[Appendix A.] Mr. Loewenstein to Mr. Adee. CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES, Valencia, July 25, 1873. (Received July 30.) SIR: I have respectfully to inform you that on the 23d instant I received and accepted an invitation from the British consul to assist at a meeting of all the consuls here in order to treat of a subject of interest to them all. The subject being to form a commission of five, that is to represent all the consular body, (composed of twenty-one individuals.) This consular commission proposed and accepted is composed of the representatives of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, and England. The consul of Italy, M. Guido Cialdini, brother of the general and minister of that name, has been elected unanimously the president, and the British consul the secretary of this commission. The inclosure No. 1 is a copy of the proceedings of our meeting. There was another reason for naming said commission not contained in the inclosure No. 1. That is, considering the actual political circumstances of this country, and that the majority of the consuls are Spanish subjects, they would rather be a difficulty than a help in resolving important questions which may arise between foreign and Spanish subjects. This will be avoided by the commission thus composed of five of the most powerful nations, acting in the name of the whole body. I have also the honor to forward to you a copy (No. 2) of a circular received by the president of the junta revolucionana of Valencia, and our collective answer to it, (No. 3.) I would also mention that a Spanish merchant here, Mr. Casimiro Luna, selling American and other sewing-machines, intended to fix, during the fair here, on the outside of his tiluda the American flag, but I told him that this being prohibited by the law he would, by insisting upon it, oblige me to apply to the government to take it down, as I think it improper that the American flag should cover a commercial charlatanry, or perhaps a fraud. I am, &c., No. 2. RICHARD LOEWENSTEIN. [Appendix B.-Translation.] Circular of the cantonal authorities of Valencia to the consular body, and reply of the latter, (appendices 2 and 3 to Mr. Loewenstein's dispatch of July 25, 1873.) The necessity of providing for the restoration of order, the difficult and painful nature of the situation, and the desire we feel to speedily create a normal and orderly state of things which will protect all citizens in the free exercise of their civil rights, are powerful causes which have deferred the time when this junta should have the satisfaction of addressing the worthy representative of the United States in this city. We are the sole and supreme power of the canton, since our origin springs from the will of the people represented in the militia and manifested in an election. Nevertheless the powers conferred upon us are merely provisional until universal suffrage comes to annul them or to confirm them. We have founded the canton conformably to the principles of the government, but without the sanction of the assembly, for we have been moved thereto by purely local and patriotic motives. The desire to avert a great wrong from this city drove us to rebel against a government to which we were closely bound by the double tie of an idea and a common interest. Our mission, therefore, is mainly confined to preserving social order in all its integrity, for it is the basis of public welfare, and to securing from any detriment the rights of all citizens, both natives and foreigners. Health and federal republic. VALENCIA, July 23, 1873. To the CITIZEN CONSUL of the United States. The President, PEDRO BARRIENTES. No. 3. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the polite communication you were pleased to send me, under date of yesterday, through your president. I observe with satisfaction the good desires which animate the junta to sustain soci: 1 order, in order that the interests of none of the inhabitants of this canton shall suffer in the least degree. I avail myself of this occasion to state to the junta that the consular body of this capital has appointed a committee of its own members, composed of the representatives of France, Germany, England, the United States of America, and Italy, of which I am chairman, and whose mission is to represent that body in all its official acts, and consequently the junta will be pleased to regard this reply as made in the name and stead of all the consuls accredited to this capital, to each of whom your circular is addressed. SIR: Your communication of the 25th instant, with three inclosures, was received to-day. You will carefully avoid any engagement with your colleagues at Valencia which may affect your entire liberty of action in your official capacity. It is not in accordance with the practice of the United States Government that its agents should associate themselves with the representatives of other powers in measures touching its political or commercial relations with the country or places to which they are accredited. You are not authorized to recognize the official character of the persons pretending to set up a separate government at Valencia. The United States recognize the government of the Spanish Republic, and no other, in this country. You have a right to demand of whomsoever you may find in the actual exercise of power in your district all needful protection for your person and the persons of those acting under you. as well as for your families and your dwellings, and likewise for the persons and property of citizens of the United States in your consular district. You have also the right to communicate freely with this legation, and with any public or private vessel of the United States that may enter any port in your district. You will, however, be particular to avoid taking any steps which may be looked upon as a recognition of any authority hostile to this government. I am, &c., D. E. SICKLES. No. 687.] No. 418. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. UNITED STATES LEGATION IN SPAIN, Madrid, August 8, 1873. (Received August 30.) SIR: I have the satisfaction to forward a copy and translation of a law passed by the Cortes granting a comprehensive bill of rights to the inhabitants of Porto Rico, being substantially the same found in Title I of the Spanish constitution. After a failure to pass the bill on Saturday last, the 2d instant, for the want of the prescribed quorum of depu ties, the measure was again brought forward day before yesterday, and received one hundred and eighty-four affirmative votes against one in the negative. Another attempt was made to count out the house, but it happily failed, a sufficient number remaining, although there were but two to spare. On the failure of the bill to pass when first presented a cry of triumph went up from the conservative press, including the Imparcial, identified last year with the Zorrilla-Martos cabinet, and it was supposed the insurrectionary and turbulent spirit shown in the Spanish provinces might deter the Cortes from further concessions to the colo nies. I commend to your attention the brief speech of Mr. Labra, a deputy from Porto Rico, and a leading reformer and abolitionist. I am, &c., D. E. SICKLES. [Inclosure A.-Translation.] Report of the colonial committee declaring the first title of the constitution of 1869 in force in Porto Rico. [From el Diario de las Sessions de las Cortes Constituyentes de la Republica Española. Sixth appendix to No. 42 of July 17, 1873.] To the Cortes: The permanent committee on the colonies has examined with all the deliberation and care possible under the circumstances the proposed law by virtue of which Title I of the Spanish constitution of 1869 is extended to the province of Porto Rico. The committee accepts to its full extent the luminous preamble to the measure, a document which demonstrates that from to-day henceforth the colonial ministry will be animated solely by a high and broad sentiment of justice, the only one which can keep alive the sentiment of national unity beyond the Atlantic, and the only one sufficient to assure not merely the integrity of the country, but also the realization of the grand destiny reserved to Spain in the continent discovered by our great navigator of the fourteenth century. The committee nevertheless deems it advisable to introduce some modifications into the bill submitted for its examination. According to article 31 of the constitution of 1869, a law is requisite whenever the security of the state demands the suspension of the rights guaranteed in the 2d, 5th, 6th, and 17th articles thereof. The committee does not now discuss the goodness of this doctrine; it regards it as a fact of law, and looks only to harmonizing it with the actual state of affairs in the colonies, that is to say, with all those institutions which cannot be blotted out with the stroke of the pen, and the incongruities of which will be appreciated by the Cortes when they are finally called upon to reorganize the administration in our transatlantic provinces, if indeed such a matter be not left to the free initiative of the individual states of the Spanish federation. For it is evident, on the one hand, that in view of the distance of Porto Rico from the mother-country, and the want of continuous and rapid communications between them, it would be scarcely less than impossible in certain cases that the 31st article referred to could be observed to the letter, for if it were, the law voted by the Cortes would sometimes arrive too late. On the other hand, the superior governors and captains-general of the province of Porto Rico, although they do not enjoy, at least to their fullest extent, the extraordinary powers conferred under the royal order of 1825, are invested with all the authority and all the means sanctioned in the “Recopilacion des Indias" especially stated in Title III, book III, thereof, and it is difficult if not impossible to reconcile all this with the constitutional code of 1869. It is needful, therefore, to harmonize all those regulations and face the difficulties which distance, even though slight, may bring about at times. To this end the committee has given due attention to the propositions of law presented to the present Cortes by the worthy deputies from Porto Rico, as well as the evident spirit of the considerations with which the colonial minister prefaces the bill now under examination. But it is to be understood that the committee only endeavors to solve the difficulties of the moment without venturing any definitive opinion on the future organization of the provinces that are to constitute the individual transatlantic states of the Spanish federation. For analogous reasons the committee opines that it is indispensable to give a certain development, and with it a certain precision, to a resort specified in the second paragraph of article 31, determining the law of public order, which is to be enforced in Porto Rico as in the Peninsula in certain determinate cases. Basing its course on the foregoing considerations, the permanent committee on colonal affairs has the honor to propose for the approbation of the Constituent Cortes the following report: ARTICLE I. The first title of the constitution of June 1, 1869, is declared in force in the province of Porto Rico. ARTICLE HI. When the safety of the state, in extraordinary circumstances, requires the suspension in the province of Porto Rico of the rights guaranteed in articles 2, 5, and 6, and the first, second, and third paragraphs of article 17, the superior governor shall communicate the fact to the central government by telegraph, so that the government may solicit from the Cortes the law referred to in the 31st article of the constitution. ARTICLE III. In case of interruption of telegraphic communications, either permanently or for any length of time, by which compliance with the preceding article may be prevented, the superior civil governor of the province is hereby authorized to suspend the rights guaranteed in articles 2, 5, and 6, and paragraphs one, two, and three of the 17th article, unless the full provincial deputation convened for this purpose, together with the junta of the authorities, by a majority of votes, be unfavorable to the suspension in question. In case of a tie the superior civil governor shall have the casting vote. Under any circumstances the superior governor shall immediately communicate the resolution adopted, and the facts and circumstances on which it is based, to the ministry of the colonies, in order that the latter may transmit it to the Cortes, which, by means of a law if they deem it expedient, shall ratify the suspension of guarantees. In the negative case, or if thirty days elapse from the date of the suspension without the Cortes having taken any action thereon, the decree of the superior governor of Porto Rico shall be deemed to have been annulled. ARTICLE IV. For all the effects of the 31st article of the constitution, the law of public order of April 23, 1870, shall be understood to be operative in the province of Porto Rico. ARTICLE V. All laws and ordinances in any way opposed to the provisions of the present law are hereby annulled. JOSE RAMON FERNANDEZ, Chairman. MANUEL GARCIA MARQUÉS. PALACE OF THE CORTES, July 14, 1873. [Inclosure C.