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STATEMENT OF A. E. PHILLIPS, 
 
 J. ATE ACTING 
 
 TTZsTITIEID STATES COZDsTSTJL 
 
 . AT THE PORT OF 
 
 ST. JAGO DE CUBA, 
 
 SHOWING 
 
 The circumstances and events which forced him to abandon his 
 post and seek protection at Jamaica, West Indies, from the 
 violence of a Spanish mob. 
 
 On the 8th of March, 1869, the Cuban patriots occupying 
 the heights surrounding St. Jago de Cuba caused profound 
 alarm to the inhabitants of that city by reports of their inten- 
 tion of attacking and taking possession of it. The Spanish 
 authorities comprehending the impending danger, trained 
 the guns of their ships-of-war upon the place with the pur- 
 pose of bombarding and destroying it should it be taken pos- 
 session of by the Cubans. Thereupon, Mr. E. F. Wallace, 
 then United States Consul, decided to return at once to the 
 United States for causes to me unknown, leaving the consulate 
 in charge of his clerk, who, being a Cuban and a young man, 
 I did not feel in such a critical exigency, could afford sufficient 
 protection to the lives and interests of the Americans residing 
 there ; therefore, in accordance with the earnest request of my 
 countrymen present, I decided to offer to take charge of the 
 duties of the consulate, which offer was promptly accepted by 
 Mr. Wallace much to the expressed satisfaction of the Spanish 
 Governor of St. Jago de Cuba. 
 
 Shortly after I had entered upon my duties, an American, by 
 the name of Charles Speak man, was brought a prisoner to the 
 city by the Spanish soldiers, a fact of which I was first specially 
 advised, in writing, by the English vice consul, who happened 
 to see the man carried by his office. Allowed to visit him, I 
 
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 learned, under oath of said Speakman, that he was a native of 
 America, (of the State of Indiana ;) that he had left New York 
 an articled sailor on the schooner Grapeshot, bound for Fal- 
 mouth, in the Island of Jamaica — a voyage which he had 
 undertaken in good faith, with no idea that the vessel had any 
 other destination whatever ; but that when the said vessel was 
 at anchor in the harbor of New York, ostensibly awaiting a 
 tug to take her to sea, some fifty armed Cubans having 
 come aboard at midnight with so considerable a supply of mu- 
 nitions of war, he became suspicious of the actual nature of the 
 voyage, and expressed his desire to the captain to quit and 
 return to New York, which he was only prevented from doing 
 by the assurance of the captain that, although he had taken the 
 Cubans aboard, under no circumstances would he risk his vessel 
 in any attempt to run the Spanish blockade, but would pursue 
 his voyage to Falmouth, there leave the Cubans, and then go 
 for a cargo of cocoanuts. 
 
 However, when the vessel was off Cape Maysi, the eastern 
 extremity of the Island of Cuba, the Cuban passengers, taking 
 violent possession of the Grape-shot, changed her course, and 
 ran her for the port of Baitequiri, in the Island of Cuba, and 
 there discharged her cargo. While in the port, he had some 
 difficulty with the captain of the vessel who, in the end, left 
 him ashore, entirely unarmed, under the threat that he would 
 shoot him if he attempted the least resistance to this act ; that 
 soon thereafter an engagement took place between the Cubans 
 landed from the Grapeshot and a force of Spanish soldiers, in 
 which he took no part whatsoever, having remained unarmed ; 
 and finally, seeking some place of shelter, he met two unarmed 
 men, to whom he gave himself up with the request that he 
 might be carried to the nearest American consul. He was then 
 bound and brought to St. Jago de Cuba, where he was im- 
 mediately, without any recognized form of judicial investiga- 
 tion, sentenced to be shot to death on the following day. 
 Whereupon, he had protested and appealed, in verification of 
 his statement, to the vessel's register and master's log-book, as 
 well as other evidence, which might be readily had in Jamaica, 
 of his entire innocence cf any complicity with the expedition. 
 
