Aymerich to The Captain-General of the Island of Cuba, May 28, 1825

Extraordinary powers conferred upon the captain-general of Cuba by royal order of May 28, 1825. (Still in force.)

royal order.

His Majesty being fully persuaded that at no time and under no circumstances whatever is there any possibility of weakening the principles of rectitude and of love to his royal person which characterize your excellency, and His Majesty being desirous at the same time to guard against the inconveniences which might arise in extraordinary cases from a division of commands, and from the complexity of powers and attributions in the respective public posts, and with the important object of maintaining in your most precious island his legitimate sovereign authority and public tranquillity, has been graciously pleased in conformity with the advice of his council of ministers to give your excellency full authorization, conferring upon you all the powers which by the royal ordinances are granted to the governors of cities in a state of siege, (plazas sitiados.) In consequence of this His Majesty gives your excellency ample and unlimited authorization, not merely to dismiss from the island and send to the peninsula any public functionaries, whatever may be their office, rank, class, or condition, whose stay in the island may be prejudicial, or whose public or private conduct may arouse your suspicion, replacing them temporarily by the faithful servitors of His Majesty who may merit all your excellency’s confidence, but also to suspend the execution of any orders or general instructions whatever emanating from any of the branches of the administration in such degree as your excellency may deem expedient for the royal service, such suspensions being in all cases provisional, and your excellency being required to give account thereof to His Majesty. In extending to your excellency this signal proof of his royal appreciation and of the high confidence he reposes in your well-known loyalty, His Majesty hopes that in worthy justification of this confidence you will use the greatest prudence and circumspection, joined to untiring activity, and trusts that your excellency, being by this present act of his royal bounty placed under a most rigid responsibility, you will redouble your vigilance to cause the laws to be observed, justice to be administered, the faithful vassals of His Majesty to be protected and rewarded, and to secure the punishment without hesitation or dissimulation the misdoings of those who, forgetful of their obligations and of what they owe to the best and most beneficent of sovereigns, contravene their duties and give free rein to their sinister machinations in infraction of the laws and of the governmental prescriptions issued in virtue thereof.

By royal order I communicate this to your excellency for your information.

May God preserve your excellency many years.