The official statement will be found in the Gaceta de Madrid, No. 176, June 25, 1885, on file in the library of the Department of State. I am, &c., No. 544. JOHN W. FOSTER. No. 333.] Mr. Foster to Mr. Bayard. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Madrid, June 29, 1885. (Received July 15.) SIR: I transmit herewith a copy and translation of a note from Baron Blanc, the minister plenipotentiary of Italy resident in Madrid, with which he incloses his decision as arbitrator in the case of the American bark Masonic, which was submitted to him by this legation and the minister of state of Spain, on behalf of the two Governments, to adjudge the amount to be paid by the Spanish Government to the owner of said vessel on account of its seizure and confiscation by the authorities of Manila. I also inclose a copy and translation of the arbitral decision, from which it will appear that Baron Blanc has adjudged that the Spanish Government shall pay to the owner of the Masonic the sum of $51,674.07. I also transmit a copy of my note to Baron Blanc, acknowledging the receipt of his decision, with an expression of my appreciation of the promptness and impartiality of his action, and reserving to transmit the more formal recognition of his services by my Government after you have been informed of the decision. By the terms of the agreement of arbitration, the amount of the award, with interest at 6 per cent., is to be paid in Washington within six months from the date of the decision of award. This equitable and satisfactory result confirms in the fullest manner the justice of the position assumed and maintained for the past six years by our Government that the original seizure of the Masonic was an outrage upon American commerce, and that the prolonged refusal of the Spanish Government to make a diplomatic settlement of the case was a continued wrong and injury to the claimant. I am happy also to note that it is a confirmation of the wisdom of the course pursued by me with the Spanish minister of state in November last in insisting that the claim must be paid by Spain without further delay, and that if a friendly agreement as to the amount due could not be reached, that that question should be submitted to arbitration. I suppose the original decision of award should be deposited in the Department of State, but will await your instructions on this point. Suggesting that a proper recognition of the services of Baron Blanc. be made by our Government, I am, &c., JOHN W. FOSTER. [Inclosure 1 in No. 333.-Translation.] Baron Blanc to Mr. Foster. LEGATION OF ITALY, EXCELLENCY: Referring to the notes addressed to me by your legation, dated February 28, March 3, April 20, May 30, and June 11 ultimo, in regard to the high commission which the Governments of the United States of America and Spain did me the honor to intrust to me, I fulfill the duty by sending to your excellency the arbitral decision rendered by me for the indemnity to be paid to the owner of the Masonic. At the same time I address an identical communication to his excellency the minister of state of His Majesty the King of Spain. Receive, &c., BLANC. [Inclosure 2 in No. 333.-Translation.] ROYAL LEGATION OF ITALY. The undersigned, requested by a collective note of his excellency the minister of state of His Majesty the King of Spain and of the chargé d'affaires of the United States at Madrid, dated 28th February ultimo, in the name of the respective Governments, to decide in justice and equity, as arbiter, within a delay not exceeding six months, the amount of the pecuniary indemnity to be paid by the Spanish treasury to the owner of the North American vessel Masonic in virtue of the decreed sentence of the council of state of Spain of October 16, 1884, and in accordance with the damages and injuries duly proved by the claimant, has received from the high parties to form his decision the following documents: From his excellency the minister of state of Spain the note of 30th May ultimo, containing appreciations in support of which are produced as proofs three documents, among which is an account of losses and damages claimed by the owner of the Masonic by way of compromise and without proofs, the 6th August, 1883, and amounting, including interest, calculated up to August 7, 1883, to $19,256.59; which claim his excellency the minister of state, in the same note of 30th May, taking as a basis the two other documents produced by him as proofs, that is to say, the expediente prepared in the ministry of state, and the sentence of the council of state of October 16, 1884, answers by an offer which he agrees to accept by way of equity, and notwithstanding the omission up to that time by the claimant of legal proofs with regard to the value and profits of the vessel, an offer amounting to $9,354.32, including interest calculated up to August 7, 1883. From his excellency the minister of the United States the notes of April 20, May 30, and June 11, containing appreciations, in support of which are produced as proofs seventeen documents, the knowledge of which has been offered at the same time to the Spanish Government; documents recapitulated besides in a memorandum which concludes with an account of the losses and damages claimed in strict right as being proved to have been suffered by the owner of the Masonic through the seizure and embargo of his vessel, this latter account amounting in all, with interest calculated up to the 15th June instant, to $64,639.78. From the conviction which the undersigned has acquired after a careful examination, the differences of appreciation, manifested in an equal spirit of equity and justice by the high parties as to the amount of indemnity to be granted, originate almost entirely from the fact that by reason either of the distance or of the different jurisdictions through which the procedures and negotiations have been followed, the documents produced as proofs were not in their totality in the possession of each one of the high parties when their respective appreciations were formed. The undersigned, to discharge in its entire integrity the commission with which both Governments have honored him, had therefore to solve these differences of appreciation by basing his decision upon the documents produced by both parties as proofs. The undersigned, having enlightened his conscience in the best possible way by the scrupulous verification of the proofs submitted in the arbitration, in virtue of the powers which have been conferred upon him by both Governments, declares in justice and equity that in conformity with the letter and spirit of the decreed sentence of the council of state of Spain of 16 October, 1884, according to his personal knowlege and estimation, the sum to be paid as an indemnity by the Spanish treasury to the owner of the Masonic, both as capital and interest up to the date of the present decision, is $51,674.07. Done at Madrid June 27, 1885. BLANC. [Inclosure 3 in No. 333.] Mr. Foster to Baron Blanc. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's note of the 27th instant, and of the arbitral decision of the same date accompanying said note, in which, in discharge of the commission which was intrusted to you by the Governments of the United States and of Spain, you decide that the sum to be paid as an indemnity by the Spanish Government to the owner of the American vessel Masonic as capital and interest up to the date of your excellency's decision, is $51,674.07. In acknowledging the receipt of these documents, I desire to express to your excellency my high appreciation of the promptness and impartiality with which you have discharged your trust, reserving a more formal recognition of the signal service, which your excellency has rendered the two Governments interested until the Secretary of State at Washington shall have official notice of your action. I improve, &c., No. 545. JOHN W. FOSTER. No. 334.] Mr. Foster to Mr. Bayard. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Madrid, June 30, 1885. (Received July 15.) SIR Referring to your No. 336, of the 6th ultimo, in regard to passports in Cuba, I have to report that I deemed it advisable to defer action upon it until the expected commercial treaty negotiations had been entered upon; but on the 26th instant I received a note from the minister of state, of which a translation is inclosed, in reply to one I had addressed to him on the 31st of March, 1884, on the subject of the annoyances and injuries suffered by Americans visiting Cuba from the passport system enforced in that island. A copy of my note referred to was transmitted to the Department in my No. 199, of April 1, 1884. The substance of the minister of state's reply is that no complaints have ever been presented by the consul-general at Havana to the governorgeneral, and that if they had been presented they would have received prompt attention. It may be well to forward a copy of the minister's note to Consul-General Williams for his information. In view of the receipt of this note, I thought it opportune to act upon your instruction, No. 336, and I have accordingly sent to-day to Sr. Elduayen a note, of which a copy is inclosed. As soon as the treaty negotiations are formally entered upon, I will follow up the subject by asking for the insertion of a stipulation providing for the abolition of the passport system in Cuba, and I will not fail to give you prompt information of the views of the Spanish Government when made known to me. I am, &c., JOHN W. FOSTER. [Inclosure 1 in No. 334.-Translation.] Mr. Elduayen to Mr. Foster. MINISTRY OF STATE, Palace, June 25, 1885. MY DEAR SIR: With the data before me which my colleague, the minister of ultramar, has communicated to me, I am to-day able to reply to the note which your excellency was pleased to address to me on the 31st of March of last year, in which you set forth the annoyances and injuries which, according to your reports, resulted to citizens of the United States in Cuba from the manner in which the laws and regulations respecting passports are there carried ont. From the data sent by the governor-general of said island, to whom an account was given of your excellency's note to which the honor belongs to me to reply, it appears that if annoyances and injuries do really result to the citizens of the United States who visit Cuba by requiring them to observe the formalities prescribed in the legislation concerning passports, it is also entirely certain that at no time has the consul of the United States in Havana addressed himself to the governor-general, setting forth these inconveniences, nor does it appear that the interested persons have resorted to him on their part with any request on this subject which has been unjustly denied. This declaration is founded upon the fact that, notwithstanding the active steps taken by the superior authority of Cuba, no data has been found which show that the consul of the United States has ever sought to put himself in accord with those authorities in order to reach the most equitable legal means of modifying, in so far as was possible, the demands and restrictions which the laws controlling the subject of passports establish both for citizens as well as foreigners. The system has been in operation for a period of many years and continues to be, without having up to the present occasioned any complaint on the part of other Governments whom its existence might affect; and it certainly cannot be concealed from the intelligent judgment of your excellency that the carelessness which the persons interested are accustomed to show is due in great measure to the steamship companies, who omit to inform them of the formalities which are to be observed in this matter in the island of Cuba. But, in spite of this, it is not to be doubted that if the authorities and consuls of the United States would be careful to inform their citizens of the requisites with which it is indispensable for them to comply, the annoyances and injuries would not be experienced of which your excellency treats in the note to which the honor belongs me to reply. Besides, the imputations are especially to be considered which are directed against the Spanish officials, who are accused of not wishing to inform travelers nor to affix the risa when so solicited, or that they do not accept American coin. It is evident that these are confined to particular cases, of which no knowledge exists in those offices, and in respect to which no resolution of a general character could be adopted, first, because no law exists that the shore authorities should inform foreigners who arrive in the country of the practices and customs which they have to observe, as well as in respect to the acceptance of American coin, because it is provided that the dues fixed for the legislation and issuing of passports should be paid in public stamps, and in the second place, no complaint having been produced against the refusal of the risa on said documents, it was not possible for the authorities to take any action in that direction. On the