ART. IV. Those enlisted in the permanent army and in the rural guard who may have committed the crime of perjury are included in the amnesty. ART. V. The amnesty which this law comprises shall include the crimes expressed therein committed before the 1st of January of the present year. File No. 837.13/12. The Department of State to the Cuban Legation. AIDE MÉMOIRE. The Department of State acknowledges the receipt of the Cuban Minister's pro memoria, dated March 10, 1913, wherein reference is made to the amnesty bill recently passed by the Cuban Congress and wherein the Cuban Minister informs the Department that the Secretary of State of Cuba has not been able to ascertain from the numerous notes addressed to him by the American Minister at Habana what ́precepts contained in the amnesty bill are believed to cause injury in any manner to American or other foreign citizens, adding that no specific article or paragraph has been pointed out by the American Minister, and that the Cuban Minister has consequently been instructed to request of the Department of State that it indicate the terms of the amnesty bill that are understood to be injurious. A copy of the bill and of certain articles of the Cuban penal code accompany the pro memoria. In reply the Department of State informs the Cuban Minister that the objections to the bill in its provisions other than those providing for the granting of amnesty to political offenders would seem to be manifest from the terms of the bill itself, quite apart from the statements made respecting it in the various communications hitherto addressed to the Cuban Government, as well as from the discussion which the American Legation has had with the Cuban authorities which earlier led to the declaration of the President of Cuba that in view of these objections he would in any event take such action with respect to the bill, if passed, as would cause it to grant amnesty only to political offenders. It may at this time, however, be reiterated that the bill in its articles 1, 3 and 4 appears to grant amnesty for a large number of common crimes committed both by individuals and by Government officials. In its article 2 it grants without any limitation whatsoever amnesty for all crimes and misdemeanors committed by public functionaries or employees in the exercise of or in connection with their duties in respect to which criminal proceedings have been instituted or judg ment rendered. (Reference, of course, is to be made to article 5, which limits the amnesty to crimes committed before the 1st of January of the present year.) Aside from the injury to American citizens and others by the denial of legal recourse for wrongs inflicted upon them by the persons whom these provisions would absolve from responsibility, specific instances of which are understood to have been called to the attention of the Cuban Government, it would appear that in general, as previously indicated, the bill as a result of practically all its provisions would create a situation with respect to the administration of law and the enforcement of justice in Cuba which would seem to evidence a failure of the Cuban Government adequately to protect life, property and individual liberty. The objection of this Government, therefore, to the bill is that, in all its provisions, with the exception of those applying to political offenses, it would seem to threaten consequences which both Governments desire to avoid. DEPARTMENT of State, Washington, D. C., March 12, 1913. File No. 837.13/12. The Secretary of State to the American Minister. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Inform the Minister for Foreign Affairs that in answer to the Cuban Minister's pro memoria the Department has replied as follows [see supra.] File No. 837.13/14. The American Minister to the Secretary of State. [Telegrams-Paraphrases.] AMERICAN LEGATION, BRYAN. Habana, March 14, 1913. President Gomez to-day returned the amnesty bill to Congress recommending that it be amended so as to cover only political offenses but without prejudice to right of Congress later to consider grant of amnesty for the other crimes the present bill covers. File No. 837.13/16. BEAUPRÉ. AMERICAN LEGATION, The amnesty bill passed House yesterday in amended form, covering political and electoral crimes, as follows: Amnesty is hereby granted for all crimes committed in connection with the rebellion of 1912; and for crimes of a similar character committed in connection with or in consequence of political or electoral struggles either by individuals or by the press when the penalty is not of the afflictive grade (as defined by code) excepting in the case of the press offenses against the law of nations. Such crimes in order to come within the terms of this amnesty shall have been committed prior to January 1 of the present year. The so-called electoral offenses-including frauds and all preelection and postelection personal assaults, etc., which can in any way be connected with " political struggles "-are now introduced for the first time. Speaker Ferrara, seconded by Oscar Soto, the Congressman who acknowledged authorship of libellous attacks on Legation which appeared in Cuban newspaper, introduced a resolution providing for the appointment of a commission to investigate the behavior of the American Government. BEAUPRÉ. File No. 837.13/16. The Acting Secretary of State to the American Minister. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 18, 1913-4 p. m. You will not further press objections to amnesty bill. HUNTINGTON WILSON. File No. 711.37/45. No. 657.] The American Minister to the Secretary of State.. AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, March 18, 1913. SIR: Referring to recent telegraphic correspondence in regard to the amnesty bill, and particularly to my telegram of March 15, I have the honor more fully to report upon the motion presented by Speaker Ferrara and others to the House of Representatives on March 14. This motion recites in preamble that it is currently reported in the press and elsewhere that in the past few days the Cuban Executive has received" repeated notes" from the Government of the United States affirming that the provisions of the Platt Amendment are opposed to the 66 measure of clemency" contemplated in the amnesty bill; and while the "representatives of the nation" have not been unaware that for some time one of the parties to the Platt Amendment has been giving it a "broad and erroneous construction," they believe, nevertheless, that if current reports about the notes concerning the amnesty are true, the action of the United States is a "patent violation of the national sovereignty" of Cuba. "Be it therefore resolved", the motion continues, "that the House appoint a committee of its members, chosen from the several political parties, for the purpose of investigating whether the Government of the United States has formulated demands upon the Government of Cuba which might be regarded as harmful to the sovereignty of Cuba; and that the said committee shall, with the urgency which the question requires, report its findings to the House.” Another motion upon the same subject, signed also by Ferrara and others, was presented at yesterday's session. This motion recites that there is an insistent public demand in Cuba for an authoritative definition" of the true and rightful scope of the Platt Amendment ", in view of the many "contradictory interpretations in its application by the American Government, and cites in this connection the recent utterances of Senator Bacon on this subject in the United States Senate. The motion then provides for a resolution declaring— First, that the Cuban people have always regarded the Platt Amendment compatible with their independence and self-government with certain restrictions, which in order to guarantee that independence, the several clauses thereof provide. Second, that the [Cuban] Congress will oppose any act of a foreign power contrary to the lawful rights of Cuba, and will start a friendly propaganda before the American Congress and people in order to procure the definition and application of the Platt Amendment in the sense most favorable to the rights of the [Cuban] Government as recognized in the joint resolution. Because of a constitutional technicality the Senate yesterday rejected House amnesty bill. File No. 437.00/49. BEAUPRÉ. Amended amnesty bill passed House. It grants amnesty not only to those implicated in the negro uprising but also to citizens, including officials, guilty of electoral frauds; of newspaper attacks and libels previous to January 1; of violations of the law in connection with questions of honor (a provision intended to absolve former Speaker Ferrara and others concerned in recent killing in a duel of the American citizen Rudolph Warren); and grants amnesty for the attempt on the life of Congressman André by the President's son. BEAUPRÉ File No. 837.13/20. The Acting Secretary of State to the American Minister. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, How does the new bill differ from that of the last session? File No. 437.13/21. The American Minister to the Secretary of State. MOORE. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, May 1, 1913-8 p. m. The bill differs materially only as mentioned in my telegram of May 1, 10 a. m. BEAUPRÉ File No. 837.13/22. The American Minister to the Secretary of State. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, November 19, 1913. Department's telegram of March 18 and other correspondence, amnesty bill. A joint committee reported a compromise bill yesterday. It covers, as did the original bill, crimes and misdemeanors relating to the negro uprising of 1912 and also the following: Offenses committed by public officials in the discharge of their functions who shall have served three months of their sentences and made good the civil liability attaching to such offenses. Offenses penalized by electoral laws. Offenses committed by or through or connected with the public press, except personal libel and offenses against the law of nations. Discharge of firearms resulting in bodily injury not permanently disabling. Resisting or assaulting officers. Offenses against the person resulting from adultery, and so-called "passional" offenses including assault and attempted murder because of jealousy etc., but not homicide or murder classified in the code as a "crimen 99 or "delicto." Offenses related to strikes, lockouts, conspiracy in restraint of trade, etc. The bill covers all the offenses described that were committed prior to May 20, 1913, except in the cases of the negro uprising where the limit is January 1, 1913. File No. 837.13/22. GONZALES. The Secretary of State to the American Minister. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 21, 1913. You may at an opportune time discuss the matter reported in your telegram of November 19 with the President of Cuba if he seems inclined to approve the bill, pointing out this Government's views in the sense of the Department's telegram of January 6, 1913, 7 p. m. The bill appears to have substantially the same scope as the one of December 16, 1912; in this connection you are referred to the Department's telegrams of March 5, 7, 12 and 18, 1913. File No. 837.13/23. No. 43.] The American Minister to the Secretary of State. BRYAN. AMERICAN LEGATION, IIabana, November 25, 1913. SIR: Referring to my telegram of November 19, and the Department's reply of November 21, in regard to the new Amnesty Bill |