The herald., 1896-03-16
GRANT and FISH ON CUBA
OLD DIARIES RELATING TO cUBA'S RIGHT
TO RECOGNITION
The President Expressed His Appreciation q
the Wisdom Which Saved Him From the
Mistake Of Recognizing Cuban BeIIlgers
ency-Cuban Campaign Notes


the Wisdom Which Saved Him From the
Mistake Of Recognizing Cuban BeIIlgers
ency-cuban Campaign Notes
Associated Press Special Wire
ALBANY, N. Y, March 15.--IDuripg the
debate on the Cuban questioa in tho
United States senate many allu sions were
made both by Senator Sherman and Senap
tor Hill as to the attitude of President
Grant and the then secretary of statee
Hamilton Fish. Senator Sh srman de.
clared that there was a conflict of opinion
over Cuban affairs between the president
and his secretary of state. The speaker
of the assembly, Hamilton Fish, son Of the
late secretary. is in possession f informap
ton upon this subject conta ined in the
of great importance in che contro.
versy. On the authority of these
diaries it is shown that Presi dent Grant
had at one time under the Gil cumstancea
of pending negotiation at Madrid been
inclined to recognize the be lligerency OF
Cuba. But on June 13, 1870, the opinion
of the president and the cabin ct was unar.
imous that there were no fac It's to justify
the declaration OF belligeren cy, and that
the satisfaction of the preside mt with tho
Cuban policy of his administr alton and ita
effects upon the country. and the Repul,li.
later in thanks to the secre tary of state
for Whatever share in it may h ave been due
to his wisdom and judgment.
During his eight years SO rvice in tho
state department Mr.. Fish kt pit, chiefly a.
a reference record for his own eyes. q
diary in his own handwriting containing .
statement of important ira nsactions, and
of his transactions with the presi dent,
members of the cabinet, senatorI and
other leading men in regaf to tn moro
had to deal. From May 81 to June 13.
1870, the date of President Grants special
message to congress on CT Iban beliger.
ency, the entries in the dI ary are many
and very full in regard to tile origin. prep
aration, discussions in cabinet and final
completion of the special Mess age. Some
of these entries have peculiar interest in
the light of recent events, and. were shown
today to the correspondent of the Asso.
ciated Press.
Under date of February 19. 1870, there
is a suggestion of rift in Il je unity of tho
Republican party in defense of that policy
in respect of the foreign atfi Airs, which pol-
icy the president had an nounced in his
annual message of the pryTious December
The entry is as follows:
"Called this morning, by appointment.
to see Senator John Sht ,rman on the sub.
ject of unit of coinage. After conversing
on that question, refe rred to his resolu-
ton introduced in til g senate and his
speech in favor of reco ynzing the belliger-
ency of Cuba. and asks I'd if he had recently
examined the treaty with Spain of 1895.
He said he had not, al i'd was not aware of
the existence of such treaty. 1 referred
to its provisions and t. the probable cOnse-
quence of the eXerc ise by Spain of the
right of visit Tor aarch); thought our
people would not submit to it, and
that the consequ snces would soon
develop into war; said that fight
ing was not beligerency; there is
fighting but not bell gerency in Cuba; there
is no government of the insurrectionary
party, no political organization, etc. He
admitted he had not examined the subject
closely but said there is good deal of ex.
element in the country on the subject.
Advised him on the passing of his resolu.
ton of belligerency. 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."
An evident so,licitude among Republic
cans, lest the party, in the presence of
the approaching autumn election, should
be divided on the Cuban question by reason
of representations to the country in regard
to the presidents real attitude is indicated
on June 10 by this entry:
F."Judge Orth and Gen. Butler called in
the evening to urge the sending of mes
sage by the president on the question OF
the Cuban belligerency. Orth says the
vote will be close. Banks will make the
closing speech, but there are some twenty
or thirty members who may be decided by
his speech, but would not go against the
presidents views"
On June II there is this entry: "Stay at
home and prepare a message on the Cuban
belligerency question, to be submitted for
the presid ent's consideration in case he de-
cided to send one. He has not yet re-
turned from his fishing excursion"
OF the discussion III the cabinet on the
18th, the day on which the special message
was sent to congress, the diary says:
1T was generally admitted that if war is
to be resorted to it should be by a direct
declaration, and not by embarrassing
Spain by a declaration of belligerency;
agreed unanimously that no condition OF
facts exists to justify belligerency.
"Finally, the president amends his sen-
tences by referring i'll general terms to the
seizures on the high seas, embargoes OF
property and personal outrages. Robson
adds the concluding sentences, claiming
the question of belligerency is distinct
from those questions of wrongs which are
being pressed for the indemnticaton and,
if not satisfied, they will be made the SUBJ
ject of future message. And thus it is
agreed that the message shall be sent iIi.'
Speaker Fish said that the original draft
of the message with its many erasures and
interlineations is all in Mr.. Eish's own
hand. The message sent to congress and
printed as ex doce No. 90, is verbatim as
in that draft, down to the following para.
graph near the end:
"rhere is no de facto government in the
island of Cuba sufficient to execute law and
maintain just relations with other nations
Spain has not yet been able to suppress
the opposition to Spanish rule in the
island, nor to award speedy justice TO
other nations, or citizens of other nations,
when their rights have been invaded
Those two sentences were written and
inserted by the president; 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 the cabinet by the secretary
of the navy. Speaker Fish then showed
extracts to demonstrate that the policy of
the administration on this matter of Cuba
appears to have been adopted by the Re-
publican party in the decisive vote in the
house OF representatives on the pending
resolution suggesting beilgerent recogni-
ton and the state department was free to
pursue its Alabama negotiations.
Senator Cameron'S recent minority re-
port of the senate committee on foreign
affairs, alluded To a rumor of belligerency
proclamation having been signed by Presi-
dent Grant. 1t is true that in the summer
of 500, and while the proifer OF mediation
suggested to the president by Mr.. Paul S.
For bes as coming from General Prim, was
pending at Madrid-the state department
had, on the request OF the president pre-
pared a draft OF a proclamation of belli-
gerency. Some time after the president
ttrx.v