other hand, as there naturally exist specified hours for business in all the offices of state, it would be very easy that an interested party might enter not at the proper moment, and that consequently he could not be attended to immediately. Respecting the indication which your excellency makes in your note that by the continuance of this order of things it might happen that the highest American officials might be prevented from returning to their country in a given day if the neglect of some employé of the island interposed, your excellency will permit me to state to you that there is no information that the officials or subjects of a nation friendly to Spain, as is that which your excellency so worthily represents in Madrid, has at any time been withheld the consideration which is due them. The Government of the United States ought to be persuaded that the worthy superior authority of Cuba will not fail to attend with all solicitude to any complaint which the North American consuls in the island may bring to his notice, and will proceed to impose the punishment which is due to the Spanish official who may be shown to have maliciously occasioned the difficulties to which your excellency refers in your note. I improve, &c., J. ELDUAYEN. FOREIGN RELATIONS. [Inclosure 2 in No. 334.] Mr. Foster to Mr. Elduayen. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, EXCELLENCY: I beg to thank your excellency for the note of the 25th instaut, in Madrid, June 30, 1885. which I am honored with a reply to my note of the 31st of March of last year respecting the annoyance and injuries which the consul-general at Havana reported to the Government at Washington citizens of the United States visiting Cuba were subject to on account of the laws and regulations respecting passports. I do not think it necessary to weary your excellency by a detailed reply to the several points presented by your worthy colleague, the minister of ultramar. It may suffice to state that if the consul-general has not brought the complaints enumerated to the attention of the superior authority of Cuba, it is to be presumed that as the annoyances are the natural result, in great measure, of the system of rigid passport inspection, and that they can only be effectually remedied by the removal of the system, he thought it proper to report the facts to his own Government for such representation as it might think fit to make to the home Government at Madrid. The friendly spirit in which your excellency's note is written and the intimation therein that the governor-general of the island would be disposed to listen with much consideration to the complaints which might be presented to him, strengthen me greatly in the belief I entertain that his Catholic Majesty's Government will give favorable attention to any suggestion which my Government may make with the object of avoiding for the future these annoyances. In this view of the subject I regard your excellency's note as sent to me at a timely moment. Among other instructions which have been given to me by the Secretary of State in connection with the pending treaty of commerce between the United States and the Spanish Antilles, he has directed me to present the matter of the passport regulations of Cuba for consideration, in the hope that a stipulation may be agreed upon in that convention which will remove the present causes of complaint. The right of the Spanish Government to adopt any just and necessary requirements in regard to passports was not questioned in my note, to which your excellency did me the honor to reply; but it is believed that the desirability of the relaxation or removal of the existing regulations has greatly increased of late years. In addition to the fact that the island is happily in the enjoyment of peace and good order, and that the growth of commercial relations with the United States has largely increased the communication between the two countries, a new state of things has lately come into existence which presents the question of passports in a fresh light to the two Governments. As a result of the great railroad development which has recently taken place in the States of the Union on or near the Gulf of Mexico, several railways leading to different ports in Florida have been opened up within a short time and lines of steamers have been established from these ports to Havana, thus furnishing short and rapid routes to Cuba in addition to that from New York, which has heretofore been almost the only passenger communication between the two countries. With the wellknown sambrity and mildness of climate, the beauty of the scenery, and the social attractions of Cuba, by means of these new lines of railroads and steamships that island may be made the winter resort of tens of thousands of Americans, to the great pecuniary benefit of its inhabitants. But that your excellency may see that it is no exaggeration to say that the present passport regulations are a serious impediment to the realization of such a state of things, I beg to direct your attention to a copy of a communication accompanying this note, which the president of one of the railway lines has addressed to the Secretary of State on the subject of the great annoyances and discouragement to commercial and passenger traffic caused by the system now enforced of requiring passports visaed by a Spanish consul from all persons arriving at Cuban ports. The passport system, having been found a serious obstacle to the modern mode of universal and rapid travel, is now practically and tacitly abolished in Europe and most parts of America, except where a military state of siege requires every traveler to be identified and vonched for. It is believed by my Government that our relations with Cuba are so peaceful and intimate that this restriction to trade and travel might now be removed without detriment to the interests of either nation, and, in fact, to their mutual advantage. I have been, therefore, instructed by the Secretary of Stateto take an early opportunity to lay these views before your excellency, and to propose and urge that a clause should be inserted in the commercial treaty abolishing the present system of passports. It had been my intention to reserve the question for the negotiations which I have been hoping, from day to day, would be entered upon, but in view of the reception of your excellency's note of the 25th instant, I have thought. it opportune in acknowledging its receipt to submit the foregoing considerations. I gladly, &c., JOHN W. FOSTER. |