edging receipt by Department of my No. 81, of November 27 ultimo, transmitting duplicate copies of each of the three decrees signed by Her Majesty the Queen Regent on November 25 ultimo, and which extend the provisions of the Spanish constitution over Cuba, fix the electoral laws of Cuba, and establish the new system of autonomy therein. There was no official correspondence between the Spanish minister of foreign affairs and myself in regard to his sending me copy of the decree establishing the new system of autonomy in Cuba. It was sent as a personal courtesy by him and was promptly acknowledged by a personal call. There is no correspondence in regard to this matter needed to complete the Department's records. I have, etc., STEWART L. WOODFORD. To the Public: Relief of suffering in Cuba. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, The undersigned, Secretary of State of the United States, had the honor on the 24th of December to make known to all charitably disposed people in this country the appeal of the President for aid, in the form of money or supplies, toward the speedy relief of the distressing destitution and suffering which exists among the people of Cuba. The gratifying interest which his countrymen have shown in all parts of our land in that humane appeal has led the President to recognize the need of orderly and concerted effort under well-directed control, if timely assistance is to be given by the public to the sick and needy of Cuba. He has, therefore, appointed, with the cooperation of the American Red Cross, the New York Chamber of Commerce, and one of the leading representatives of the religious community, a Central Cuban Relief Committee, with headquarters in New York City, composed of the following members: Stephen E. Barton, chairman, second vice-president of the American National Red Cross; Charles A. Schieren, treasurer, a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, and Louis Klopsch, proprietor of the Christian Herald. It will be the office of the committee so organized not only to receive and forward to the United States consul-general at Habana such money and necessary supplies as may be contributed by the people of the United States, but to invoke, in its own name and through the three great interests it fitly represents, the concurrent effort of local relief boards throughout the United States and to invite the kindly aid of the transportation agencies of the country for the prompt conveyance of contributed supplies to the seaboard and their shipment thence to Cuba. The consul-general at Havana is, in turn, assured of the effective cooperation of every available agency in the island of Cuba in order that life may be saved and suffering spared. The Spanish Government, welcoming the aid thus tendered, will facilitate the work, and to that end will admit into Cuba, free of duties and charges, all articles otherwise liable to tax when duly consigned to the consul-general. By direction of the President, the undersigned appeals to the people in every city and town, to the municipal authorities thereof, to the local boards of trade and transportation, to corporations and others producing the necessities of life, and to all whose hearts are open to the cry of distress and affliction, to second the generous effort now being made, and by well-directed endeavor make its success truly responsive to the sentiments of charity that have ever characterized the American people. JOHN SHERMAN, Secretary of State. Señor Dupuy de Lome to Mr. Day. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SPAIN AT WASHINGTON, Washington, January 17, 1898. MR. ASSISTANT SECRETARY: This morning I received a telegram from the secretary of the general government of the island of Cuba, informing me that it is not true that the custom-house at Havana has interposed obstacles to the landing of articles intended for the needy Cubans, but what did take place is, that there was designated for their storage a warehouse in Regla which it seems did not suit the consul, Mr. Lee, and on Friday another was designated which it is hoped will be to his liking. I had intended to tell your excellency this in person, orally, but in view of the circumstance that the press, with better or worse design, is seeking to misrepresent the facts, I hasten to inform you. I avail myself, etc., E. DUPUY DE LÔME. No. 346.] Mr. Day to Señor Dupuy de Lome. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 18, 1898. MR. MINISTER: I had the honor to receive this morning your note of yesterday's date, informing me of the circumstances in regard to the selection of a warehouse at Havana for the storage of the supplies sent from this country for the relief of the needy in Cuba. I trust that the arrangement now proposed will be entirely satisfactory, and that no further delay will intervene to prevent the immediate reception and distribution of these much needed contributions. In view of your statements, I have taken the liberty of correcting the erroneous statements on the subject that have appeared in the press. Be pleased to accept, etc. WILLIAM R. DAY. No. 135.] Mr. Woodford to Mr. Sherman. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: On the afternoon of February 3 instant I received from the Spanish minister of foreign affairs a note, dated February 1 instant, being the official reply to my note to the Spanish Government, dated December 20, 1897. The translation was begun at once, but both translation and copying have been delayed by sickness in my office force. Yesterday I received your telegram, in cipher, which I translate as follows: Please telegraph substance of Spanish note of 1st February, which is presumed to be in answer to yours of December 20. I have done the best I could with force at my disposal. Yesterday I telegraphed you, in cipher, as follows: Secretary SHERMAN, Washington: MADRID, February 8, 1898. Note of Spanish Government February 1 in answer to mine December 20. Expresses satisfaction with our declaration as to new colonial policy. This satisfaction in great part neutralized by our censures against predecessors of present Government and still more by our confounding in same judgment the incredible misconduct of Cuban insurrectionists with conduct of regular army which, during three years, has demonstrated its discipline in obedient execution of orders. Present Spanish Government can not receive without protest severe criticisms formulated against their predecessors in power. Recriminations directed at home in political contests must not be judged in foreign countries in the same way, nor can foreign cabinet use them as the basis for argument nor as the foundation of opinion in its diplomatic relations, these being internal acts completely beyond the judgment or consideration of foreigners. Present ministers in proclaiming their doctrines can not admit that they were formulating accusations against their predecessors, who, whatever their opinions, were inspired by the purest patriotism. Spanish note of August 25 ought to have made clear to Washington Cabinet that Spanish troops have never given any cause for censure which could dim the luster of their history. The idea which has slipped into the American note that Spain can reasonably count upon the United States maintaining present attitude only until an undetermined future shall prove whether indispensable conditions of peace have been realized is less justifiable and less explicable. Spanish Government does not admit the right of neighboring country to limit duration of struggle. Aspirations for peace and friendly observations are justified. Foreign intrusions and interferences are never and in no way justified. These might lead to the intervention which every country that respects itself must repel with force. Takes for guide and example the instructions by Secretary Seward to Minister Dayton at Paris, April 22, 1861. Quotes and adopts the words of Secretary Seward and expresses conviction of Spanish Government that the United States, where such words have been written, can not fix time for termination of Cuban insurrection. Can not conceive that the United States can change its former offers of good offices into insinuations of change of conduct when colonial policy of present ministry is being carried out with good results. Spain having fulfilled, with scrupulous sincerity, those obligations which the most suspicious prejudice could suggest, no pretext remains for now discussing the duration of a conflict of exclusively internal character, even were the progress in subduing insurrection not so evident and hopes of early pacification not so well founded. The singular consideration with which the Spanish Government constantly receives the opinions of the United States is not sufficient to induce it to accept the theory of our note in regard to international duties in the case of intestine rebellions. Opposes at length the ideas set forth by Secretary Fish. Quotes from Calvo, Montesquier, and Jiose. Spanish Government does not analyze terms of our act of 1818, but uses that act as suggestion of means that can now be employed by the United States. Suggests new proclamation and severe application of existing regulations or their extension as was done by act of 1838. Argues that there is no appearance of reason that could justify the recognition of belligerency. Conclusions of Geneva arbitration were mentioned solely for analogy. Such duties as neutrality imposes friendship should suggest. Spanish Government recognize with sincere pleasure the vigilance exercised during recent months along the extensive American coasts and effective organization of naval forces, hindering illegal aid to revolting Cubans from Florida. These facts demonstrate the power of the Government of the United States to enforce the obligations of international friendship. Can not observe with indifference continued operation in New York of an organization, composed in its majority of American citizens, who are not imbued with their recently acquired nationality, who abuse the laws of their new country and prejudice the cordial relations subsisting between the United States and Spain. Friendly nations do not tolerate organizations in their midst whose only mission consists in trying to violate the integrity of one of them. Spanish people and Spanish Government will resolutely maintain their legitimate and traditional sovereignty in Cuba. Hope that the United States will maintain benevolent attitude of expectation, and will cooperate by means already indicated, and others analogous thereto within its own frontiers, to the work of peace, justice, and autonomy. Thus the United States will dishearten completely the turbulent elements which still maintain the rebellion, and which only hope for success in ultimate conflict between our two respective countries. Cuba has its life and future united to Spain, and to conspire against their perpetual union reveals designs of destruction and involves inadmissible pretension. Peace necessary for Cuba, and advantageous to the United States, can be found only in the formula of colonial self-government