 A translation of the sworn declaration of Speakman was 
 then made and read by me to the Spanish official who had sen- 
 tenced the man to death. I sent another copy in Spanish to 
 the Governor, with the urgent request that a respite should be 
 granted for a few days to procure proper evidence from Jamaica. 
 Having received no reply meanwhile, I visited Speakman early 
 
tin- next morning. He was surrounded with soldiers assembled 
 and formed for his execution; perfectly calm, he assured me as 
 a dying man that he was wholly innocent, as might be fully 
 shown if only permitted a few days to collect the evidence. 
 Whilst at the prison, the English Vice Consul with creditable 
 motives also came there and offered to accompanying me to see 
 the Governor. Going to the residence of that functionary, we 
 found him still abed; but urging an interview one was granted, 
 and in the name of mercy and of the United States and Eng- 
 land, we besought a respite for Speakman, assuring him that a 
 North German ship-of-war, then in the harbor would carry the 
 necessary letters to Jamaica. 
 
 The Governor, Simon de la Torre, seemed personally dis- 
 posed to grant our prayer, yet finally declared that he was not 
 only acting under superior instructions, but although, chief mag- 
 istrate of the city was absolutely impotent; averring that his 
 people would not obey him ; that distentions prevailed in the 
 army, that General Buceta, the military commander, had been 
 forced to take refuge on board a Spanish ship-of-war, the Cata- 
 lans a few nights before having attempted to assassinate him 
 under the pretence of a serenade, with much else of that char- 
 acter, showing the existence of complete anarchy in the place, 
 and the complete supremacy of mob rule over the Spanish mili- 
 tary and civil authority at the time in the city of St. Jago de 
 Cuba, I therefore had to go away, and Charles Speakman, an 
 American citizen, was executed within the shadow almost of 
 my consular flag;, without having; committed the least offence 
 against the laws of Spain, or done any act whatsoever against 
 the integrity of the Spanish monarchy.* 
 
 A few days later, namely — on the 21st of June, 1869, another 
 American, one Albert Wyeth, a citizen of Chambersburg, Penn- 
 sylvania, not yet a man, was executed at the same place with the 
 same disregard of the rights of men to judicial trial and in the 
 same summary fashion that characterized the death of Speak- 
 man. 
 
 Being in ill-health, Wyeth took passage on the "Grape- 
 shot" for Falmouth, Jamaica, by invitation of one Jimenez, 
 who having chartered her for the voyage, offered him a free 
 passage, which was the inducement for his taking passage on 
 
 * See pages 98 and 99, Ex. Doe. 160, House of Representatives, 41st 
 Congress, 2d session, for the sworn declaration of Speakman, also 
 the letter to his wife ; likewise page 101 for the declaration of Al- 
 iici'i Wyeth in the same connection. 
 
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 4 
 
 that particular vcs.-el. That said vessel had any other destina- 
 tion than Falmouth, was unknown to Wyeth until after it had 
 touched at, and set sail from, Turk's Island, when he protested 
 against going to Cuba ; but he was, nevertheless, made to go 
 ashore with certain Cubans, in the eastern and southern part of 
 that island, under the threat of death ; and, moreover, was 
 forced to take up arms. However, at the first encounter with 
 the Spaniards, separating from the expedition, he threw away 
 his arms without having used them, and presented himself as 
 soon as possible to certain Spanish officials, who sent him to 
 St. Jago de Cuba, where, as I have said, on the 21st of June, 
 he was shot with five other persons without trial. Before his 
 •death, Wyeth deposed to the facts I have stated under circum- 
 stances which satisfied me he had spoken, as he said, " the 
 truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 
 
 I made every effort to save the poor youth. It was in vain, 
 however, that I called the attention of the Spanish governor to 
 the fact that he was but twenty years of age ; it counted nothing 
 in his favor that he had been inveigled and made to take part 
 in the expedition against his consent ; his American blood was 
 a necessary offering to the brutal mob that reigned in St. Jago 
 de Cuba as in Havana ; and Wyeth, as well as Speakman, was 
 shot ; his mutilated remains were then carried off in a scaven- 
 ger's cart and cast into a ditch like so much carrion ! I could 
 not hinder it ! 
 
