File No. 437.00/22. No. 1244.] [Extract.] HABANA, CUBA, December 12, 1911. SIR: Referring to previous correspondence in regard to the socalled Cuban "revolutionary claims" of France, Germany, and Great Britain, I have the honor to report that I am informed that it is the intention of President Gómez to appoint a commission composed of the chiefs of the political parties and the presiding officers of both houses of Congress to study the question and to make recommendations as to the course to be pursued by the Government. * Mr. Sanguily has promised to keep me fully informed as to any definite steps in the matter of these claims. I have, etc., HUGH S. GIBSON. CLAIM FOR THE COST OF INTERVENTION IN CUBA, 1906 TO 1909, OTHERWISE CALLED THE MILITARY CLAIM. File No. 811.34537/42. No. 567.] The American Minister to the Secretary of State. *1 [Extract.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, January 14, 1911. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt this morning of your instruction No. 212,1 etc., and I have accordingly just has a conversation with Sr. Sanguily, the Cuban secretary of state, in regard to it. * * During the conversation Sr. Sanguily referred to a statement said by the papers to have been made by Mr. Dickinson, our Secretary of War, some time ago, to the effect that the United States had claims outstanding against Cuba for the maintenance of military forces during the intervention of 1906-1909, which, he said, had caused a good deal of uneasiness. He said that he could not see how Cuba had any responsibility in regard to this, as the forces were sent by the United States because we thought them necessary, and that we had ourselves kept them here without any agreement with Cuba as to the length of their stay and had withdrawn them when we saw fit to do so. He said that some statement in regard to the nonexistence of any such claim would be very welcome and would facilitate negotiations. The Cuban public, he said, is suspicious with regard to any and every transaction, and that this suspicion could be disarmed if it should be shown that Cuba was to receive real benefits. I have the honor to recommend the foregoing to your serious and early consideration and to request to be furnished with explicit instructions as to what we want and the conditions we are prepared to make, as soon as possible. I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. 1 Printed under Naval Station at Guantánamo, p. 114. File No. 437.117N3 The Secretary of War to the Secretary of State. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, January 25, 1911. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of January 21 inclosing a copy of dispatch No. 567, dated January 14, 1911, from the American minister at Habana. You invite my attention to that portion of the dispatch which refers to a statement made in the newspapers and attributed to me to the effect that the United States had claims outstanding against Cuba for the maintenance of our military forces during the intervention in that island from 1906 to 1909. The statement to which the newspapers refer is doubtless the one which I made before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives in a hearing on the Army appropriation bill. December 13, 1909. I beg to inclose a copy of so much of the hearing as pertains to this matter. You will observe that this was a statement of my own views, and not made in such a way as to commit the administration to definite action in this regard. J. M. DICKINSON. File No. 811.34537/48. The Acting Secretary of State to the American Minister. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 11, 1911. SIR: The Department acknowledges the receipt of your dispatches No. 567 of January 14, 1911; No. 594 of January 24, 19111; and No. 605 of January 30, 1911, all with regard to the proposed enlargement of the United States naval station at Guantánamo, Cuba. In all of these despatches, however, you emphasize the fact that the Cuban Government is very anxious to know whether or not the Government of the United States is, as has been rumored, entertaining a claim against Cuba arising from the presence of our military forces during the second intervention, 1906-1909. In reply, you are informed that copies of pertinent correspondence relative to the latter subject have been sent to the President, with the statement that this is a question of much importance, involving a matter of great concern to the Secretary of War, and that it is therefore presumed that the President will desire to deal with it personally. Upon receipt of the President's reply you will be promptly communicated with. I am, etc., 1 Not printed. HUNTINGTON WILSON. File No. 811.34537/49. No. 623.] The American Minister to the Secretary of State. [Extract.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, February 11, 1911. SIR: Referring to previous correspondence in regard to the enlargement of our naval station at Guantánamo, I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy and translation of a confidential note dated the 8th instant which I received from Sr. Sanguily, the Cuban secretary of state, last night. I have [etc.], [Inclosure.] JOHN B. JACKSON. No. 13.] The Cuban Secretary of State to the American Minister. [Translation-Extract.