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Aaron Vail to John Forsyth, January 15, 1841 (excerpt).
Confidential. MADRID, January 15, 1841.
Aaron Vail, United States Chargc d'Affaires at Madrid, to John Forsyth, Secretary of State of the United States
SIR: At an audience of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, obtained a few days since
for the purpose of urging upon him the consideration of my communications with reference
to the non-payment of the interest on our Spanish Inscriptions, I had with him a
long and desultory conversation on the subject, generally, of the relations between
the two countries, in the course of which an opportunity was afforded me of putting
him in possession of the views and wishes of my Government, as disclosed by my instructions,
in relation to our political and commercial intercourse with the Spanish possessions,
generally, and, specifically, with the Island of Cuba. This latter branch of the
subject was introduced by Mr. de Ferrer, himself, who expressed uneasiness at supposed
designs of England upon that Island, and what he considered attempts to bring about
their realisation. I did not understand him as apprehending any imminent danger of
the Island falling into the possession of Great Britain. His idea of British policy
on this head is that, in order to foster the growth and prosperity of her Asiatic
dominions, Great Britain has resolved the ruin of all the West India Islands; that
she has commenced the execution of her plan by abolishing slavery in her own Colonies;
that she is now seeking the completion of it through the extension of her system
to the Spanish Islands, by means of her Treaties for the suppression of the African
slave trade, and the propagation of abolition doctrines among the slave population
of those Islands. As one of the means of securing this last-mentioned object, he
instanced the establishment at the Havana of hulks for the reception of re-captured
Africans, from whence, after proper schooling in abolition principles, the inmates
are let loose among the slaves to instruct and preach to them the forcible abolition
of slavery, or, as he says, in other words, the extermination of the white race.
He gives no credit to the philanthropic views assigned as the motive of the policy
of Great Britain, which he considers as having for its sole aim, self aggrandisement
at the expense of other Powers. He deprecated the existence of British interference
on all matters connected in any manner with the subject; and, with extreme dissatisfaction,
mentioned, as an example, the official interposition, reported to him in despatches
from the Spanish Minister at Washington, of the British Representative near our Government,
in behalf of the negroes found in the "Amistad "--On this latter point
I expressed doubts of his having been correctly informed, stating my impression that,
although instructions for such an interposition had been sent out, they had not,
up to the period of my departure from Washington, been fulfilled.
With regard to British designs upon Cuba, I said that, in the consideration
which my Government had given to the subject, although it might agree with that of
Spain as to the existence of such designs, it differed as to their object and mode
of execution. I said that, in the opinion of my Government, the geographical position
of the Island, its fertility, population, wealth and agricultural resources gave
it a value and importance which England, in her incessant endeavors to cover the
globe with the net of her domination, could not but have remarked: That, consequently,
in observing her conduct with reference to that Island, we had bestowed particular
attention on those occurences which, by any possibility, might lead, under what pretext
soever, to the occupation of any part of the Island by British authority or forces:
That when, not long since, rumors had been rife of an intention on the part of Spain
to pledge the resources of Cuba as security for financial assistance to be afforded
her by Great Britain, the Government of the United States had resolved not to permit,
on any account, that such arrangements should lead to any occupation, temporary or
permanent, of any portion of the Island by British Forces: That the reasons for this
determination had their origin, besides the advantageous trade we carried on with
that Island, in its contiguity to our coasts taken with reference to the existence
of slavery in that portion of the Union which lies nearest to it: That the progress
of time and the course of events gave each day more strength to that determination;
and that it was in pursuance of it that I had been instructed to declare to Her Majesty's
Government, on the first and every suitable opportunity, that the United States can,
in no event, permit the occupation of Cuba by British Agents or forces, upon whatever
pretext undertaken; and that, in the event of any attempt to wrest from Spain this
portion of her territory, she might securely depend upon the military and naval resources
of the United States to aid her in preserving or recovering it.
This declaration seemed unexpected to Mr. De Ferrer, who, probably, had not had the
opportunity, since his accession to office, to make himself acquainted with the views
of our Government, as made known to his predecessors--Without expressing any decided
sentiment respecting it, he made numerous inquiries touchng the present condition
of our naval establishment, and the facilities which might be afforded Spain in the
purchase of Ships of war, and in recruiting her own navy in the United States.
The conversation then turned upon the commercial relations between the two Countries
. . . .
Source: Vol. 11-Spain, Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States,
Inter-American Affairs, 1831-1860, arranged by William R. Manning. Washington,1939,
314 -316. [Harvard Law School: International Law Library]
