARTICLE I. From the day of the publication of this law in the Havana Gazette the condition of slavery shall cease in the island of Cuba.

ART. II. All persons of both sexes, without infraction of the law of July 4, 1870, and its provisions, who shall be found in slavery at the date when this law is published, shall remain under the guardianship of those who shall have owned them, who shall pass from the relation of owner to that of guardian. This guardianship shall last eight years, and shall be transmissible so long as it may exist by all the means known to the law, besides being capable of renunciation for just causes.

ART. III. In virtue of the guardianship to which the preceding article refers, the guardian shall preserve the right of utilizing the labors of the manumitted persons who remain under his charge, and shall have the attributes which may belong to him as guardian in conformity with the law.

ART. IV. The obligations of the guardian in respect of those under his charge shall

be:

1. To maintain them.

2. To clothe them.

3. To assist them in sickness.

4. To pay them monthly the wages prescribed by law.

5. To give them, if minors, primary instructions and the education necessary to exercise a trade or calling.

6. To feed, clothe, and assist in sickness during their infancy and childhood the children of those under guardianship born before and after the guardianship, so long as it may last, and to enjoy the service of the latter without compensation.

ART. V. The guardianship of those thus protected shall not be transferred without transferring to the same patron that of the children under twelve years of age, and that of their fathers and mothers respectively. In no case shall those be separated who constitute a family, whatever its origin.

ART. VI. The monthly wages to which Article IV refers shall be from one to two dollars for those wards under eighteen years of age. These wages shall be paid to the parents if known, and in default of them to the legal representative established for the formation of a private fund of savings. For all above that age, the wages shall be two dollars a month for the first year, two and a half for the second, and three for the third and for the remaining years of guardianship. The last wages that shall be paid by the guardian to those employed in domestic service shall be three dollars, though more may be paid by mutual agreement.

ART. VII. The guardianship shall cease

1st. By extinction by lot in such sort that it may end within eight years after publication of this law.

2d. By mutual agreement between guardian and ward, without outside intervention, except that of the parents if known, and in their default of the local magistrates in the case of those under twenty years, this age being determined in the manner set forth in Article XV.

3d. By the renunciation of the guardianship for just cause.

4th. By all the causes for manumission established by the penal code, and by any other proved abuses of the guardian, or if the latter should fail in the duties imposed by Article IV.

All those who cease to be wards shall enjoy their civil rights under the conditions and limitations defined by the common law, but shall remain under the protection of the state during the term of four years for the purposes set forth in Article IX.

ART. VIII. The extinction of the guardianship by lot referred to in the first paragraph of the preceding article shall only extend to the wards included in Article II of this law, and shall take place by fourth parts, beginning at the end of the fifth year of guardianship, continuing at the end of the successive years, and concluding finally with that of the eighth. In this lottery, which shall be general for all the island on the 31st of December of the year in which it takes place, those who hold the lowest numbers shall cease to be wards, remaining, however, under protection of the state for the periods designated in Articles VII, IX, and XII. The regulations shall fix the form, method, and extent of the registers and lists which are to serve for the drawings, the method of performing them, the previous and concurrent conditions of publicity of the same, and the system of substitution of those who having drawn lucky numbers are to have their places filled either on account of death, or because they are no longer wards on the day of the drawing.

ART. IX. The guardianship established by this law having ended by lot, by the renunciation of the guardians, by their faults or by mutual agreement, the wards shall continue subject to the laws and regulations which impose the necessity of proving a contract for hire or a known trade or employment. Those who are under twenty

years and have no parents, or parents still under guardianship, shall remain under the immediate protection of the state.

ART. X. The obligation to prove an engagement to labor referred to in the preceding article, for those who have ceased to be wards, shall last four years, and those who fail in it in the judgment of the governmental authority, concurrently with the local magistracy, shall be considered vagrants with all its legal consequences and subject to service in the regular army or to employment on the public works. At the end of the four years to which this article applies those who shall have been wards shall enjoy, within the limits of the common law, all their civil and political rights.

ART. XI. Those persons who may have arranged terms of manumission with their masters at the time of the publication of the present law, shall retain all their rights under such contracts, and their relations with their guardians shall be established by mutual accord, approved by the local or provincial magistrates on the basis of the rights and obligations prescribed by said law.

re

ART. XII. All persons of both sexes who, in virtue of the provisions of the law of 4th of July, 1870, may be free, because born since the 17th of September, 1868, shali be subject to the prescriptions of that law, except where those of the present may be more to their advantage. Other persons freed in virtue of said law of 1870 shall main under the immediate protection of the state and be obliged to prove during the next four years the contract for hire and other conditions of employment referred to in Article IX. Those who infringe this precept shall be deemed vagrants for all legal consequences in the sense defined by section XXV of Article X of the penal code, and shall be subject to the provisions of Article X.

