Caleb Cushing to Cushin Alejandro Castro, August 25, 1875

Mr. Cushing to Mr. Castro.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your excellency’s note of the 23d instant, in response to mine of the 18th, on the subject of D. Juan Burriel.

The tenor and general spirit of its contents afford me a great satisfaction, and they will, I am sure, be regarded in the same light by my Government.

It is particularly satisfactory to learn that the government of His Majesty, by its own voluntary act, has participated in the compromises referred to in my note, and that it is resolved to comply therewith, without the fact of the promotion of General Burriel having been designed or being allowed to exercise any influence to the prejudice of the pending preliminary investigation in this behalf, or, to that of the juicio de residencia to which that investigation may give occasion, or of the judgment which may ensue. I had confided in the manifestations of good faith heretofore exhibited by His Majesty’s government in its negotiations with the United States so far as to be prepared to expect from your excellency the assurances now with such honorable frankness expressly given to this effect.

Indeed, investigations of this class have been so frequent in the history of Spain, as applied, not only to subordinate governors, but also to the highest functionaries of her possessions of ultramar, and they constitute a peculiar feature of public administration so creditable to her national policy, that it seems to me impossible to suppose that His Majesty’s government could accord to D. Juan Burriel exemption from inquiries to which a Cortes, a Mendoza, or a Revilla-gigedo had been subjected, especially when ample cause therefor existed in complaints to that end on the part of a friendly government. I can well conceive, also, that in the unhappy civil war which to my own deep regret now afflicts Spain, His Majesty’s government should feel that every officer of the army owes a paramount debt of patriotism to his country, which he might be called upon to discharge according to his capacity, notwithstanding the pendency of charges respecting his administrative conduct in another field of action. Nevertheless, your excellency, accustomed as you are to responsibilities of public trusts, and conscientiously punctilious as you are in the performance of them, cannot fail to perceive how incumbent on me it was to call attention to the subject, in view not merely of the promotion of D. Juan Burriel, but of circumstances attending it which are susceptible of the construction of implying favorable prejudgment of his acts at Santiago de Cuba.

Finally, I assure your excellency of the hearty co-operation which it will be my great pleasure to render in a concurrent endeavor on our part to adjust, once for all, the outstanding points of controversy between our respective governments, in the confident belief that it is in our power thus to be of commendable service to both of them, and in the earnest personal aspiration of being able to resign my present official functions in due time without leaving a shade to remain on the friendly intelligence of Spain and the United States.

I avail myself of this opportunity to repeat to your excellency the assurance of my most distinguished consideration.