Emilio Castelar to Daniel E. Sickles, February 12, 1873

Señor Castelar to General Sickles.

Sir: The King, Don Amadeo I, having presented his renunciation of the crown of Spain, the Cortes of the nation, elected by universal suffrage in a time of order and peace, assumed sovereign powers, and in one of the most solemn, most numerous, and most compact votations recorded in our parliamentary annals, they proclaimed the republic as the definitive form of government. The pacific attitude of the people of Madrid, the order which reigns in every part of the nation, the circumstance that the new government is born of the convictions of a monarchical majority, and with the acquiescence of the most conservative deputies, who, although making reservations with regard to their own personal opinions, declared nevertheless their determination to accept the new legality—all these circumstances prove, when viewed as a whole, that the new form of government is already the definitive political structure of our nation. To a future constitutional assembly which shall be freely chosen, and which will be the sincere expression of the opinion and will of the nation, pertains the final organization of the Spanish Republic.

Immediately upon the proclamation of the republic the two chambers united into a national assembly, named a government composed of the following representatives of the nation:

President, without portfolio, Don Estanislao Figueras; minister of grace and justice, Don Nicolas Salmeron; of war, Don Fernando Fernandez de Cardova; of the treasury, Don José Echegaray; of the navy, Don José Maria de Beranger; of the Interior, Don Francisco Pi y Margall; of public works, Don Manuel Becerra; of the colonies, Don Francisco Salmeron; and of state, the undersigned.

It is needless to state to you that the political aims of the new government will be, among others, to preserve domestic order at all costs, and to maintain and strengthen the good relations existing between Spain and all the foreign powers.

I avail myself of this occasion to tender to you, sir, the assurances of my most distinguished consideration.