ART. XIII. In every province shall be formed a commission, presided over by the governor, or, in his default, by the president of the provincial board, composed of one member of said board, one of the largest tax-payers, the judge of the lower court, and the district attorney, precedence being determined by date of commission where there is more than one court, which commission shall see to the exact fulfillment of the present law.

In towns where it may be fitting in the judgment of the respective governors, and with the approval of the governor-general, local commissions under the presidency of the mayor shall be formed, composed of the city attorney, one of the largest tax-payers, the judge, and public prosecutor, if there be any, and where not, two respectable householders who were not slaveholders when the present law was promulgated. which commissions shall see to the observance thereof, putting themselves in relation with the provincial commissions in order to remedy abuses and infractions that may come to their knowledge. A special regulation shall determine the character and altributions of said commissions as well local as provincial.

The public prosecuting officers, in the exercise of the faculties which have been o may be conferred on them by law, will also see to the exact fulfillment of the present law, and, as the official representatives of all those hereby put under guardianship, will complain and give formal notice to the judicial authorities of whatever abuses and irregularities may come to their knowledge by their own observation, by that of their agents, or by the accusation of others.

ART. XIV. For the formation of the savings funds to which Article VI refers, the guardians shall pay every month the wages of minors who have lost their parents or whose parents are on another estate, to the local commissions created by the preced ing article. These savings shall be centralized in the provincial commissions and pad over to their owners when they have attained their full civil rights. The regulations will determine in what cases and under what conditions said savings are to be depos ited in the savings banks.

ART. XV. Those shall be considered minors under the provisions of this law whe can be proved to be under twenty years of age, and when this is not the case the age shall be decided by the local commissions in view of the physical condition of the minors after an examination by experts.

ART. XVI. Guardians shall in no case inflict corporal punishment on their wards. even on the pretext of maintaining the order and discipline of labor on their estates They diminish the monthly wages in proportion to the faults of the ward, but of the sums produced by this pecuniary punishment a fund shall be formed by each guardian for the recompense and reward of the other laborers under his wardship who may de serve it. The local and provincial commissions will look with special vigilance to the exact performance of this provision.

ART. XVII. The wards referred to in Article II of this law shall be subject to the ordinary courts and tribunals for crimes and offenses of which they may be guilty, in accord ance with the penal code, being excepted from this rule the crimes of rebellion, sedi tion, assaults, and public disorders, which, during the continuance of the wardship, shall be tried by courts-martial.

ART. XVIII. The regulations mentioned in this law are to be drawn up by the gov ernor-general of the island of Cuba within thirty days after its promulgation and remitted by the first mail to the government, which will decide definitely and at the same time upon all points after consultation with the council of state in full meeting.

ART. XIX. All laws, regulations, and provisions conflicting with the present law are hereby repealed, without prejudice to the rights already acquired by slaves and freedmen in accordance with the law of July 4, 1870, in so far as these are not expressly modified by the preceding articles.

MADRID, November 4, 1879.

No. 575.

Mr. Evarts to Mr. Lowell.

No. 185.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, December 10, 1879. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 216, regarding the proposed law for the abolition of slavery in Cuba; and, in reply, to express to you the satisfaction which is felt by the government at the intelligence on this subject, which your communication conveys; not only in the circumstance of the proposed abolition by Spain, but because this measure must be looked upon as a great step to complete and universal emancipation.

SIR: It is desired that one of your first official acts, after the presentation of your credentials as minister at Madrid, shall be to notify the minister of state of His Majesty that you are authorized, on behalf of the United States, to take part in a friendly conference of foreign representatives which it is proposed to hold at Madrid for the purpose of discussing the question of the protection extended to native Moors, in Morocco, by the diplomatic and consular agents of foreign states resident in that country.

In order that you may understandingly take part in that projected conference, and appreciate with as much exactness as possible the nature of the questions to be brought up before it, it will be necessary to give you a brief résumé of the facts so far as they appear in the correspondence of this Department, with transcripts of the pertinent papers.*

On the 14th of June, 1877, Mr. Plunkett, the British chargé d'affaires. in Washington, addressed the Department, inclosing a printed extract from a dispatch from the British minister at Tangier to the Earl of Derby, with a memorandum of what took place at the meeting of the foreign representatives at the house of the Moorish minister for foreign affairs on the 10th of March, 1877. The dispatch of Sir J. H. Drummond Hay, thus referred to, contains various allegations as to the abuses which have grown up from the practice of giving protection to Moorish subjects by foreign diplomatic and consular officers, particularly by exempting them from the payment of taxes. It was therein stated that

*Inclosure omitted herefrom owing to their length.