Evening star., 1898-11-14
BASIS OF SPAIN'S CLAIMS
Duke Almodovars Note Regarding Scope of
Peace Commission.
correspondence Preceding the Sign
Ing of the Peace ProtocOl-Secre-
tary Days Terse Statement.

Following is the text of the note of Duke
Almodovar de Rio, upon which Spain ir-
siSts that her sovereignty in the Philip
pines was not left as subject for discus
sion by the peace commission. The date
of the note is August I:
Nj. Secretary of State: The French am
| bassador at Washington, whose good offices
have enabled the Spanish government to
address a message to the President of TIE
United States, has forwarded by cable your
excellency's reply to this document.
In examining the arguments used as q
preamble to the specification of the terms
upon which peace may be restored between
Spain and the United States it behooves
the Spanish government to deduct from the
order of events that the severance of diDlo-
natic relations with the United States had
no other purpose than to decline the ac-
ceptance of an ultimatum which Spain
could only consider as an attempt against
her rghtful sovereignty over Cuba.
Spain did not declare war; she met it he
cause it was the only means of defending
her rights in the Greater Antilles. Thus
did the queen and the United States see fit
to transform and enlarge the purely loca!
question of Cuba.
From this fact your excellency draws the
conclusion that the question at stake is no
longer only the one which relates to the
territory of Cuba, but also that the losses
of American lives and fortunes incident TO
the war should in some manner be COM
pensated
AS to the first condition relating to the
future of Cuba, the two governments reach
similar conclusions in regard TO the natural
inability of its people to establish an inde
pendent government; be 1t by reason of in
adequate development, as We believe, or on
account of the present distracted and pros
trate condition of the island. as your ex-
cellency states, the fact remains that Cuba
needs guidance. The American people are
willing to assume the responsibility OF CIV
ing this guidance by substituting them
selves for the Spanish nation, whose right
to keen the island is indisputable. To this
intimation we have nothing to oppose. The
necessity of Withdrawing from the terri
tory of Cuba being imperative the nation
assuming SpainS place must, as long as
this territory shall not have fully reached
the conditions required to take rank among
other sovereign powers provide for rules
which will insure order and protect against
all risks the Spanish residents, as well as
the Cuban natives still loyal to the mother
country.
In the name of the nation the Spanish
government hereby relinquishes all claim,
sovereignty over or title to Cuba. and
cages to the immediate evacuation OF the
Island, subject to the approval of the cortes
"a reserve which We likewise make with
regard to the other proffered terms-1ust
as these terms will have to be ultimately
approved by the Senate of the United
States.
The United states require as an indemnify
for or equivalent to the sacrifices they have
borne during this short war the cession of
Porto Rico and other islands now under the
sovereignty of Spain in the West Indies,
and also the cession of islands in the La
drones to be selected by the federal gov
ernment.
This demand strips US of the very last
memory of a glorious task, and expels us
at once from the prosperous island of Porto
Rico and from the western hemisphere,
" hich becime peopled and civilized through
the proud deeds of our ancestors 1t might
perhaps have been possible to compensate