We hear as yet nothing from her Catholic Majesty's government concerning the question of maritime jurisdiction. We are frank, direct, and friendly in our attitude towards Spain. I need not say that we do not fear aggression, although we deprecate it. SIR: Your two despatches written from Valencia, one without a number, dated August 24, and the other numbered 111, and dated August 27, have been received. The political information contained in the latter is very interesting. Your proceedings relative to the occurrence which induced you to repair to Valencia are approved. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of despatches as follows from Mr. Perry, late in charge of the legation, No. 113, bearing date September 15, and No. 114, of the date of September 18. From yourself, No. 53, of the date of September 18; and No. 54, of the date of September 20. In the present paper I shall confine myself to so much of these despatches as relates to the question of the maritime boundary of Spain in the waters which surround the island of Cuba. Mr. Perry's proceedings on that question are approved, so far as their spirit and general effect are concerned, but he has unfortunately erred in regard to the form of proceeding he chose for referring the question to the arbitrament of his Majesty the King of the Belgians. Mr. Perry has assumed, and has left the Marquis of Miraflores to infer, that the President can properly make the reference without first obtaining the consent of the Senate of the United States. On the contrary, the United States cannot contract any binding engagement whatever with a foreign power except by a solemn treaty, which in every case must be submitted before ratification to the Senate for its approval. This point was explicitly reserved in my note to Mr. Tassara, of the 10th of August, and it ought to have been distinctly brought by Mr. Perry to the notice of the Marquis of Miraflores. You will please make the necessary explanation at the earliest convenient moment to the Marquis. With a view to carry the agreement into effect without any loss of time, I herewith send you the project of a treaty, a copy whereof I have also furnished to Mr. Tassara. You will submit this project to the Marquis of Miraflores, who will be expected to suggest any modifications of it which he may think necessary, and to give full powers to Mr. Tassara to close the negotiation. When I shall have agreed with him, the treaty can then be signed here, and having been duly executed, the President will promptly submit it to the Senate, and ask its approval thereof. If, as the President expects, that approval shall be given, the treaty will be formally ratified and exchanged. When thus exchanged, it will be the authority upon which his Majesty the King of the Belgians can proceed to examine and determine the question, and his award will be final and conclusive upon both parties. I am not to be understood as raising any objections to the proposition of the marquis that her Catholic Majesty shall address a letter to the King, requesting him to assume the office of arbitration; though the request must, of course, admit the reservation of the approval of the measure by the Senate of the United States. A letter of that form would be a proper demonstration of respect to his Majesty, and the President will concur in it by addressing a similar letter to the King. It will require due consideration on your part so to conduct this affair as, in the first place, to satisfy the cabinet of Spain that the departure from the course agreed upon between Mr. Perry and the Marquis of Miraflores is rendered necessary by the form of our organic law; and secondly, to relieve Mr. Perry of a misapprehension of our course on the subject; to which end you are authorized to say to him that his error is set down to the account of mere inadvertence, and does not at all derogate from the highest appreciation of his ability and diligence in conducting the important negotiation with which he has been charged. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. GUSTAVUS KOERNER, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. PROJECT. Convention between the United States of America and her Catholic Majesty. The United States of America and her Catholic Majesty, being equally desirous of preserving and strengthening the amicable relations which have so long existed between them, and, with that view, of disposing satisfactorily of the disputed question concerning the maritime jurisdiction of Spain in the waters which surround the island of Cuba, have agreed to conclude a convention for that purpose, and have named as their plenipotentiaries the following persons: The President of the United States, William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, and her Catholic Majesty, Señor Don Gabriel Garcia y Tassara, who, having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have signed the following articles: ARTICLE I. The contracting parties agree that a copy of the correspondence between William H. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, and Señor Don Gabriel Garcia y Tassara, accredited to the United States as her Catholic Majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, touching the maritime jurisdiction claimed by Spain beyond the shores of the island of Cuba, and also the correspondence, on the same question which has taken place between Mr. Horatio J. Perry, &c., &c., &c., and the Marquis of Miraflores, &c., &c., &c., shall be submitted to the consideration of his Majesty the King of the Belgians, in order that his said Majesty, as arbiter, may determine the single question involved therein, namely, whether the maritime jurisdiction of her Catholic Majesty in the waters which surround the island of Cuba extends only three miles, or whether it extends six miles from the coast of said island. ARTICLE II. The contracting parties further agree to abide by the decision of his said Majesty from and after the time when the same shall have been made knnow to them. ARTICLE III. This convention shall be ratified, and the respective ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington, within months from the signature hereof, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, we, the plenipotentiaries of the United States of America and her Catholic Majesty, have signed and sealed these presents. Done at Washington, on the day of in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. No. 55.