Images de page
PDF
ePub

It shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Monte Video as soon as possible.*

In faith of which the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention, and have affixed thereto their seals. Done at Monte Video, the 25th day of June, 1887.

(L.S.) MANUEL, FREIHERR VON SALZBERG. (L.S.) JULIO HERRERA Y OBES.

DECREE of the Queen-Regent of Spain, respecting Trade between the United States and Cuba and Porto Rico.-San Sebastian, July 28, 1891.

(Translation.)

By the advice of the Minister of State, acting in concert with the Council of Ministers, and in the name of my august son, King Alfonso XIII, as Queen-Regent, I make the following Decree:

ART. 1. In return for the exemptions and advantages which have been guaranteed by Declaration of the President of the United States of America (in the exercise of the powers granted to him), in respect of sugar and other products of the Islands

On the exchange of ratifications of the above Convention, which took place at Monte Video, on the 29th August, 1896, the following Additional Act was signed:

"His Excellency Herr Anton de Grubissich Keresztúr, Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and his Excellency Dr. Jayme Estrázulas, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, having met at the office of the latter in order to proceed to the exchange of ratifications of the Convention for the Extradition of Criminals concluded and signed by the respective Plenipotentiaries in this city on the 25th June, 1887, and after having communicated to each other their powers, which were found to be in good and due form, perused the corresponding instruments of ratification of the said Convention, which were ascertained to be in conformity with all the stipulations. The exchange of these documents was effected in the usual manner, it being, however, previously declared:

"The Austro-Hungarian Chargé d'Affaires, in virtue of the orders of his Government, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in accordance with the Law of May 11, 1895, approving the said Convention, declare that the Supreme Judicial Authorities of the State to which the demand for extradition is made shall be left to decide every such demand, being guided by the procedure followed in their own Courts, in accordance with the internal laws of the country.

"In faith of which the Plenipotentiaries have drawn up the present Act in duplicate, and have signed both copies and sealed them with their scals, at Monte Video, the 29th August, 1896.

(L.S.) "ANTON DE GRUBISSICH KERESZTUR. (L.S.) "JAYME ESTRAZULAS."

of Cuba and Porto Rico mentioned in the 3rd section of the New Tariff Law now in force in the said States, the products or manufactures proceeding from that country, specified in the annexed interim Table, with the exceptions therein laid down touching wheat and wheaten flour, will be passed through the customhouses of the said islands, on and after the 1st September next, subject to the exemptions and abatements therein provided: and those included in Tables (A), (B), (C), and (D),* likewise annexed, will be admitted on the terms similarly laid down in the latter, on and after the 1st July, 1892.

2. All other articles shall still be liable to the duties specified in the third column of the Tariff, together with the authorized surcharges, so far as the Tariff is not replaced by another.

3. The Government shall, in due course, inform the Cortes of the provisions of this Decree.

Given at San Sebastian, the 28th July, 1891.

CARLOS O'DONNELL, Minister of State.

MARIA CRISTINA.

NOTES exchanged between Spain and the United States relative to a reciprocal Commercial Arrangement between those Countries.-Washington, January-June, 1891.

SIR,

Mr. Blaine to Señor Suarez Guanes.

Department of State, Washington, January 3, 1891. I HAVE the honour to bring to your attention the fact that the Congress of the United States, at its last Session, enacted a Law, of which a copy is inclosed herewith, in which provision was made for the admission into the United States, free of all duty, of the following articles: all sugars not above No. 16 Dutch standard in colour, molasses, coffee, tea, hides, and skins.

In section 3 of this Law it is declared that these remissions of duty were made "with a view to secure reciprocal trade with countries producing" those articles; and it is provided that, whenever the President shall be satisfied that reciprocal favours are not granted to the products of the United States in the countries referred to," he shall have the power, and it shall be his duty," to impose upon the articles above enumerated, the products of the countries concerned, the rates of duty set forth in section 3.

* See Proclamation of the President of the United States of July 31, 1891, page 81.

The Government of the United States, being earnestly desirous of maintaining with Spain and its Colonies such trade relations as shall be reciprocally equal, and mutually advantageous, I am directed by the President to request you to bring the above-mentioned provisions of this Act of Congress to the attention of your Government, and to express the hope that you may be empowered to enter with me upon the consideration of the subject, with a view to the adjustment of the commercial relations between the two countries on a permanent basis of reciprocity profitable alike to both.

Accept, &c.,

Señor Suarez Guanes.

JAMES G. BLAINE.

Señor Suarez Guanes to Mr. Blaine.

Legation of Spain at Washington, June 8, 1891.

THE Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain, has the honour to inform the Honourable Secretary of State, in reply to his note of the 3rd January last, that his Government, desirous of strengthening and increasing the commercial relations between Spain and the United States of North America to the benefit of both countries, and being convinced that the community and harmony of their respective interests counsel that said relations should be stimulated and favoured for the greater development and encouragement of their commerce, has decided to respond, as promptly and as fully as its national interests and international engagements permit, to the legislation of the Congress of the United States, as set forth in the note of the 3rd January above mentioned.