 Cases, meanwhile, had become frequent of American plan- 
 ters being compelled to abandon their estates in the interior, 
 and flee to the city, in consequence of the acts of the Spanish 
 (mobilized) troops, whose barefaced object now was plunder. 
 Mr. John B. Latte, a native of New Orleans, for merely 
 demanding remuneration for losses, was thrown into and kept 
 in prison for eight months, notwithstanding my efforts to pro- 
 cure either his trial or release. I am satisfied, moreover, he 
 would have been made away with by foul means had not the 
 United States flag-ship " Severn" finally visited the place ; and 
 when, upon my representation to the admiral of his situation, 
 Mr. Latte's release was demanded and secured. These insolent 
 and unnoticed acts of outrage upon American citizens now led 
 them to prefer to lose their property rather than to make 
 demand for remuneration, or to ask for justice, at the risk of 
 being thrown into prison, if not assassinated by the mobilized 
 troops. 
 
 Another flagrant case was that of the American sloop 
 (t Champion," Captain Wm. W, Cox, which put into the port of 
 
St. Jago de Cuba in distress — leaking badly. Instead of 
 receiving aid from the local authorities, as she was entitled to 
 under our treaty with Spain, the Champion was seized, taken 
 under the guns of a Spanish man-of-war, and there left to sink. 
 The only excuse offered to me by the Spanish authorities was 
 that she cleared from Aux Cayes for Jamaica with a passenger 
 on her list who was not found aboard when the vessel was 
 visited by the Spanish boarding officer. The captain and his crew 
 then testified before me under oath that the passenger in question 
 had never come on board, which I have subsequently ascer- 
 tained from the United States Consul at Aux Cayes was the 
 fact. Nevertheless, the Spaniards grew clamorous for the blood 
 of the captain and crew of the Champion, declaring that the 
 missing passenger could be no other than some Cuban rebel, 
 who had been covertly landed somewhere on the island. See- 
 ing, from the temper of these savages, that my countrymen were 
 not safe in the city, I sent them out to my estate in the vicinity, 
 where they did not long remain, however, without disturbance; 
 so that they were forced to seek refuge at the consulate, pur- 
 sued thither by armed men apparently determined to murder 
 them in their insatiate rage against Americans. Subsequently, 
 they were taken to Jamaica on the flag-ship "Severn" after 
 my return in that ship to St. Jago de Cuba ; but up to that 
 time, during my absence, had been held as prisoners by the 
 Spanish authorities. 
 
 News of the death of the Spanish Editor, Castenon, at Key 
 West, having meanwhile reached the place, all the ferocity of 
 the Spanish character was at once excited ; and some act of 
 brutal vengeance immediately impended. It was known that 
 some of the most wealthy and influential of the Cubans of the 
 city ardently and anxiously desired to shake off the bondage of 
 Spanish rule. Certain of these suspected gentlemen were selec- 
 lected for victims ; among others a native-born American, 
 Charles Demery, of New York, where he was baptized at St. 
 Mary's Church, another was John F. Portuondo, who, a natu- 
 ralized American citizen, had long resided in Philadelphia, 
 where his brother and family now live. These unfortunate 
 gentlemen were seized, bound, and hurried off some twelve 
 miles in the interior, to a plantation called San Juan de Wilson, 
 a spot already made notorious by the butcheries committed 
 there by a Spanish Major, Boet, grown infamous for his cru- 
 elty and acts of rapine, and for his bestial outrages upon the 
 persons of women and even very young girls in the presence of 
 their husbands or parents. Brought before this savage these 
 
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 persons were speedily shot without even the farce of a trial, as 
 was certified to me by another one of those arrested, who had 
 witnessed their execution, but was fortunate enough to escape 
 himself. The bodies of these victims, stark naked, were left to 
 fester in the sun for some time, but were finally suffered to 
 be buried together in a trench. 
 
 Upon learning of the arrest of these gentlemen I informed 
 the Governor that when Admiral Hoff had been at St. Jago 
 de Cuba to inquire into the particulars of the death of Speak man 
 and Wyeth, it had been arranged and agreed by his predecessor 
 in office, and the Admiral thought that in all future cases Ameri- 
 can prisoners should have a regular judicial trial, either in my 
 presence or in the presence of the consul who might succeed me. 
 The reply was, that consuls had neither diplomatic powers nor 
 the right to reclaim or protect citizens of their country, but that, 
 in virtue of the friendly relations which existed between the 
 two nations, a copy of ray communication would be sent to the 
 attorney general (Fiscal) having charge of the case of Portuondo, 
 who should have a fair trial. This, however, was not carried 
 out in good faith, and no report was made to me of the result. 
 These atrocities caused a broad spread terror among the Cubans, 
 and many families left the city as soon as possible, abandoning 
 their property, unprotected, to the spoliation of the Government. 
 
