F 1786 
 .S73 
 Copy 1 
 
 ifew 
 
 Reform 
 
 c» // i 
 
 ensure 
 
 J'or the 
 
 Ssianci of Cuba. 
 
TEXT 
 
 NEW REFORM MEASUR 
 
 U 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 ISLAND OK CUBA. 
 
 "EXPOSITORY PREAMBLE" axd "ROYAL DECREE." 
 
 COMMENTARY— STATEMENTS BY PUBLIC 
 MEN— EXPRESSIONS OF OPINION. 
 
 ENGLISH VERSION BY 
 
 ANTONIO CUYAS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATED SPANISH AND CUBAN PRESS. 
 
 1897. 
 
EXPOSITORY PREAHBLE. 
 
 t()UR MAJESTY: Ever since Your Majesty's con- 
 fidence was reposed in the present Ministry the 
 war in Cuba has been the object of its constant anxiety, 
 which was later heightened by the rebellion in the Philip- 
 pine Archipelago. To-day the end of the latter seems to 
 be near; and although no precise date can be predeter- 
 mined for the ending of the Cuban insurrection, its 
 evident abatement suffices to warrant certain measures in 
 anticipation of and adequate to the probable course of 
 events. 
 
 It is important, Your Majesty, that the facts anteceding 
 these events be borne in mind. It is daily becoming more 
 evident that the protracted conspiracy which preceded the 
 war was not entered into with the end in view of obtaining 
 any concessions compatible with Spanish sovereignty, as 
 there exists ample documentary evidence to prove that the 
 promoters of said conspiracy never contemplated anything 
 but the independence of the Island. So manifestly was this 
 their aim that, as is well known, the Reform Law of March 
 15, 1895, which was supported in the Cortes with such 
 good faith by all political parties, Peninsular and Cuban, far 
 from restraining the revolutionary movement, hastened its 
 outbreak, it being the purpose of the conspirators to prevent 
 the beneficial effects of said law from exerting any direct 
 or indirect influence toward the maintenance of peace. 
 Thus, forcibly, the Spanish nation, which had long before 
 granted to its Antilles all the political rights unanimously 
 
accepted by modern civilization, and which, at the very 
 time when its sovereignty began to be combatted, was 
 endeavoring to establish certain reform measures, indis- 
 putably liberal and in the direction of self-government, 
 was obliged to take up arms in defence of the integrity of 
 its territory. Some persons were led by their generous 
 spirit to believe at first that by merely putting the reforms 
 into practical operation the plans of the conspirators 
 would be baffled; but the majority of Spaniards soon 
 became convinced that we had to deal with another 
 separatist war, the inefficiency of which would have to be 
 demonstrated before the concessions contained in the 
 Reform Law could give any useful results. To this con- 
 viction and to the manifest impossibility — soon afterward 
 created by the war — of introducing a new regime in 
 Cuba, when the established one could barely be enforced, 
 was due the postponement in putting the reforms into 
 effect; a postponement which was not voluntary, there- 
 fore, but unavoidable. And since the settlement of the 
 matter was intrusted to the force of arms, not through 
 choice of the mother country, but much against her 
 wishes, it has been necessary for us to wait until arms 
 should determine the precise moment in which to employ 
 other means dictated by reason and justice. 
 
 Of course the Reform Law, which had been approved by 
 the Cortes (Congress), was never to be considered a finality 
 in an evolution initiated by the metropolis with so much 
 forethought and such sincerity. The doubt might have 
 been entertained at one time whether it would have been 
 advantageous even to the residents of the Antilles for 
 them to enter suddenly on an autonomic form of govern- 
 ment, in view of the ill effects of precipitate action in such 
 matters. 
 
 Without going further than Cuba, we see that such 
 ill effects had already been experienced in the matter 
 of the sudden and unlimited freedom of the press, which 
 
was so largely instrumental in bringing about the insur- 
 rection. 
 