He has, therefore, been instructed to inform the Honourable Secretary of State that, in view of there having been decreed the free admission into the United States, from the 1st April of the present year, of sugars, molasses, coffee, tea, and untanned hides, as a provisional measure, until a definitive arrangement between the United States and Spain shall be put in operation, and in reciprocity and compensation for the admission into the ports of the Union, free of all national, State, and municipal duties, of the products of Cuba and Porto Rico, enumerated in the aforesaid note of the 3rd January last, the Government of Her Majesty is prepared to make use in part of the power granted to it by the Law of the 22nd July, 1884, authorizing the admission into all the established ports of Cuba and Porto Rico, from the 1st day of September, 1891, of the articles of merchandize named in the transitory Schedule annexed thereto; provided that the duties of the third column of the Tariffs of the said islands, to which reference is made in said

Schedule, are understood to be those stated in the Tariffs which are now in force, with the additional duties authorized by laws and orders previous to this date.

The necessary condition is imposed that the said merchandize shall be the product or manufacture of the United States, and proceed directly from the ports of these States in the manner stated in the annexed Schedule.

As provided in the same Schedule, the benefit of the reduction of duties granted to American, wheat and wheat flour, on their introduction into the ports of Cuba and Porto Rico, shall not take effect until the 1st January, 1892.

Flour shall be excluded from said reduction, and shall not, therefore, share in it, which, on its departure from the ports of the Union, destined to those of Cuba and Porto Rico, may be favoured with drawbacks or other Tariff advantages.

The Government of Spain gives the assurance that, during the existence of this transitory arrangement, no export or port duty. whether national or provincial, shall be imposed on the articles or merchandize exported from Cuba and Porto Rico to the United States, and which the latter nation admits free of duties.

Respecting the North American articles of food, drink, and fuel specified in the annexed transitory Schedule, which are imported into said islands, the Government of Spain, without restricting the rights of the Municipal Councils, will seek to have the latter impose upon them no greater municipal duties than those which national products pay, and that they shall not materially increase the price of said articles.

The Spanish Government reserves the right to propose the laws and adopt the regulations necessary to protect the Customs revenues in said islands, to prevent fraud, and require proof of the North American nationality of the articles enumerated in the annexed Schedule. These laws and regulations shall not be unduly restrictive, nor create additional charges therefor, nor impose new duties on the articles imported.

What has just been stated will convince the President that the Government of Her Majesty responds to the legislation of the Congress of the United States in a spirit of sincere friendship and reciprocity, and, in this firm conviction, it has authorized the Undersigned to conclude with that of the United States the proper executive International Agreement, which shall begin to take effect on the 1st day of September, 1891, and also to agree with the Honourable Secretary of State on the day when it shall be simultaneously and officially published in both countries, with the understanding that this Commercial Arrangement, put in operation under the clauses above stated, shall remain in force so long as it shall not

be modified by the mutual agreement of the executive power of the two countries, always reserving the respective right of the Cortes of Spain and of the Congress of the United States to modify or repeal it whenever they may think proper.

The Undersigned, &c.,

J. G. Blaine, Esq.

M. SUAREZ GUANES.

Note. The transitory Schedule alluded to in Señor Guanes' note is contained in the President's Proclamation, with the exception of these paragraphs :

"It is to be understood that the packages or coverings in which the articles named in the two foregoing Schedules are imported shall enter free of duty if they are usual and proper for the purpose.

"It is agreed that the duties of the third column of the Tariffs of the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico mentioned in this Schedule are understood to be those stated in the Tariffs now in force, with the additional duties authorized by laws and orders previous to this date."

SIR,

Mr. Blaine to Señor Suarez Guanes.

Department of State, Washington, June 10, 1891. I HAVE great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of your note of the 8th instant, in which you inform me that, as a provisional measure, until a more definitive arrangement shall be put in operation, the Government of Spain, in reciprocity and compensation for the admission into the ports of the United States, free from all national, State, or municipal duties, of the products of the Spanish Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, enumerated in my note of the 3rd January last, is prepared by due legal enactments to authorize the free or favoured admission into said islands, from September next, of the articles proceeding directly from, and the product or manufacture of, the United States of America, named in the Schedule attached to your note; that your Government gives the assurance that no export nor port tax, whether national or provincial, shall be imposed on the articles admitted free into the United States; that it will seek to have no greater municipal duties than those paid by national products imposed on the articles named in said Schedule, and that said duties shall not materially increase the price of said articles; and that the laws and regulations which may be adopted by Spain to prevent fraud shall not impose

*July 31, 1891, see page 81.

« PrécédentContinuer »