 In consequence of the manner in which I had attempted, 
 though vainly, to defend the lives and property of American 
 citizens within my jurisdiction, I had now become an object of 
 special dislike to the Spanish Government, and particularly to 
 the Spanish volunteers who have established themselves as the 
 supreme power of the island of Cuba. Some of these last de- 
 clared that I was in close collusion with the patriots, and invented 
 many unfounded stories about my actions, which even Count 
 Valmaseda repeated in a communication to the Captain General, 
 as grounds for my removal, after my letters to the State Depart- 
 ment concerning Cuban affairs had been published. Undaunted, 
 however, by all this, I remained at my post and attempted to 
 discharge my duties, but, unhappily, meanwhile certain of my 
 official reports to the State Department appeared in the New 
 York Herald, and were soon translated and published in the 
 local papers of the island. Their contents afforded a good op- 
 portunity to the Spanish volunteers to carry out their long 
 fostered desire against me. A fierce spirit of animosity was 
 excited by the sketch I had made of the political state of affairs 
 within my consular district — the true and full account I had 
 
given of the atrocities which were being daily committed around 
 me. 
 
 At the Spanish club — "El Circulo Tkpafibl" — it was now 
 discussed how to revenge themselves for the insult I had thus 
 offered to their noble chief, Valmaseda, and his officers, espe- 
 cially of the volunteers. Some proposed to drag me through 
 the streets with music ; others to attack and slay me at the 
 consulate ; but, finally, all assented to my early assassination. 
 The events which I have related had brought the American flag 
 into contempt ;, for that people had become accustomed to see it 
 unable to shield our citizens either from outrage or death, and 
 the volunteers had seen how that Admiral Hoff, with his flag- 
 ship, the Gettysburg, and a Monitor, had only entered the 
 harbor to inquire into the cases of Speakman and Wyeth. 
 Laughing at such mere fruitless displays, these fellows doubted 
 not that they might drive me away or assassinate me with im- 
 punity, or no other consequence, at most, than another visit of 
 naval inquiry, which their Spanish capacity for falsehood and 
 the facile credulity of some naval commander would readily 
 enable them to explain satisfactorily ; therefore, they did not 
 hesitate to take the law in their own hands. They assembled 
 in groups at the various stores and low grogeries of the city ; 
 but an old faithful servant gave me timely notice of my danger. 
 Realizing my critical situation, I hoisted the consular flag, par- 
 tially closed the doors of the consulate, sent to the English con- 
 sul for aid, and armed the captain and crew of the " Cham- 
 pion." Some friends coming in, confirmed the information that 
 had already been given of the hostile purposes of the volun- 
 teers towards me, which was soon further confirmed by the Eng- 
 lish consul, who, assuring me that no time was to be lost, pro- 
 posed togo himself to the governor to ascertain if protection could 
 be afforded me. Accordingly, accompanied at his suggestion by 
 Mr. Parsons, who had arrived only a tew days previously, to enter 
 upon the duties of American consul, but had not as yet chosen 
 to assume his functions in consequence of ill-health and the 
 complications which he met, the English consul had an imme- 
 diate interview with the governor, who, after saying he would 
 do all he could for my protection, confessed he anticipated 
 trouble. Saving that he did not drive me away, he advised me 
 not to lose the opportunity to leave the island by the French 
 trans-Atlantic steamer " Darien," which would soon sail for 
 Jamaica. This was a clear admission that he could not guaran- 
 tee my safety; informed of which, I deemed it, although humil- 
 iating, an act of necessary precaution to ask the English consul 
 