and Spanish sovereignty. The Government of the United States knows this and can contribute powerfully by working in harmony with what has been expressed. The United States will certainly do this, because in the United States justice is a religion, and because in the Republic of North America we respect the desire of the people to organize themselves as best suits them. The Cuban people have perfect right that nobody shall obstruct them or lend aid to a turbulent minority. Before autonomy was granted it might have been erroneously believed that this minority represented the common feeling of the masses. There is no such excuse now. The valuable elements of the island now desire peace under as broad autonomy as they can wish. The moral and material aid of revolutionary organizations working freely in the United States should cease absolutely and at once. Quotes my note that peace in Cuba is not sudden creation to be built in a single night, but an enduring edifice to be founded on equity. WOODFORD. To enable you to judge of the accuracy of my synopsis, I inclose copy of the Spanish note. It is written out in long hand, as the only clerk who can transcribe the note in Spanish on the typewriter is ill. The copy sent was kindly written out by the naval and military attachés of the legation. I am having additional copies of the full translation of the entire Spanish note prepared and hope to forward them to-morrow. I withhold comment on the Spanish note until I can think the situation over more carefully. Very respectfully yours, STEWART L. WOODFORD. [Inclosure-Translation.] Señor Gullon to Mr. Woodford. MINISTRY OF STATE, YOUR EXCELLENCY AND DEAR SIR: In your excellency's kind and well-weighed note dated December 20 last, to which I now have the honor to reply, there are many and very diverse statements, causing great and special gratification to H. M.'s Government, remarkable for their clearness and expressiveness. Among them the following deserve special mention: Those recognizing the value and efficacy of the new principles applied to the colonial policy; those admitting the importance and conclusiveness of the information received at Washington from the peninsula and Cuba, tending to prove the sincerity of Spain's desire and exertions for the improvement of conditions and circumstances in that island; and the explicit terms in which your excellency is pleased to say that the prosperity of the cities and the country there is being prompted by the renewal, under the best auspices, of the suspended agricultural and industrial operations. The satisfaction, however, derived from these and other similar statements, giving eloquent expression to the recognition of the irreproachable (correct) procedure of Spain, is, to a great extent, destroyed or diminished by the blame cast upon the predecessors of the present Government, and still more so by the fact that the numerous and incredible excesses committed by the Cuban insurgents are confounded in the same category, with the conduct of the regular army, which for nearly three years has been giving proof of its valor and discipline in the defense of indisputable rights and in the obedient fulfillment of orders and plans emanating from other departments. Whatever may be the political views of the men constituting the present Government of Spain, they can not, without protest, permit the severe condemnation passed upon those who preceded them in power, as they think that the struggles of parties, or even the recriminations which parties may launch at each other in their constantly recurring daily disputes, should not be judged in the same manner from a distance, nor can they consent to a foreign cabinet's making use of them as a basis for its arguments or as a foundation for its views in its diplomatic relations, as they are, on the contrary, domestic matters entirely foreign to the judgment or decision of other nations. When the present ministers advocated their own doctrines in opposition to those of their antagonists; when, in the sessions of Parliament, they opposed the colonial policy and the procedure of other parties and recommended to their fellow-citizens as more conducive to their good their own views, principles, and purposes, they never meant to make, nor can they now admit that they did make, any accusations concerning the good intentions and purposes of their predecessors, who, whatever might be their plans and methods, were certainly actuated by the most zealous patriotism. As regards the conduct of our army, the note of August 25, 1897, must have made it evident to the candid judgment of the Washington Cabinet that the Spanish troops have never given occasion for reproaches tarnishing, either in a greater or less degree, the brilliant splendor of their history, and that if any acts, judged from a distance and separately, have given rise to complaints and lamentations on the part of some sensitive and humanitarian spirits, they have proved, when investigated subsequently with proper coolness, to have been the inevitable consequence of war and a comparatively well-restricted object lesson of the calamities and disasters which have always accompanied war in all ages and in all countries, not excepting the United States, as was shown by references of strict historical accuracy in the document to which I have just alluded. Another idea which is repugnant to the pleasing and conciliatory views to which I have previously alluded, is the one which slips out in your excellency's note to which I am replying, when you say that Spain |