copy and translation of which are herewith accompanied for the information of the Department. In connection with this subject I have to say that the friends of Mr. Sanguily seem to be under the impression that this consulate-general has to take exclusive charge of his case. I have answered that the functions of this office in the matter, until otherwise instructed by the Department of State, are limited to the claiming and to the seeing that Mr. Sanguily, since he was not captured with arms in hand, be tried by the civil or ordinary and not by the military jurisdiction, with the exercise of his right of naming his own advocates, solicitors, and notaries for his defense before the court, and for the securing to him of a fair trial, in accordance with the terms of the said Collantes-Cushing agreement, the legal expenses of his defense being for his own account. Awaiting the instructions of the Department, I am, etc., RAMON O. WILLIAMS, Consul-General. [Inclosure in No. 2429.-Translation.] Mr. Williams to the Governor-General. UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, EXCELLENCY: Complying with the general instructions of my Government, and with reference to the conversation I had the honor to hold with your excellency yesterday respecting the arrest of Mr. Julio Sanguily, a citizen of the United States, and held in Fortress Cabanas for trial by the military jurisdiction, as I understand, for supposed connection with an attempt to disturb the public peace of this island, I have to ask in the name of my Government that your excellency be pleased to order the strict observance of the agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, between the United States and Spain in the trial of this American citizen, the first article of which agreement provides that "No citizen of the United States residing in Spain, her adjacent islands, or her ultramarine possessions, charged with acts of sedition, treason, or conspiracy against the institutions, the public security, the integrity of the territory or against the supreme government, or any other crime whatever shall be subject to trial by any exceptional tribunal, but exclusively by the ordinary jurisdiction except in the case of being captured with arms in band." Therefore, as this individual has not been captured with arms in hand in any attempt against the sovereignty of Spain in this island, but at his home amid his family circle in this city, I have, likewise, to ask that your excellency be pleased to inhibit the military jurisdiction from cognizance of this case, and to order at the same time that the trial of the accused be transferred to the ordinary jurisdiction, with his right to appoint such advocates, solicitors, and notaries as he may choose for his defense before the corresponding court, in accordance with the said agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, and with the provisions of article 7 of the treaty of the 27th of October, 1795, between Spain and the United States. I have, etc., RAMON O. WILLIAMS, Consul-General. [Subinclosure in No. 2429.] Extract from the register of citizens of the United States kept at this consulate-general. August, 1878. Julio Sanguily, 32 years of age; native of the island of Cuba; married; profession, commerce; transient, residence San Rafael Baths. Naturalized as a citizen of the United States on the 6th of August, 1878, by the superior court of New York. Passport No. 9310 issued by the Department of State, at Washington, on the 7th of August, 1878. Government-general of the island of Cuba issued him personal document ("cedula personal"), dated the 22d of August, 1878. I certify that the preceding is a faithful extract from the register kept in this consulate-general. (Signed) RAMON O. WILLIAMS, Consul-General. Mr. Williams to Mr. Uhl. No 2442.] UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, Habana, March 9, 1895. (Received March 14.) SIR: With reference to my dispatch No. 2429, of the 27th ultimo, reporting the arrest and subjection to court-martial, instead of to an ordinary court for trial, of Mr. Julio Sanguily, I have the honor to inclose, for the information of the Department, the copy and translation of the communication dated the 1st instant, addressed to this office by the secretary of the government general of the island, together with copies of my answer, dated the 4th and 7th instant, all in relation to this affair. I am, etc., RAMON O. WILLIAMS, [Inclosure 1 in No. 2442.-Translation.] GOVERNMENT GENERAL OF THE ISLAND OF CUBA, SIR: His excellency the Governor-General being informed of your communication of the 26th of February last, referring to the arrest of Mr. Julio Sanguily, has been pleased to order that you be advised, as I now have the honor of doing, that, as according to article 7 of the law relating to foreigners of the 4th of July, 1870, not contradicted nor vitiated by the agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, between Spain and the United States, nor by the treaty of the 27th of October, 1795, every foreigner resident in the island of Cuba, to be considered as such, must be inscribed in the register of foreigners of the Government, besides being inscribed in that of the consulate of his nation, it becomes necessary in order to proceed with the remonstrance founded on the character of American citizen of Mr. Sanguily, that you accredit that the said individual has complied with the precept of the said article 7 of the law of the 4th of July, 1870, of having presented for that purpose the certificate of his inscription in the register of foreigners which, till the decree of the 21st of December, 1880, was kept by this government general, and from that date and by order of the said decree by the civil governments of the provinces. God guard you many years. ESTANISLAO DE ANTONIO. [Inclosure 2 in No. 2442.