 All this notwithstanding, what Spanish or foreign 
 statesman could suppose that where such liberal political 
 rights existed, the mother country would be niggardly in 
 granting administrative reforms to work in harmony with 
 the political laws ? No, it could not in good faith be 
 assumed that the Reform Law of March 15, 1895, was a 
 finality. It is evident, on the contrary, that the only 
 limit not to be exceeded in the granting of concessions 
 could and should be no other than that pointed out to Your 
 Majesty's Government by the inexorable duty of pre- 
 serving- the nation's heritage. 
 
 But, as has been seen, to destroy the latter without any 
 regard whatsoever to Spain's historical rights in the prem- 
 ises has been the chief intent of the rebels. They pur- 
 posely ignored all peaceful means whereby they could, 
 while in the free exercise of political rights, establish 
 an administrative autonomy on solid bases. Instead of 
 that they pandered to the impatient longings of the youth 
 of the land; they excited the most anarchical passions; 
 they denied all value to the advantages already acquired; 
 they fostered the most unconquerable pessimism on the 
 one hand, while on the other they aroused the most chi- 
 merical hopes. By such means they succeeded in having 
 the above-mentioned law, which had been so enthusiasti- 
 cally passed by the Cortes, received both in Cuba and 
 Porto Rico with indifference, if not with disdain, and in 
 spreading the insurrectionary conflagration. 
 
 Some time has elapsed since those events. The war, 
 with its manifold disasters, has been fruitful in severe les- 
 sons to all the well-disposed inhabitants of the Island of 
 Cuba. Nor is it impossible that there should be a 
 reawakening of the fraternal feeling so long dormant, but 
 which among people of the same race can never be 
 entirelv extinguished; and certainly the persuasion that, 
 
 — 3 — 
 
after all, a peaceful and steady progress, though not sat- 
 isfying every aspiration, is preferable to the triumphs of 
 violence, no matter by whom obtained, is daily gaining 
 ground. 
 
 Coincident with this there is evidently vanishing the 
 mistaken opinion that Spain would be unable to carry on 
 another war like the former one, an opinion held by 
 those who, basing their judgment on insufficient data, 
 attributed our magnanimity in Morocco to impotency, and 
 who therefore thought that the struggle with the metrop- 
 olis would be easy and of brief duration. The documents 
 taken on various occasions from the insurgents prove con- 
 clusively that at one time even they were led into the 
 same error, they who are our own brothers, and who 
 therefore should never for a moment have doubted the 
 firmness and virility of those of their race in the mother 
 country. 
 
 In the meantime it is well known that, although Spain 
 has been compelled, on account of the circumstances 
 above recited, to postpone, and may be still obliged to 
 defer, the carrying into effect of the liberal administrative 
 regime that is essential to Cuba's future prosperity, she 
 has never given up the intention of applying in due time 
 the reforms approved by the Cortes, nor has she failed 
 to appreciate the necessity of broadening their scope in 
 such a manner as to satisfy both the Peninsulars and the 
 Cubans who are shedding their blood on our side in the 
 present struggle, as well as all the inabitants of the Island 
 of Cuba who have the common welfare at heart. And the 
 sincerity with which the new regime will be carried out 
 by the home Government cannot, reasonably, even be 
 questioned. To be convinced of this, we have but to 
 remember the speech pronounced by Your Majesty on 
 the occasion of the opening session of the present Cortes; 
 for no one will doubt the loyalty of Your Majesty's 
 Councilors, whosoever they may be, and, being loyal, it 
 
 — 4 — 
 
would be folly to assume that, whatever their differences 
 of opinion on other matters, they would not all agree in 
 upholding every Royal promise. No; such promises can- 
 not ever be allowed to remain meaningless phrases, nor 
 therefore shall those most solemn ones remain such, 
 whereby Your Majesty offered to confer upon both the 
 Antilles, as soon as the state of war would warrant it, 
 ' ' an administrative and economic personality of a purely 
 local character, but which would assure the unimpeded 
 intervention of all the people of the respective islands in 
 their own affairs, while leaving the rights of sovereignty 
 intact, and unimpaired the conditions necessary for their 
 maintenance." 
 
