elections may be not merely legitimate, but also a genuine moral expression of the popular will. To coerce the will of the people is, at all times, a crime; but it is more than a crime, it is madness, for a republican government to do so. The word "republic," in its simplest sense, means the government of nations by themselves, and self-government springs from the ballot-box. To corrupt, vitiate, or falsify elections is the same as to corrupt, vitiate, or falsify the republic itself. From the moment the principle of popular sovereignty forms a practical element in our institutions-from the moment when all ideas have full liberty of expression by speech and pen, in order that, through universal suffrage, they may develop into laws, the rulers of the nation are limited to leaving the free expression of these ideas to the will of the people, assuring them full freedom and the good order indispensable to freedom of action. The republican government is resolved to fulfill this duty, and trusts that all parties and all citizens will second it in this course, for otherwise we would but show that we are unfitted for self-government, and, if we showed this, we would also demonstrate the impossibility of the republic, and the judgment of the world would class us among the peoples whose liberty is irredeemably lost. Even did morality and policy not counsel the government to the fullest electoral freedom, it would be counseled by the most rudimentary instinct of self-preservation. This government is charged with guaranteeing against all attacks the sincerity of the vote which consecrates the republic in our country and organizes it upon bases as far removed from reaction as from utopianism. The day on which the National Assembly proclaimed the republic the assembly expressly covenanted to call upon the people to organize its work, and to perfect the chain of consequences flowing from the principle then proclaimed. According to the practice of all free nations, and according to the language of the laws themselves, when sovereignty resides with the people, to them it now belongs to define and extend without delay the decision of the assembly. Public opinion in Europe has recognized the need of a speedy appeal to the Spanish people in solemn convocation. The assembly passed a law irrevocably fixing the time for such convocation, and therefore the government took action with a strong hand and a firm resolve against those who sought to retard the verdict of the nation and to convoke illegally the suspended assembly, ignoring alike the language of the constitution, the letter of the laws, and the sovereignty of the people. And the same energy it showed against those who in high places conspired to prevent the elections, will it also show against those who from below seek to disturb the elections and to set aside their sovereign verdict. On its accession to the heights of power the government saw that the very roots of constitutional rule were withered in Spain by the falsification and corruption of the ballot. Councils of ministers designated their candidates as though they appointed office-holders; governors received their countersign and transmitted it to their underlings; the sacred mission of justice was converted into an electioneering agency; the budget became a means of bribery; the public administration became a weapon of attack, and the conduct of our elections reached so scandalous a height, and the art of electoral corruption became so deeply rooted, that these same notorious falsifiers of the ballot have themselves shrunk back, terrified, on beholding the dawn of a new era of truth and sincerity in the expression of the will of the people. It is now necessary and indispensable to purify the electoral system, and the best means of purifying it is for office-holders to cease to regard their offices as a means of gaining votes, and for the governors especially to cease to regard their administration as a ministerial agency. In exact reverse of the belief hitherto cherished, and the practice hitherto followed, the task of the dependents of the government must henceforth be to assure freedom of expression to all ideas and freedom of vote to all citi zens. With these elections should forever end the system of official candidacies, of administrative support, of the conversion of public servants into agents of the government, of the threats of armed mobs, of hinderances in the polling-booths, of the arbitrary distribution of certificates of the right to vote, of false returns, and of the miraculous resurrection in the official canvass of candidates defeated at the polls. Far from wishing to perpetuate this melancholy electoral tradition, the government desires that its agents shall extend the amplest protection to all voters, whatever may be their opinion or their banner. Far from rewarding those who influence, menace, bribe, or falsify the elections, the government is resolved to hunt them down untiringly, and to turn them over to the tribunals without delay. In democratic societies governments must not be the judges of the electors, but are to be judged by them. Never must they set themselves up as sovereigns of the national will, but should be humble and faithful in fulfilling the judgments of the ballot-box. One of the social phenomena now to be seen unequivocally and with pain is that to-day, after all our declarations, those in opposition to the ideas of the government show signs of failing resolution, and refrain from taking part in the vote as though some grave peril threatened them or superior force constrained them. But the government does not and cannot believe the people of the republic capable of hindering in any way the free exercise of the right to vote, knowing as it does that upon the exercise of this right depends the consolidation of the republic. Nor does the government believe, nor can it believe, that the difficulties of the present period of transition can in any way dismay the people of the nation that chose the Constituent Cortes of 1810 amidst the horrors of a foreign invasion, the Constituent Cortes of 1836 amidst the horrors of a civil war, and the two last constitutional conventions when surrounded by the tumult of armed and triumphant revolutions. The