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President Franklin Pierce, Excerpt, First Annual Message,
Dec. 5, 1853.
...Independently of our valuable trade with Spain, we have important political relations
with her growing out of our neighborhood to the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico. I
am happy to announce that since the last Congress no attempts have been made by unauthorized
expeditions within the United States against either of those colonies. Should any
movement be manifested within our limits, all the means at my command will be vigorously
exerted to repress it. Several annoying occurrences have taken place at Havana, or
in the vicinity of the island of Cuba, between our citizens and the Spanish authorities.
Considering the proximity of that island to our shores, lying, as it does, in the
track of trade between some of our principal cities, and the suspicious vigilance
with which foreign intercourse, particularly that with the United States, is there
guarded, a repetition of such occurrences may well be apprehended.
As no diplomatic intercourse is allowed between our consul at Havana and the Captain-General
of Cuba, ready explanations can not be made or prompt redress afforded where injury
has resulted. All complaint on the part of our citizens under the present arrangement
must be, in the first place, presented to this Government and then referred to Spain.
Spain again refers it to her local authorities in Cuba for investigation, and postpones
an answer till she has heard from those authorities. To avoid these irritating and
vexatious delays, a proposition has been made to provide for a direct appeal for
redress to the Captain-General by our consul in behalf of our injured fellow-citizens.
Hitherto the Government of Spain has declined to enter into any such arrangement.
This course on her part is deeply regretted, for without some arrangement of this
kind the good understanding between the two countries may be exposed to occasional
interruption. Our minister at Madrid is instructed to renew the proposition and to
press it again upon the consideration of Her Catholic Majesty's Government.
For several years Spain has been calling the attention of this Government to a claim
for losses by some of her subjects in the case of the schooner Amistad. This
claim is believed to rest on the obligations imposed by our existing treaty with
that country. Its justice was admitted in our diplomatic correspondence with the
Spanish Government as early as March, 1847, and one of my predecessors, in his annual
message of that year, recommended that provision should be made for its payment.
In January last it was again submitted to Congress by the Executive. It has received
a favorable consideration by committees of both branches, but as yet there has been
no final action upon it. I conceive that good faith requires its prompt adjustment,
and I present it to your early and favorable consideration.
Source:James D. Richardson, ed. Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1787-1897,
Washington, D.C. 1898 (vol. 5).