8 
 
 the shelter of his consulate. That gentleman, ever ready to aid 
 me in all possible manner, replied that if my flag would not 
 protect me, he was sure his own would not; in fact, that no one 
 was safe — not any foreign consul. By his advice and that of 
 my other friends, I therefore resolved to leave as soon as possible. 
 It was next announced to me by. friends that the Spanish 
 population had. declared their determination to prevent my 
 departure, I at once called the attention of the Government to 
 this report, with the request in the name of my Government, 
 for a proper escort. Without other reply he sent his secre- 
 tary as that escort. Meanwhile crowds wild with excitement 
 were to be seen at the stores in the city, and as the steamer was 
 about to leave, I felt it was more prudent to send my wife 
 aboard, at once, clandestinely. Greatly agitated by the evident 
 danger which menaced us, she secured and carried with her 
 only a few articles of clothing. Finally, the moment being at 
 hand for my own departure, I was called upon by two members 
 of the Spanish Club, which I must mention is composed of 
 Spaniards of the lower orders of society, whose organization is 
 Jacobinical, and aims to control the superior authority whenever 
 found in conflict with the interests or wishes of the club. The 
 delegation from this club now informed me that they had seen 
 the translation of my letters to my Government, and that their 
 contents had filled the club with indignation. That the more 
 hot-blooded members were already in session, and determined 
 to deal with me in the harshest manner: but had agreed to 
 delay action until they, the committee could see me, and propose 
 that I should deny in writing that I had written the despatches 
 in question. Replying that I could make no such denial, for I 
 had assuredly written to my Government, as was my duty, of 
 the political state of affairs within my consular district. I said, 
 however, I had no intention of insulting Valmaseda, nor the 
 officers of the Spanish volunteers. They responded that if I 
 did not make some such denial, in the present excited temper of 
 the greater part of the club, they could not be answerable for 
 the consequences, and were sure outrages would befall me. Mr. 
 Juan Reyes, the secretary of the club, then wrote a letter which 
 he assured me I must copy and sign as the only way to avoid 
 assassination. This I finally did in the face of the manifest 
 extremity to which I was reduced by the publication of my 
 official letters. That letter, however, I must remark, was 
 somewhat different from the text from the one published after 
 my departure by the club. Having yielded to force in this 
 matter, escorted by the English consul and the secretary of the 
 
Governor, at the suggestion of the latter making my way by a 
 circuitous route to the landing, I embarked on the steamer 
 Darien for Jamaica, carrying despatches from the English con- 
 sul to the English commodore at Port Royal in regard to what 
 had happened to me in Cuba. 
 
 As soon as the English commodore received the dispatches 
 which I transmitted to him from Kingston, he requested me, by 
 telegraph, to visit him, and I went without delay. That offi- 
 cer promptly tendered me the opportunity to return to my post, 
 if I desired it, upon an English armed vessel, the " Mullet," or 
 to send me to the American admiral, as I might prefer. He 
 also announced his purpose to dispatch a gunboat to St. Jago 
 de Cuba for the protection of the English and American consu- 
 lates, which he was satisfied, from the dispatches of his consul, 
 were in danger. Thanking the commodore, in the name of my 
 Government, for his course, I declined either to return to Cuba 
 or to trouble him to send me to Admiral Poor, as I understood 
 the latter was then at Port au Prince, for which place an En- 
 glish steamer would sail in a day or two. 
 
 Upon arriving, however, at Hayti, I learned the admiral was 
 at Santo Domingo city, a port to which there was no regular 
 conveyance. Requesting Mr. Bassett, our minister, to accom- 
 pany me, we called upon the French charge d' affaires, Mr. 
 Doizen, who, upon learning the exigency, without hesitation, 
 offered me a passage upon the French gunboat " La Touche 
 Treville," and thus I found Admiral Poor with the flagship 
 "Severn," in which, after some few days detention at Santo 
 Domingo city, I returned to St. Jago de Cuba. 
 
 Upon meeting the admiral I made no demand to be restored 
 to my consular duties, for Mr. Parsons, regularly appointed as 
 consul, had remained when I was forced to leave, but I did re- 
 quest to be restored to the consulate, my own house, for the 
 purpose of making up my accounts with the United States 
 Government, as no one else assuredly could do that for me. Im- 
 mediately after my p.rrival, communicating with my friends 
 ashore to ascertain the present sentiment of the volunteers to- 
 wards me, I was informed, in the presence of the admiral, that 
 my life would be taken if I landed, and I was urged not to quit 
 the ship. I was also informed that my household furniture and 
 personal effects were being fast carried off, while I could learn 
 nothing at all concerning my property in the vicinity. Under 
 these circumstances, I urged upon the admiral the necessity of 
 my presence ashore, and requested a proper escort — Captain 
 Lowery, the commander of the " Severn,"' liaving offered to 
 