-Translation.] UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, SIR: Replying to the communication that by order of his excellency the GovernorGeneral you were pleased to address me on the 1st instant, received on the 2d, signifying the necessity on the part of this consulate-general to accredit the fact of Mr. Julio Sanguily having complied with the precept of article 7 of the law relative to foreigners, by presenting the certificate of his inscription in the register of foreigners, which up to the 21st of December, 1880, was kept in the government general, and from that date and by virtue of the same decree is now kept by the civil governments of the provinces, before my remonstrance in his case can be taken into consideration, I now have the honor to state that the extract taken from the register of this consulate-general and added at the foot of the communication that I had the honor to address his excellency on this subject shows the fact of the general government of this island having issued to Mr. Sanguily the usual personal pass (cedula personal), under number 1613, dated the 22d of August, 1878, the authenticity of which fact will doubtlessly be corroborated on the making of the proper comparison with the corresponding register in the office of your worthy charge; your question being duly answered as I believe with the foregoing. God guard you many years. RAMON O. WILLIAMS, Consul-General. [Inclosure 3 in No. 2442.-Translation Mr. Williams to Mr. de Antonio. UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, SIR: In amplification of my communication of the 4th instant, replying to your attentive communication of the 1st instant, I have the honor to accompany a copy of the personal pass (çedula personal), such as are issued to transient foreigners, that the civil government was pleased to issue to Mr. Julio Sanguily, under date of the 30th of October, 1886; as, also, another under date of the 5th of November, 1886, in favor of his wife, Mrs. Matilda Echarte de Sanguily, the latter including their minor son Julio, accrediting thereon, as customary, the American citizenship of the said Sanguily, and of his wife and son, which documents will be preserved in this consulate-general at the disposal of the advocate that may be named by the accused for his defense before whatever competent court of the civil or ordinary jurisdiction he may be tried, in accordance with the agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, between the United States and Spain. God guard you many years. RAMON O. WILLIAMS, Consul-General. [Translation.] Number. Personal pass, fiscal year 1886-87. Province of Habana. Transient foreigners, gratis. Mr. Julio Sanguily, native of Cuba, American citizen, province of id., 41 years of age, married, profession merchant, residing in Lombillo, No. 4, and resides habitually in El Cerro. Habana, October 30, 1886. By the Governor: [SEAL.] E. GUILLERME. Number. Personal pass, fiscal year, 1886-87. Province of Habana. Transient foreigners, gratis. Mrs. Matilde Echarte de Sanguily, native of Cuba, American citizen, province of id., 27 years of age, married, profession, her house in which she resides, and resides there habitually, accompanied by her son Julio, a minor. SIR: I am in receipt of your dispatches, Nos. 2429 to 2434, inclusive, relative to the recent political disturbances in the island of Cuba and the arrest of Messrs. Julio Sanguily and José Maria Aguirre, American citizens, for alleged complicity therein. Your application to the GovernorGeneral for the transfer of these cases from military to civil jurisdiction under the provisions of the protocol of January 12, 1877, was correct and proper, and is approved. Your understanding of the limits of your duty in respect to these arrests, as explained in your No. 2429, is correct. I am, etc., EDWIN F. UHL. [Telegram.] Mr. Williams to Mr. Olney. HABANA, March 18, 1895. (Received March 19.) My affirmation of the American citizenship of Julio Sanguily having been comprobated and authenticated by the civil government of the Province of Habana, the Governor-General has ordered his transfer from the military to the civil jurisdiction for trial in accordance with protocol twelve January, seventy-seven, as I asked on the 26th ultimo. No. 2457.] Mr. Williams to Mr. Uhl. UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, Habana, March 23, 1895. SIR: With reference to previous correspondence on the subject, I have the honor to inclose copy of the official note of the secretary of the general government of the island, dated the 16th instant, received on the 18th, informing me that in accordance with my solicitation of the 26th ultimo his excellency the Governor-General has ordered the transfer of Mr. Julio Sanguily from the court-martial to which he had been committed to the civil or ordinary jurisdiction for trial, with the strict observance in his favor of all the guarantees of the protocol of the 12th of January, 1877. In submitting this correspondence to the Department I beg to make the following observations in explanation of my reasons for