government witnesses with deep pain, and denounces with manly uprightness, the circumstance that the parties who most stand in need of full legality, now prefer disturbances in the elections, and are speedily disheartened in the electoral struggle if not protected by the shadow of the public administration. And thus it is that political parties are ever striving to direct the government of the state, and not the opinion of the people, passing from dietatorship to conspiracies, with no other polar star than their own interests, and no other goal than their own aggrandizement, even though these be won at the cost of justice and of right. And from hence springs another evil still more serious. The voters of the people, unconscious of their own high authority and sovereignty, await the signal of the government to vote for the candidate who may please and satisfy the administration. While this evil lasts so long will last the two greatest calamities of our time-systematic insurrection and military pronunciamientos. Our sorely-rent social system will find no repose; and instead of hastening toward democratic institutions as a safe harbor of refuge, its forces will gather as to a field of battle. The government adjures all voters to repair to the polls, and there make known their will and their convictions. The government assures them that it will exert no manner of coercion either upon their voice or upon their conscience. The government would rather that the diverse opinions should be represented in the chamber in the same proportion as they exist among the people. If, from the calm heights where governments should ever dwell, far removed by their nature from all party contests, it were permitted to address the combatants, the gov ernment would direct counsel to those who have always striven to establish liberty and democracy in our country. And it would remind them that unreasoning abstention from the polls can alone give rise to reactionary conspiracies; and that reactionary conspiracies, if they prevail, which is impossible, can alone result in a dictatorship, which is the extinction of liberty, or in the restoration which would be the crowning shame of our country. The republic is now indissolubly joined to liberty. Its cause is the cause of progress. In saving the republic we save the rights of all. If the republie falls the right falls with it. The board whereat liberty may alone sit is the republic. And the liberal parties of the opposition will repent themselves, when too late, of their present errors: firstly, because they have sought to retard the vote of the people; and, secondly, because they have refused to contribute toward the better and inore perfect organization of the republic. But if in truth the government cannot address itself to any parties, it may and should address itself to the electors of the nation, and to them it now speaks. Assemble yourselves; calmly discuss, freely acquaint yourselves with all the problems that agitate modern society; choose the men whose purity of purpose and whose exalted patriotism inspires you with the most faith and confidence. You are masters of your convictions and of your vote; and if, from spite or fear, you do not cast your votes, blame no one for the consequences that may follow this act of moral suicide-blame only yourselves. The government confides in the prudence of the Spanish people; it confides in the calmness of its judgment, and it trusts that, heeding the dictates of their convictions and the voice of their conscience, they will be successful in giving form to the great principles of modern civilization, and through the triumph of these principles they may give strength to the rights of all and add to the greatness of our beloved country. Madrid, May 3, 1870. No. 604.] No. 406. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. [Extract.] UNITED STATES LEGATION IN SPAIN, Madrid, May 26, 1873. (Received June 12.) SIR: Soon after the receipt of your instruction No. 323 I had the honor to read it to the minister of state. His excellency expressed surprise and indignation on learning the manner in which the Cuban authorities had disobeyed the orders of the supreme government. Remarking that this was by no means the first instance of such disobedi ence, I informed Mr. Castelar of the action of the admiralty in 1870, in the case of the "Lloyd Aspinwall." I said that the military and naval authorities in Cuba had so long been permitted to disobey orders, disregard decrees, and suspend the laws of Spain, that they were becoming, practically, independent of the Madrid government, and that, unless speedily made to understand and perform their duty by means of one or more severe examples of punishment for misconduct, it would be useless to come here for the redress of any grievances citizens of the United States might suffer in Cuba. The minister assured me that further and peremptory orders would be sent at once to Cuba, with reference to the several matters embraced in your note; that special instructions in the case of Santa Rosa and Kryké would be given by the navy department to the admiral commanding, and that if these orders should not be obeyed, the officer offending would be dismissed. Mr. Castelar proceeded to state that these irregularities were incident to the old colonial system bequeathed to the republic by the monarchy; that slavery was the basis of the situation in Cuba, and the exigencies of that institution were complicated by a state of war; that the administration had become demoralized by gross abuses which had escaped correction through the frequent changes of government in Spain; that the condition of affairs in the peninsula had tasked the utmost efforts of the republican executive during the brief period it had held office; that, nevertheless, measures were under consideration which could not fail to put an end to many of the evils of the old system; that these reforms, so far as they could be enforced by decrees, would be put in operation as soon as an executive government should be definitively constituted by the Cortes Constituyentes; and that others, such as an emancipation act, a general amnesty, and a prudent measure of selfgovernment for Cuba, would be submitted to the Cortes for its