-Translation.] Extract from proceedings in the Cortes July 28, 1873. Approval of bill extending the first chapter of the Spanish constitution to Porto Rico. [From La Gaceta de Madrid, July 29, 1873.] * The report of the permanent colonial committee on the bill extending to Porto Rico the first title of the constitution of 1869 was then taken up for debate, and there being no deputy to ask the floor upon the bill as a whole, it was then submitted to discussion by articles, and articles 1 and 2 were approved without debate. Article 3 was read, when Mr. Diaz Quintero said: I do not rise to impugn the article, but to make a protest and to say that, although I am not in conformity with the whole bill, I accept it as the least possible evil. Without further discussion article 3 was approved, as were likewise articles 4 and 5, and it was announced that the bill would go before the committee on the correction of style, and that a day would be designated for putting it to a final vote. [Inclosure D.-Translation.] Fnal passage in the Constituent Cortes August 6, 1873, of the lill of rights for Porte Rico. The law declaring in force in Porto Rico the first title of the constitution of 1869, as revised by the committee on the correction of style and declared conformable to previous resolution, was then read, and upon Mr. Secretary Cagigal inquiring if it was definitively approved, several deputies demanded that the yeas and nays be taken. Mr. LABRA. Let the names of those who have demanded the yeas and nays be placed on record. Mr. MORAN, (Don Valentine.) Let them be recorded once, twice, and a thousand times. The VICE-PRESIDENT. It is not customary to record the names of those who demand the yeas and nays, and the rules say nothing on the subject. Mr. La Rosa. I doubt if enough deputies have stood up to demand the yeas and nays. The VICE-PRESIDENT. There is no doubt about it, Mr. Deputy. The yeas and nays were taken. This having been done, the said law was definitively approved by one hundred and eighty-four deputies against one, in the following form. (See the list, appendix.) Mr. LABRA. I have asked the floor, first, to beg that the chamber will be pleased to direct that the law which has just been passed be transmitted to Porto Rico by telegraph; and, secondly, in the name of the Porto Rican deputation, and, I think I may also say, in the name of all of the liberals of Porto Rico, to render here a public tribute of thanks to this assembly and to this government which has consecrated liberty in that island, bringing before us and voting to-day with noble enthusiasm that which henceforth may be called the bill of rights of Porto Rico. The chamber recalls another moment of peril for the country, the time when, at the commencement of this century, the empire of Spain beyond the Atlantic fell through the shocks of a separatist movement. Then from the Antillian seas a voice resounded proclaiming that whatever might be the fate in store for Spain in the midst of that tempest, she would still have one island united to her and ready to follow her to the end in her days of glory as in the abyss of her misfortune. That voice was the voice of Porto Rico, [applause,] and her spirit is the spirit that to-day inspires me in addressing you these words. [Applause.] At the same time I have risen to express my fervent hopes that the resolution to-day taken by this chamber may re-echo to the furthermost parts of Spanish territory, as well as in other lands, so that those who dwell in exile, driven away by the voice of discord and of disheartenment, may realize that there is no motive, no excuse, no pretext, for not recognizing the rule of Spain; that she cherishes the firm resolve, solemn and honorable, to consecrate liberty alike in both hemispheres. Let them know, then, that this chamber bears itself worthily, nobly, and loyally; let no one doubt the sincerity of Spain; let all be of one mind in this, and thus shall we found upon solid bases the integrity of our country by means of liberty and democracy. [Great applause.] On the motion being put that the resolution of the chamber be transmitted by telegraph to Porto Rico, it was carried. No. 704.1 No. 419. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. UNITED STATES LEGATION, Madrid, August 23, 1873. (Received September 18.) SIR: During the progress of the late insurrectionary movement in Andalusia I have received from some of our consular officers narratives of the events happening under their personal observation of sufficient interest to merit the attention of the Department. Mr. Charles H. Eder, the vice-consul at Seville, in temporary charge of the consulate in Mr. Jourdan's absence, sends me a succinct account of the progress of the cantonal rebellion in that city, and the sanguinary capture of the town by the government troops under General Pavia. I annex a copy of Mr. Eder's report for your perusal. That gentleman has been informed that his course under the trying circumstances in which he was placed, as described, meets with the approval of this legation. I am, &c., [Inclosure.] Mr. Eder to General Sickles. D. E. SICKLES. No 36.1 UNITED STATES CONSULATE AT SEVILLE, August 4, 1873. (Received August 7.) SIR: In compliance with your orders to this consulate, in your No. 34, I have the honor to give you a brief account of the principal occurrences in this city during these last days. On the morning of the 19th of July, at a meeting of the chief of volunteers with the members of the ayuntamiento, they determined to form a separate state, under the denomination of "Canton Andaluz." The intransigentes, who were in the majority, or were at least more determined, proceeded immediately to the public prison, releasing their principals, who had been prisoners, with suits against them, since the occur |