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Mr. MINISTER: Some time ago the press of the United States attributed to the minister of war of that Republic, Mr. Dickinson, the statement that the costs of the second intervention, represented to amount to $6,000,000, constitute a debt of Cuba. This statement, probably apocryphal, has occasioned appreciable uneasiness here, being considered as the announcement of a pecuniary claim which the Cuban treasury could not meet without serious disturbance of its equilibrium. In spite of its apparent incorrectness, not having been denied by the Government of the United States this statement continues to be a source of uneasiness, and it seems but right to the Cuban Government that it should be disclaimed by an authentic pronouncement, especially since, really and positively, an obligation of that nature could not be conceived of as legitimately binding on the Cuban people when that people had not been consulted and so made responsible for it MANUEL SANGUILY. File No. 811.34537/56. No. 758.] The American Minister to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, Cuba, April 17, 1911. SIR: With reference to the project to enlarge our naval station at Guantánamo, I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a "Confidential Memorandum," which I read to Sr. Sanguily, the Cuban secretary of state, this afternoon, and left with him at his request. This memorandum was compiled from several of the department's instructions or their accompanying documents (I from No. 254, II from No. 278,2 and III from No. 277), and was presented to Sr. Sanguily as a reply to his confidential note of February 8, of which a copy was sent in my dispatch No. 623 I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. 1 The omissions appear under Naval Station at Guantánamo, and Sovereignty of the Isle of Pines, pp. 118 and 136. Printed under Naval Station at Guantánamo, p. 120. The omission appears under Naval Station at Guantánamo, p. 121. [Inclosure.] The American Minister to the Cuban Secretary of State. [Memorandum.] I. [See Naval Station at Guantánamo.] II. As to the release of Cuba by the President of the United States from any liability for the expenditures made by the American Government in connection with its maintenance of military forces in Cuba during the last intervention, it should be said that inasmuch as the Congress of the United States has never directed the President to make a demand upon Cuba for reimbursement of the expenditures by the Government of the United States, and inasmuch as the Executive has never made any demand or set forth any claim against the Government of Cuba for such expenditures, it would seem wisest to refrain from agitating the question at this time and meanwhile to permit the matter to rest where it now is. Habana, April 17, 1911. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 15th instant of your instruction No. 278 of April 12,1 and to report my compliance therewith, as shown in the copy of the memorandum handed Sr. Sanguily, the Cuban secretary of state, which is inclosed in my dispatch 758 of to-day's date. On receiving my memorandum Sr. Sanguily spoke of the claim for expenses incident to the military occupation of 1906 to 1909 as a kind of "sword of Damocles," while he realized the advisability of permitting the matter to rest for the present where it now is I have [etc.], JOHN B. JACKSON. SOVEREIGNTY OF THE ISLE OF PINES.2 Article VI of Treaty of Future Relations.3 ARTICLE VI. The Island of Pines shall be omitted from the boundaries of Cuba specified in the Constitution, the title thereto being left to future adjustment by treaty. File No. 811.34537/49. No. 623.] The American Minister to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, February 11, 1911. SIR: Referring to previous correspondence in regard to the enlargement of our naval station at Guantánamo, I have the honor to Printed under Naval Station at Guantánamo, p. 120. transmit herewith a copy and translation of a confidential note dated the 8th instant which I received from Sr. Sanguily, the Cuban secretary of state, last night ** *1 The Secretary in this note refers to the treaty of 1904 in regard to the Isle of Pines for the first time I have [etc.], JOHN B. JACKSON. [Inclosure.] The Cuban Secretary of State to the American Minister. [Extract.-Translation.] No. 13.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Mr. MINISTER: In reference to the conversation which we had when your excellency brought me your note in regard to the new limits to be given to the Guantánamo naval station' it is a real pleasure to me to advise your excellency [concerning the Guantánamo naval station and the Intervention claims, which see for the text omitted.] * * * The present occasion also seems to me a most propitious one in which, once for all, by means of a resolution of the Federal Congress, to define the soverignty of the Isle of Pines, the uncertainty of the nationality of which, because not conforming to the provisions of the Platt amendment and the treaty of 1904, is a continual source of annoying difficulties to both Governments and of constant friction between the North American subjects who have settled there and Cuban authorities in that territory * [The omission concerns the possibility of a third intervention, also the area of Bahía Honda, and is printed under Naval Station at Guantánamo.] * * I avail, etc., MANUEL SANGUILY. File No. 811.34537/54. No. 277.] The Secretary of State to the American Minister. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 12, 1911. SIR Referring to the Department's instruction No. 278,1 of this date, which acknowledges the receipt of your dispatch No. 700 of March 25, 1911,3 you are informed that the attitude of this Government with regard to the final settlement of the sovereignty over the Isle of Pines has been made clear in the treaty signed at Washington on March 2, 1904, which has been submitted to the Senate for its approval but on which no action has as yet been taken. The Department therefore considers that the wisest course is to allow the matter to remain where it at present rests, and you will so inform the Cuban secretary of state. I am, etc., P. C. KNOX. 1 The omissions appear under Naval Station at Guantánamo and Claim for the cost of intervention in Cuba, pp. 118 and 134. 2 See dispatch 567 under Naval Station at Guantánamo, p. 115. Printed under Naval Station at Guantánamo, p. 120. |