 9 
 
10 
 
 accompany me with an escort if I were permitted to land. The 
 admiral declined positively to furnish the escort, and informed 
 me, moreover, that he had no instructions to afford me any pro- 
 tection whatsoever, being simply ordered by the Navy Depart- 
 ment to inquire into the cause of my departure. I then asked 
 to be allowed to accompany him to the consulate, at the same 
 time offering him the hospitality of my comfortable house, a 
 proposition which, strangely enough, seemed to offend him, as 
 he was unable to regard it otherwise than an attempt to make 
 of him an escort to myself. Being thus denied that protection 
 to which I believed, and do still believe, I was justly entitled 
 from Admiral Poor, I next requested him to procure permission 
 from the Spanish Governor for me to land with some guarantee 
 for my safety while ashore. This being done, the Governor 
 replied I might land, but with no special guarantee in that 
 event, or other protection than that extended to the residents of 
 the place. Knowing that the Governor was absolutely impotent 
 in any collision with the volunteers, and having good reason, 
 from the langnage and actions of the admiral, to believe that he 
 would afford me no succor in the event of any violence or com- 
 motion caused by my landing, I was not willing to venture my 
 life to the mercy of the mob. It, therefore, became necessary 
 for me to request that the books of the consulate and my former 
 secretary should be brought to the ship to enable me to make 
 up and close my official accounts. The secretary came, but de- 
 clined to render any assistance, saying it would be at the risk of 
 his life if he became identified with me in any way, and that 
 detectives or spies were placed to watch all persons visiting the 
 ship. 
 
 In one of the admiral's despatches to the governor, it was 
 asked why the protection I had sought had not been given, and 
 why I was forced to abandon my post, leaving my considerable 
 property unprotected ? In reply, the governor denying all 
 knowledge of any special cause, stated that I had requested my 
 passport, which were granted me without hesitation, and that, 
 in virtue of his high appreciation of me, he had sent his secre- 
 tary to represent him and to accompany me on board the ship 
 by which I departed. As for my property, he had too much of 
 his own business to attend to, to occupy himself with my per- 
 sonal affairs; but that he did know I had left in debt to some 
 of the volunteers, which debts he sought to insinuate were the 
 real cause of my departure. That the governor should affect 
 ignorance of the extent of my property will be hard to recon- 
 cile with the fact that only a few days before ] was forced from 
 
11 
 
 my post, being present at his palace for the purpose, or hope, of 
 arranging with him for the protection of resident American 
 citizens and their menaced interests, the governor himself had 
 made direct inquiries about my estate, and whether the insur- 
 gents had destroyed any part of it. Moreover, he demanded 
 ray quota (eight dollars and a half) for the transportation of 
 troops and convoys, which all planters were required to supply, 
 saying that I was recorded in the archives of the Government 
 ;i> the owner of an estate. Furthermore, as the governor, 
 his secretary, and other high officials of the Spanish army, 
 visited my house frequently, he knew well that it contained 
 elegant and valuable furniture ; that my stables were full of 
 horses and mules, with three carriages, one of which, entirely 
 new, was worth more than one thousand dollars. He must 
 also have known from my tax or contribution — larger than that 
 of any other of similar character in the place — that I had a 
 large professional practice and income. 
 
 I was next informed by the admiral that the Governor would 
 visit the ship, and in my anxiety to adjust my unsettled affairs, 
 I proposed to seek an interview with him, to which the admiral 
 objected, but finally consented that I might submit a request in 
 writing, which if granted, I could meet the Governor in his 
 cabin. The interview took place, and I was received with equal 
 politeness and duplicity. The Governor assured me that any 
 disposition which I might make for the settlement of my private 
 affairs should have his sanction and support. I then informed 
 him I had addressed letters not only to many lawyers of the 
 city, but also to my personal friends, with the object of inducing 
 some competent person to take charge of my property, and going 
 into a general liquidation of my affairs, but as yet had found no 
 one willing to undertake the charge, not even Mr. Parsons, my 
 successor, who had answered that he did not dare to have any- 
 thing to do with my matters lest he should eventually fall into 
 a worse condition than my own. I proposed, however, as alto- 
 gether acceptable to me, to leave my affairs in the hands of a 
 Mr. Cortez, one recognized in all respects as a loyal Spaniard, 
 who was willing to undertake the trust if the Governor would 
 guarantee his safety. This was assented to, but a power of at- 
 torney became necessary from me to legalize the proceeding, and 
 it was found no one was willing to come off to the ship to draw 
 up the paper and take my signature, properly authenticated, as 
 it had to be. Meanwhile the admiral had determined to leave 
 for Jamaica at 10 o'clock A. M. on the following day, having 
 eoncluded, as he asserted, the official inquiries which had brought 
 
