Augusto Ulloa to Macdonell, August 18, 1874

Mr. Ulloa to Mr. Macdonell.

Sir: I have received your note of the 15th instant, in which you state to me, in answer to the note which I had the honor of addressing to you on the 14th, that you are authorized by Her Britannic Majesty’s government to accept the proposal made by me in the name of the executive power, to give the sum to which both governments might agree, for distribution, in the light of an advance, among the families of the British subjects taken on board the Virginius and executed at Santiago de Cuba.

You add, in the note to which I have the honor to reply, that as there were nineteen of those unfortunate persons, of whom ten were white men, and the other nine were men of color; and as the British government think that they ought to fix, as the rate of indemnity, the sum of £500 sterling for each white man, and £300 for each man of color, the sum total would amount to £7,700, to be given by the Spanish government for the purpose agreed upon.

The executive power of the nation agree, on their side, to the sum fixed, and will give the necessary orders, through the ministry of finance, so that £6,700 may be at once placed in London at the disposal of Her Britannic Majesty’s government, and the remaining £1,000, wanting for the completion of the whole sum of £7,700, will be handed over when this matter shall be definitely settled according to that which is proposed in my note of 14th instant; the British government promising, in their turn, to re-imburse to the Spanish government the sum or sums corresponding to those individuals whose relations may make no claim, or may not fully prove, within a reasonable time, their right to receive the indemnity.

I avail, &c.