Augusto Ulloa to Cushing, July 8, 1874
Mr. Augusto Ulloa to Mr. Cushing.
Sir: I have acquainted myself thoroughly with the note you were pleased to address me, under date of the 27th ultimo, with respect to a writing published on the 14th of April in a Madrid journal, and subscribed by Brigadier Burriel, late governor of the Oriental department of the island of Cuba, in which it appears that its author affirms, among other things, that the decree issued by General Dulce, on the 24th of March, 1869, has never been abrogated.
Concerning this portion of your note, I have the honor to state to you that the appreciations and assertions which Mr. Burriel may have deemed it expedient to publish in that or in any other communication to the press of Spain, or of foreign parts, after ceasing to hold the official post he filled in Cuba, are of his own exclusive responsibility, and it does not pertain to the executive power to restrain, in any way whatever, the right, conceded by the laws to every Spanish citizen, of freely emitting his ideas through the medium of the press.
Neither does the government regard as one of its duties the difficult task of correcting the errors into which, voluntarily or unconsciously, those may fall who, devoid of all official character, and on their own private account, may have recourse to the battle-ground of the press to explain their own acts or discuss those of others. But, even were this not so, in the case which now occupies us, this spontaneous intervention on the part of the government, of which you remark the omission, and which that of Washington awaited, considering it as a fulfillment of a duty, would have been, in my judgment, something more than an act contrary to right procedure, (un acto improcedente.) It would have signified that the veracity and good faith which govern all the declarations of the Spanish government were at the mercy of the assertions of any private party who might make them a subject of controversy, making in consequence an official rectification necessary to re-establish the truth. It would signify, in a word, that what the government of the nation had officially and solemnly notified to the country, and to the representatives of friendly powers, only deserved credit so long as it was not placed in doubt on individual authority, by any person whatever.
As you can do no less than comprehend in your enlightened discernment, the government neither can nor ought to descend, motu proprio, to this ground.
The Government of the United States assuredly did not fix its attention on these considerations when it expressed surprise at our delay in spontaneously hastening to correct what had been erroneously said by Brigadier Burriel; but persuaded at last that it was neither just nor possible to expect from the Spanish government the abdication of its decorum or any proceedings contrary to its dignity, it has adopted the right path, in which several friendly nations have already preceded it, by resorting to us directly to obtain fitting explanation, which there is no objection to giving it, and which, on the contrary, I have the greatest satisfaction in communicating to it through the authorized medium of yourself.
As early as the 30th of April, my worthy predecessor in this ministry gave a full explanation of this very matter to Her Britannic Majesty’s representative, who was pleased to request it in a note of the 23d of the same month; an explanation which it will suffice for me to reproduce in order to satisfy the desires of the Government of the United States.
As soon as the government had cognizance of the decree issued on the 24th of March, 1869, by General Dulce, it communicated to the same, under date of April 22, the requisite orders, to the end that the decree in question should not take effect, (para que quedase sin efecto,) and under the same date it brought this to the knowledge of our representative in Washington, who in his turn imparted it to the Government of the United States.
General Dulce having been relieved, and General Don Antonio Caballero de Rodas having been appointed in his place, one of his first acts was the publication of the decree of the 7th of July, in the preamble of which the orders and decrees of the 18th and 26th of February and the 24th of March, of the same year, were positively declared repealed, (subrogadas.) The new decree of General Caballero de Rodas contained six articles; and in view of certain observations which were made to the government respecting the difficulty of applying the prescriptions of the last of the said articles, it was deemed fitting to leave, reduced to five, the enacting clauses of the above-mentioned decree in co-operation with the captain-general of Cuba, of all of which information was given to the United States and to the other friendly nations.
To this succinct statement the Spanish government has only to add the assurance that not one of the captains-general who have succeeded Mr. Caballero de Rodas in the government of the island of Cuba has exhibited the slightest doubt with respect to the repeal and annulment of the decree of the 24th of March, 1869.
With respect to the legislation referring to jurisdiction on the high seas, the Spanish government only regards as in force that established by international maritime law, and accepted by all nations, as well as that agreed upon in existing treaties.
As explicitly as I have had the honor to reply to the two preceding questions, would the Spanish government wish to answer the remaining points contained in your note; but all these being so intimately bound up with the main question of the seizure of the Virginius, it would be impossible to do so without prejudging many facts of which proof is still pending, and which, as I have had occasion to state in my note of yesterday, it is best should be previously cleared up and settled. When this is done, each of the two governments, with the loyalty which distinguishes them, will accept for its part the obligations imposed upon them and the rights conceded to them by the final result of this important question.
I improve this opportunity to repeat to you the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.