Omaha daily bee., 1896-03-16

Extracts from His Official Correspondence
as President.
PEcUlARIrIEs OF THE REBELS SITUATION
Wanted 20 Accord Them BeIiigerent
Rights and Was Persuaded to
Act Differently Against His
Strongest Desires.
1c,nnrrlrht. 1spe. hy the Assoolntea rrea,l


the attitude of President Grant and the then
secretary of state. Hamilton Fish. Senator
Sherman declared that there was conflict Of
opinion over Cuban affairs between the pres
ident and his secretary of state. The
/ speaker of the assembly, Hamilton Fish, son
of the late secretary, is in possession of in
formation upon this subject contained in the
diaries kept by his father that is Of great
| Importance in the controversy.
On the authority of these diaries 1t is
| shown that President Grant had at one time
under the circumstances Of a pending nego-
| tiaton at Madrid, been inclined to recognize
| the beligerency of Cuba; but on June 13.
| 1870, the opinion Of the president and the
| cabinet was unanimous that there were no
facts to Justify the declaration Of belliger-
| ency, and the satisfaction Of the president
| with the Cuban policy of his administration
and its effects upon the country and the re-
publican party found expression few weeks
| later in thanks to the secretary of state for
whatever share in it may have been due to
| his wisdom and judgment. a4..-
| During his eight years service in the
State department Mr.. Fish kept, chiefly as
a reference record for his own eyes, diary
| in his own handwriting, containing a state
ment Of important transactions, OF his trans
actions with the president, members OF the
| cabinet senators and other leading public
| men in regard to the more prominent for
eign questions with which he had to deal.
DATA QUITE COMPLETE. ..''
| From May 81 to June 1S, 1870, the date
| of President Grants special message to con-
gress ON Cuban belligerency, the entries in
| the diary are many and very full in regard to
| the origin, preparations, discussions in cab
| met and final completion of the special
| message. Some of these entries have a
peculiar interest in the light of recent events
and were shown today to the correspondent
| of the Associated press.
| Under date of February 10, 1870, there is
| a suggestion of rift in the unity of the re-
| publican party in defense of that policy re-
specting foreign affairs, which policy the
| president had announced in his annual
message of the previous December The
entry is as follows:
"Caled this morning Cby appointment) to
| see Senator John Sherman on the subject of
| the unit Of coinage After conversng over
| that question, l referred to his resolution
| introduced in the senate. and his speech in
| favor of recognizing the belligerency of
| Cuba, and asked if he had recently exam
ined the treaty with Spain of 1875. He said
| he had not was not aware Of the existence
of such treaty. ! referred to it's provisions,
| and to the probable consequences of the
| exercise by Spain of the right of visit, (or
| of SEARCH; thought our people would not
| submit to it, and the consequence would
soon develop into war; said that fighting was
/ belligerency in Cuba; there is no government
of the insurrectionary party; political or
ganizaton, etc. He admitted he had not
| examined the subject closely, but said there
Is a good deal of excitement in the country
on the subject. Advised him in connection
with the passing Of his resolution Of bel.
| lgerency to prepare bills for the increase of
the public debt, and to meet the increased
appropriation, which will be necessary for
the army, navy. etc.
PRESIDENTS ATTITUDE. '
An evident solicitude among republicans
lest the party in the presence of the ap-
preaching autumn election Should be di-
vided on the Cuban question by reason of
representations to the country in regard to
| the presidents real attitude, it is indicated
| Gu June 10 in this entry:
Judge Orth and General Butler called in
| the evening to urge the sending of mes
! sage by the president on the question of
| belligerency. Orth says the vote will be
| clope; Banks will make the closing speech !;
there are some twenty or thirty quiet mem
| bers who may be decided by his speech, but
would not go against the presidents views" :"
On June 21, there is this entry: Stay at
home aud prepare a message on the Cuban
belligenency question, to be submitted for
the presidents consideration, in case he
agrees to send one. He has not yet returned
from his fishing excursion.
OF the discussion in the cabinet on the
18th. the day on which tine special message
was sent to congress, the diary says: 1T was
generally admitted that If war Is to be re-
sorted to, 1t should be by direct declara-
ton, and not by embarrassing Spain by dec
| laration of belligerency; agrees unanimously
that no condition of facts exists to justify
belligerency. Finally, the president amends
his sentences by referring in general terms
to seizures on the high seas. embargoes of
property and, personal ,outrages, Robson
adds the concluding sentences. claiming the
l ie Iictf FRO,
those questions of wrongs which are bsing
pressed for indemnification and, If not satis-
fed, they will be made the subject of
future message. And thus, it Is agreed, that
the message shall be sent in" -ns2aseF
NO DE FAcTo GOVERNMENT.
Speaker Fish said that the original draft of
the message with its many erasures and
'interlineations is all in Mr.. Fish's own hand.
The message sent TO congress and printed ae
ex-doce No. 80, is verbatim as in that draft,
down to the following paragraph, near the
end: There is no de facto government in.the
island of Cuba sufficient to execute law and
maintain just relations, with other nations.
Spain has not been able to suppress the OPP
position to Spanish rule In the island, nor
to award speedy justice to other nations, or
the citizens of other nations, when their
rights have been Invaded. Those two SEN
tences were written and inserted by the pres-
dent; the next two We're written in cabinet
on the presidents suggestion, added by the
secretary of state; the last, and concluding
three were written and added in cabinet
by the secretary of the navy t1f-
Speaker Fish then showed extracts to
demonstrate that the policy of the admins
tration on the matter of Cuba appears to
have been adopted by the republican party
In the decisive vote in the house Of repre-
sentatives on the pending resolution
suggesting belligerent resolution,
and the State department was
free to pursue its Alabama negota-
tions Senator Cameron, in the recent minor
ity report of the senate committee on foreign
affairs, alluded TO a rumor OF belligerency
proclamation having been signed by President
Grant. II is true that in the summer of 1869,
and while the proffer Of mediation sug
gested to the president by Paul S. Forbes as
coming from General Prim was pending at
Madrid, the State department had, on the
request of the president, prepared a draft of
a proclamation Of belllgerency. Some time
after the president signed 1t he went on a
journey to the west and on the way wrote
the following letter:
WOULD REMAIN NEUTRAL.
KANE. Pa, Aug. ii, 1S69.--Hon. Hamilton
Fish, Secretary of State: My Dear Sir.-On
reflection l think 1t advisable to complete
the neutrality proclamation which / signed
before leaving Washington and to issue 1t
II General Sickles has not received an en-
tirely satisfactory reply to his proposition
To medate betWeen Snain and the Cuhans