calling so early and so promptly on the Governor-General, which action appears to have given rise to the belief on his part that I was acting indiscreetly, and, perhaps, at an inopportune moment: On going to the Governor-General at the early hour of 8 o'clock in the morning of the 25th ultimo, I was solely animated by a sense of public duty to inform him as soon as possible of the facts relating to the American citizenship of Sanguily, thinking he might not be acquainted with them, and to ask for his transfer from the court-martial to the civil jurisdiction for trial, in accordance with the terms of the agreement of the 12th of January, 1877, since I had been assured that he had not been arrested with arms in hand in any attempt against the public security, but when quietly at his home in this city. I also conceived it to be a part of my duty on this occasion to do all in my power to prevent the issuance of any misunderstanding out of this affair between the Governments of the United States and Spain from hasty action, either from inadvertence or inobservance on the part of the court-martial of the terms of that agreement. I thought that I had good reasons for this promptness of action, because when I remonstrated in 1893 in the case of Howard, who had been subjected to courtmartial for trial on account of an incident sprung from a sailor's spree, and asked for his transfer to the ordinary or civil jurisdiction, as the correspondence on file at the Department will show, the deputy prosecuting attorney, to whom my remonstrance had been referred for his opinion, denied the existence of that agreement, and assumed that I had committed a mistake; and he further assumed that the only agreement made between the United States and Spain during 1877 was the convention of the 5th of January of that year for the extradition of criminals fugitive from justice; and, besides, that my remonstrance against the trial of Howard by court-martial was tantamount to the pretension, on the part of this consulate general, that American citizens had greater rights within Spanish territory than the law allowed to Spanish subjects in identical cases, and closed his opinion by remanding Howard back to the court-martial. The same correspondence will show, also, that at this stage of the proceedings I called on His Majesty's prosecuting attorney (fiscal de S. M.), who I found was acquainted with the existence of the agreement; and ascertained from him that the error of his deputy had originated from the fact that the agreement had never been published by the Spanish Government. The latter then withdrew his opposition to my petition, and Howard was tried by the superior court, having had for his defense one of the best lawyers of the bar of Habana appointed by the same court, he not having had wherewith to pay the expenses of his defense. He was convicted, and is still serving out his sentence. Soon afterwards Oglesby was arrested and the fact reported to the Department. The judge of the primary court committed the like error of turning him over to the military instead of to the ordinary jurisdiction for trial. But on my interference he was transferred to the civil court, tried, and was acquitted. Then followed the case of Rosell, another American citizen, at Santiago de Cuba, who by like mistake was sent to the court-martial for trial. But on my representation to the then acting governor general he was turned over to the civil court, tried, and acquitted. I Immediately following the arrest of Mayolin, also another American citizen, took place at Santa Clara. He was likewise subjected through error of the primary judge to court-martial, and on presenting my petition to the Governor-General now in charge he asked me in rather a curt manner if it was the duty of this office to defend such men. answered him very civilly that I had not come as the advocate of Mayolin, as that was a matter of his own appointment, under the agreement, his defense before the courts not being a consular function; and furthermore that I knew nothing of the charges against him, and that my petition was limited solely to the asking that he should be tried by an ordinary civil court instead of by a court-martial, in accordance with the agreement, since I was assured that he had not been captured with arms in hand in any attempt against the Government. The GovernorGeneral then understood the object of my call, received my remonstrance, and soon after decreed the transfer of Mayolin to the civil court, by which he was in turn tried and acquitted, thus by his own decree justifying my action in the case. Returning now to the case of Sanguily, the subject of my visit to the Governor-General on the morning of the 25th ultimo, I found that my conjecture proved correct, for he was surprised on learning the fact of the American citizenship of Sanguily having been recognized by the Governments of the United States and Spain. Neither did he understand or appreciate the motives of my visit to him. On the morning of the 26th ultimo I called again on his excellency to present him my official communication of the same date. On this occasion, as on the previous one, he showed unmistakable signs of displeasure. But he received my communication, and his decree of the 16th instant, ordering the transfer of Sanguily from the court-martial to the civil court for trial, is a full justification of my action and conduct throughout this whole affair. I am, etc., RAMON O. WILLIAMS, |