approbation. Promising to acquaint you with the observations of his excellency, I begged to be informed, as soon as possible, of the action of the Cuban authorities in response to the fresh orders about to be sent, remarking that I felt reluctant to send forward any other than a satisfactory communication on so important a subject. Mr. Castelar said he was sure there would be no delay; that he would bring the business before the council of ministers that very afternoon; that the orders would be sent by cable, and he would inform me at once of the result. On the 14th instant Mr. Castelar informed me in a private note, a translation of which is appended, that, on the day before, the secretary of the navy had telegraphed the necessary orders for the liberation of Santa Rosa and Kryké, and that, with respect to the embargoes, the colonial minister felt sure there would be no delay after the receipt of his or ders, which had been sent by post. Under these circumstances, having sent you a brief report by telegraph of my action and of Mr. Castelar's reply, I deferred for a few days this regular communication. I had before reminded the minister that I was still without information of the action of the Cuban authorities in these cases, to which his attention had been called in April. His excellency replied that he had received telegrams from the captain-general about the case of O'Kelly, and he believed that one of them related likewise to the case of Santa Rosa, which he would send me for perusal. Not hearing from the minister, I addressed an unofficial note to him repeating my request for the promised information. I inclose a translation of the reply received from Mr. Castelar on the 8th, and of General Pieltain's telegram of the 3d instant. Having waited until Friday last, the 23d instant, and hearing nothing meanwhile from Mr. Castelar on this subject, I requested an interview, which was appointed for to-day. His excellency anticipated the subject uppermost in my mind, and at once expressed his regret and surprise not to have received from his colleagues of the colonial and marine departments further advices with reference to the topics of our recent conferences. * He assured me of the solicitude and zeal he had shown in urging the prompt fulfillment of all that had been promised in these cases. He was indeed at a loss for a satisfactory explanation of the delay that had occurred. He would that very day ask the action of the council of ministers on the questions I had presented. I might rest satisfied he would leave nothing undone on his part, and he was sure he could say the same for his colleagues, that would put an end to a state of things not less unsatisfactory to this government than it must be to the Presi dent. His excellency seemed so fully convinced of the importance of prompt action that I made no further attempt to amplify the considerations pointing in that direction. It was, however, agreed between us that I should have a conversation with President Figueras on the subject. The President gave me an interview this afternoon. I stated to him the circumstances, and remarked that I was unable to give you any sufficient explanation of the delay. His excellency replied with characteristic directness, "In Havana they do not obey the government in Madrid." He added, "We will consider the question to-day in council and take measures immediately to cause those men to be released. About the embargoes there can be no further difficulty. We shall stop all of them by a general measure which is ready to be published." I thanked the President for these satisfactory assurances, and after some further conversation, in course of which Mr. Figueras intimated his purpose to retire from office on the assembling of the Cortes Constituyentes next month, I took my leave of his excellency. Unwilling to postpone any longer my report of the action taken in compliance with your instruction, I regret that it must be so inadequate, and can only hope that before this dispatch comes to your hands I may be able to anticipate its contents by a telegram conveying more satisfactory intelligence. I am, &c., D. E. SICKLES. [Appendix A.-Translation.] Mr. Castelar to General Sickles. [Unofficial.] MINISTRY OF STATE, PRIVATE OFFICE, Madrid, May 8, 1873. (Received May 8.) MY DEAR FRIEND: The inclosed is a copy of a telegram from Havana which I wish I could have shown you in person so that we could speak of matters of much interest to me and which will also interest you. However, I will go to see you at my usual hour. I have again telegraphed for the promised information about Santa Rosa. I remain, &c., EMILIO CASTELAR. Appendix referred to in the foregoing note.-Translation. To the MINISTER OF STATE: [Telegram.] HAVANA, May 3, 5 p. m. (Received May 4, 11 a. m.) O'Kelly comes to Havana under full guarantees. All consideration shown him. His case not forejudged. Will be brought before ordinary tribunal. Information about Santa Rosa another day. PIELTAIN. BO [Appendix B.-Translation.] Mr. Castelar to General Sickles. (Private.) MINISTRY OF STATE, PRIVATE OFFICE, MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday the minister of marine sent the necessary telegram ordering the release of the American citizens pardoned by the government of the Metropolis. I spoke to the minister of ultramar about the embargoes, and he told me that if the orders issued for the release of embargoed property have not been executed he is sure it is because they have not yet been received. I remain, &c., No. 407. General Sickles to Mr. Fish. EMILIO CASTELAR. No. 610.] UNITED STATES LEGATION, Madrid, June 1, 1873. (Received June 20.) SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith a copy of the papers prepared in obedience to your instruction No. 309, in relation to the griev ances imposed on foreign shipping by the customs regulations in Cuba. On pages* 46-52 of the printed case will be found a draft of a proposed note to the Spanish government. These papers have been transmitted, in duplicate, to the representatives of Great Britain, Germany, and Sweden residing at this capital, accompanied by a note-mutatis mutandis-corresponding to the copy annexed. I am, &c., See pages 995-999 of this print. D. E. SICKLES. |