12 
 
 him to the place. Unwilling to depart again with my private 
 affairs unsettled, I induced the admiral to apply to the Gover- 
 nor to oblige some lawyer to come off to the ship to execute the 
 necessary power of attorney, which was accordingly done. Thus 
 it will be seen nothing can be more false or absurd than the 
 allegation that I left the country for the purpose of avoiding 
 payment of the petty debts I was forced to leave unsettled. 
 
 If, to-day, I am forced to be absent from my comfortable 
 home, forced to abandon a handsome property to spoliation, 
 which I had acquired by many years of diligent attention to 
 my profession, it was simply because I sought faithfully to dis- 
 charge official duties entrusted to me at a critical juncture, when 
 the lives and property of my countrymen were menaced by a 
 brutal, ignorant foreign mob, filled with contemptuous insolence 
 and bitter hatred toward the flag of the United States. Under 
 the shadow of that flag I was unable to look with indifference 
 upon the murder of Americans without form of trial and mani- 
 festly without cause ; neither could I see the property of my 
 countrymen despoiled or wasted without resistance on my part. 
 Moreover, I could not see the whole native population of Cuba 
 a prey for years to spoliation and outrage by their Spanish task- 
 masters without sympathy in their brave struggle for liberty 
 and independence, or without truthfully acquainting my Gov- 
 ernment how all the laws of humanity were being constantly 
 violated by Spanish officials and soldiery in their savage method 
 of warfare — a method so fearful that any accurate description 
 would be deemed fraught with exaggeration. In my letters to 
 the State Department, surely I have in no manner transcended 
 what was my strict duty to that department as an officer under 
 it. I did no more than to give an unvarnished relation of the 
 cruel anarchy amidst which I was called upon to discharge the 
 duties of an American consul — relations abundantly confirmed 
 by the letters of Messrs. Plumb, Hall and others, in regard to 
 affairs in other parts of the Island of Cuba ; relations, indeed, 
 which, upon investigation by Admiral Hoff, were fully con- 
 firmed, as may be seen by the letter of Mr. Fish to Mr. Sickels, 
 dated Washington, August 10, 1869.* Nevertheless, when 
 these official papers were published by my own Government 
 
 * These men" (Speakman and Wyeth) " were cruelly murdered, 
 owing entirely to the weakness of the Spanish officials at this city 
 (St. Jago de Cuba) in yielding to the demand of the Catalan volun- 
 teers, and in misconstruing, or acting upon the cruel decree of the 
 24th of March, 1859." (Page 40, Ex. Doc. No. 7, Senate, 41st Con- 
 gress, 2d session.) 
 
13 
 
 and thus placed within the knowledge of those to whose crimes 
 and offences against justice and humanity, to those to whose 
 villanies they refer, I am suffered to be driven from my post of 
 duty for having performed my duty ; I am treated with per- 
 sonal indignity, barely escape with my life, and am obliged to 
 give up to spoliation a large property. Thus far, this has been 
 suffered by my Government with the least possible attempt to 
 see justice done me ; but I cannot doubt, in time, proper courses 
 will be taken to secure me at least indemnity for my losses — ■ 
 indemnity, too, to the families of those poor victims of Spanish 
 ferocity and hatred of Americans — Speakman and Wyeth, 
 Demery and Portuondo. Their lives cannot be restored ; but 
 I feel confident the day is at hand when Spaniards will be 
 made to understand they cannot, without summary responsi- 
 bility, outrage humanity, insult the flag of the United States in 
 every petty port in the Island of Cuba, and murder Americans 
 who happen to fall in their power. 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 The " Arlington," 
 
 Washington, D. C, June 7, 1870. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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