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Koerner. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 23, 1863. SIR: Your despatch of September 26, No. 56, has been received, and is approved. The note of the Marquis of Miraflores to Mr. Perry, which bears date on the 18th September, was designed to define the question which is to be submitted to the arbitrament of the King of Belgium, and to deprive it of all uncertainty. The note is very properly conceived, yet it contains one expression that may possibly tend to confuse the question. This expression is found in the first paragraph, and is in these words: "Seeing that she (meaning Spain) has been in peaceful possession of it," meaning the six miles of maritime jurisdiction around the island of Cuba. Now it is proposed that for the purpose of elucidating the subject, the correspondence of the two governments upon the question of the maritime bound ary of Cuba shall be submitted to arbitration. Of course, the above-mentioned note of the Marquis of Miraflores would fall among the papers submitted to the proposed royal arbiter. But this government, while it leaves her Catholic Majesty free to assert that she has been in possession of the belt claimed, does not by any means admit the accuracy of the assertion thus made. It is very clear that the Marquis does not design to claim that we have admitted it, since the fact has been controverted in our part of the correspondence. You will please give a copy of this despatch to the Marquis, and ask him to strike out from his note the words I have quoted, or to give you a new note in which he will express his acquiescence in the views I have herein presented. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. GUSTAVUS KOERNER, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. No. 57.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Koerner. Department OF STATE, Washington, November 17, 1863. SIR: Your despatches, No. 57, of the 8th of October, and No. 58, of the 11th of October, have been received. The facts they communicate touching the efforts of the French emperor to increase his influence in Spain, and on the subject of the insurrection in Santa Domingo, are very interesting. You were quite right in assuring the Marquis of Miraflores that the accusations to which you allude, concerning our participation in the troubles at Santa Domingo, were utterly groundless. All reports or intimations of any kind that the government or people of the United States have practiced, or are practicing, interference in that quarter, or in Cuba, or elsewhere, are entirely without any foundation in fact. SIR: Your despatch of October 24, No. 59, has been received, and I give you my sincere thanks for the fidelity with which, as it seems to me, you have fixed upon a permanent plate the political scene now passing at the Court of Madrid. The idle calumny that the United States have stirred up and are giving aid to the revolutionary movements now occurring in the island of San Domingo would not be thought worthy of notice if it had not been presented to me by Mr. Tassara. I give you, for your information, a copy of the correspondence which has been held on that subject between him and this department. I am further not unwilling to have an occasion to let it be known to Spain, as well as to other nations, how faithfully we practice the duties, as well as assert the rights, of a sovereign state. The United States neither contrive, nor aid, nor encourage, nor mix themselves up in civil or international wars of other nations. They submit their record on this matter to the examination of the world, and challenge contradictions of its verity. You may express yourself to this effect, and even to this extent, if occasion should arise in your conversations with the Marquis of Miraflores. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Your despatch of December 2, No. 67, has been received. I have carefully weighed the correspondence which accompanied that paper, intended to elucidate and define the maritime boundary question which is to be submitted by treaty to the arbitrament of his Majesty the King of the Belgians, and I accept the note of the Marquis of Miraflores as excluding the idea of consent on the part of the United States to the claim asserted in that respect on the part of Spain, which is all that was necessary, and all that was desired, while at the same time it leaves Spain at liberty to maintain the allegation. Mr. Tassara informs me that he has not yet received his power to execute the treaty. I thank you very sincerely for the interesting account you have given me of the condition of domestic politics in Spain, and I have read, also, with profound attention, your remarks on the proposition by the French emperor of a European congress. It is gratifying to all who are well-wishers of Spain, as we are, to know that her financial and material conditions exhibit a substantial and encouraging improvement. We shall look with considerable interest for the explanation of the new system of administration in Cuba which you have promised to send so soon as that system is fully matured. I am, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Your despatches Nos. 68, 69, and 70, dated the 6th, 20th, and 28th of December, respectively, have been received. Your representations to the Marquis of Miraflores on the subject of our neutrality in all foreign complications are approved. * * I am, sir, your obedient servant, * WILLIAM H. SEWARD. GUSTAVUS KOERNER, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Madrid. |