DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE AND FOREKiX RELATIONS. 



"untry, especially that of children, who aro 

 . !)> tiilM promises to leave their uutivo land, 

 il wli<. uVi- Miii--.iiii'itly reduced to u oonditlon <!' 

 utmost wretchedness. The Italian Parliament 

 .ok this state of things into conaidcra- 

 tli u view to the complete suppression of this 

 \ trattto. It has now just passed a law which 

 promulgated December 21, 1873, whereby a 

 ln-r -I' u -t-i oonneoted with the matter are made 

 mi.. .M I corresponding penalties aro 



>vidod then-fur. It hopes by tliis means to i>n:- 

 or ut least considerably to diminish, thu trafflo 



tioa. 



The efficacy of this law would, however, bo con- 

 siderably increased if foreign governments would co- 

 in its execution. 



I am uwuro of the difficulties which present 

 Ives to these states when it seems desira- 

 ble to extend tho powers of the central Govern- 

 ment. I nevertheless feel confident that your Ex- 

 cellency will bo pleased to give some attention to 

 il>ject, in order to see if there is any means of 

 : to an agreement in relation to the matter. 

 > vernment of the King would be happy to take 

 into serious consideration any proposition that the 

 <i >\, niment of the United States might think proper 

 to make to it, either for tho adoption of additional 

 articles to the extradition treaty now in force be- 

 tween the two countries, or for any thing else. 



I have, to this effect, the honor to inclose to vour 

 Excellency the text of tho law in question, and I beg 

 you to accept the assurances of my very high con- 

 sideration. L. COKTI. 



Daring tho year Mr. Daniel E. Sickles re- 

 signed as minister to Spain, and Mr. Caleb 

 Gushing was appointed as his successor. The 

 instructions to Mr. Cashing were given in the 

 following letter from Secretary Fish : 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, ) 

 WASHINOTOH, February 6, 1874. ) 



SIB : Whatever general instructions you may need 

 at the present time for your guidance in representing 

 this Government at Madrid have reference entirely 

 to the actual state of the island of Cuba and its rela- 

 tion to the United States as well as to Spain. 



It is now more than five years since an organized 

 body of the inhabitants of that island assembled at 

 Yara, issued a declaration of independence, and took 

 up arras- to maintain the declaration. The move- 

 ment rapidly spread, so as to occupy extensive re- 

 gions of the eastern and central portions of the isl- 

 and, and all tho resources of the Spanish Govern- 

 ment have been exerted ineffectually to suppress the 

 revolution and reclaim the districts in insurrection 

 to the authority of Spain. Tho prosecution of tho 

 war on both sides has given rise to many questions, 

 seriously affecting the interests and the honor of the 

 United States, which have become the subject of 

 diplomatic discussion between this Government and 

 that of Spain. 



You will receive herewith a selection, in chrono- 

 logical order, of the numerous dispatches in this re- 

 lation which have passed between the two Govern- 

 ments. From these documents you will derive ample 

 information, not only respecting special questions, 

 which have arisen from time to time, but also respect- 

 ing the general purposes and policy of the President 

 in the premises. 



Those purposes and that policy, as indicated in 

 the accompanying documents, have continued to be 

 substantially the same during the whole period of 

 these events, except in so far as they may nave been 

 modified by special circumstances, seeming to im- 

 part greater or less prominence to the various aspects 

 of the general question, and thus, without producing 

 any change of principle, yet. according to the par- 

 ticular emergency, to direct the action of the United 

 States. 



It will suffice, therefore, on tho present occasion, 

 first, briefly to state these general view* of th. 

 dent ; and, secondly, to show their application to the 

 several incidents of thin desperate struggle on the 

 part of the Cubans to acquire Independence, and 

 of Spain to maintain her sovereignty, in so far M 

 tli"-,e ineideiiU have immediately affected the United 

 States. 



Cuba is the largest insular possession still retained 

 by any European power in America. It is almost 

 contiguous to the Lnited States. It is preeminently 

 iVrtilti in the production of objects of commerce which 

 are of constant demand in this country, and. with 

 just regulations of reciprocal interchange of com- 

 modities, it would afford a largo and lucrative mar- 

 ket for tne productions of this country. Commer- 

 cially, as well as geographically, it is by nature more 

 closely connected with tho United States than with 

 Spain. 



Civil dissensions in Cuba, and especially sangui- 

 nary hostilities', such as are now raging there, pro- 

 duce effects in the United States second in gravity 

 only to those which they produce in Spain. 



Meanwhile our political relation to Cuba is alto- 

 gether anomalous, seeing that for any injury done to 

 tho United States or their citizens in Cuba we have 

 no direct means of redress there, and can obtain it 

 only by slow and circuitous action by way of Madrid. 

 The Captain-General of Cuba has, in effect, by the 

 laws of Spain, supremo and absolute authonty there 

 for all purposes of wrong to our citizens ; but this 

 Government has no adequate means of demanding 

 immediate reparation of such wrongs on the spot, 

 except througn a consul, who does not possess diplo- 

 matic character, and to whose representations, there- 

 fore, the Captain-General may, if he chooses, abso- 

 lutely refuse to listen. And grievous as this incon- 

 venience is to the United States in ordinary times, 

 it is more intolerable now, seeing that, as abundantly 

 appears, the contest in Cuba is between Peninsular 

 Spaniards on tho one hand and native-born Spanish- 

 Americans on the other; the former being' the real 

 representatives of Spanish force in Cuba, and exert- 

 ing that force, when they choose, with little, if any, 

 respect for tho metropolitan power of Spain. The 

 Captain-General is efficient to injure, but not to re- 

 dress, and, if disposed to redress, he may be ham- 

 pered, if not prevented, by resolute opposition on 

 the part of the Spaniards around him, disobedient 

 alike to him and to the supreme Government. 



In fine, Cuba, like the former continental colonies 

 of Spain in America, ought to belong to the great 

 family of American republics, with political forms 

 and public policy of their own, and attached to Eu- 

 rope by no ties, save those of international amity, 

 and or intellectual, commercial, and social inter- 

 course. The desire of independence on the part of 

 the Cubans is a natural and legitimate aspiration of 

 theirs, because they are Americans. And while such 

 independence is the manifest exigency of the politi- 

 cal interests of the Cubans themselves, it is equally 

 eo that of the rest of America, including the United 

 States. 



That the ultimate issue of events in Cuba will bo 

 its independence, however that issue may be pro- 

 duced, whether by means of negotiation, or as the 

 result of military operations, or of one of those un- 

 expected incidents which so frequently determine 

 the fate of nations, it is impossible to doubt. If 

 there be one lesson in history more cogent in its 

 teachings than any other, it is that no part of Amer- 

 ica, large enough to constitute a self-sustaining state, 

 can bo permanently held in forced colonial subjec- 

 tion to Europe. Complete separation between the 

 metropolis and its colony may be postponed by the 

 former conceding to tho latter a greater or less de- 

 gree of local autonomy, nearly approaching to inde- 

 pendence. But in all cases where a positive antago- 

 nism has come to exist between the mother-conntry 

 and its colonial subjects, where the sense of oppres- 