 From that moment it was not to be questioned that any 
 Spanish Government would shape its course to that end. 
 In regard to the Ministry which is to-day favored with 
 Your Majesty's confidence, it may be said that not only 
 did its several members individually co-operate as effi- 
 ciently as anyone else toward the approval of the afore- 
 mentioned Reform Laws, but during the debate on the 
 answer to the last speech from the Crown the present 
 Cabinet, through its President (the Prime Minister), made 
 certain statements which met with the approval of the 
 most liberal of its political opponents, and which the 
 Ministry could not, without jeopardy to its honor, fail to 
 uphold. 
 
 One of the statements, Your Majesty, was to the effect 
 that the Government would not wait until the last insur- 
 gent had disappeared from Cuba, but that it would deem 
 the moment when the final victory should be assured and 
 the national honor satisfied as the proper time to meet the 
 real necessity felt in Cuba of testing what the English 
 term " self-government," i. e-., a liberal decentralization of 
 such a nature as to allow the people of the Island to man- 
 age their own interests, and to assume, at the same time, 
 the responsibility of their own acts, relieving the metrop- 
 
olis therefrom. Another of the statements made by the 
 Prime Minister on the same occasion was that, aside from 
 the serious motives hereinbefore mentioned, he was actu- 
 ated to move, as he proposed moving, in regard to the 
 policy for the West Indies, by a due consideration for the 
 erroneous opinion prevailing in America and in Europe 
 to the effect that we, the Peninsulars, obstinately denied 
 to our brothers in Cuba and Porto Rico that which other 
 nations granted their trans-oceanic provinces, an opinion 
 which entailed upon us considerable injury. Such a notion 
 was and is really most unjust, as is made evident by 
 our colonial traditions and by our own conduct for 
 many years past with regard to the political govern- 
 ment of the West Indies. Notwithstanding this, it was 
 not fitting that the Government should scorn this 
 erroneous opinion, but, on the contrary, it deemed it a 
 duty to dispel the causes thereof by practical measures. It 
 never has, in truth, been advantageous for any one coun- 
 try to deviate in its political methods from the general 
 trend of those of other nations, and the history of Spain 
 amply bears out this assertion ; and much less can it be 
 advantageous at the present day, when the solidarity of 
 all civilized peoples is such that a mere variance from the 
 forms peculiar to the general system carried out by the 
 predominant nations is usually fruitful of trouble. It 
 is manifest that national dignity will always and in all 
 countries spurn any measure that is not the expression of 
 its own inmost conscience, spontaneously conceived, and 
 much more will it spurn foreign imposition of any sort. 
 But this does not imply that any power should systematic- 
 ally disregard public opinion, which, when legitimately 
 expressed and generally held, is entitled to the same re- 
 spect from the great human associations as from the 
 individuals constituting them. In a word, Your Majesty, 
 everything urges your Government to the fulfillment of 
 the promises made by Your Majesty before the Cortes, 
 
 — 6 — 
 
and which by the Royal sanction, and with the consent 
 of his colleagues, were repeated and extended in scope, 
 also before the Cortes, by the Minister who has now the 
 honor of addressing Your Majesty. 
 
 There is nothing, either, in what he submits for the 
 Royal approval that is not in accord with his own politi- 
 cal record. Before anyone else he devoted himself with 
 energy and efficiency to the work of suppressing the slave 
 trade ; over thirty years ago he convened an important and 
 illustrious assembly of delegates from the West Indies, 
 intrusted with the task of thoroughly reforming in their 
 respective provinces the then existing regime with regard 
 to the administration of local affairs and to the labor ques- 
 tion. After the capitulation of Zanjbn he extended to 
 Cuba, with such slight modifications as were at the begin- 
 ning necessary, the exercise of the same political rights as 
 were enjoyed in the Peninsula; and, lastly, as before men- 
 tioned, he contributed, together with all his political fol- 
 lowers, without exception, toward the approval by the 
 Cortes of the Reform Law of March, 1895. Such is the 
 record to which the undersigned ventures to call the gra- 
 cious attention of Your Majesty, not assuredly in a boastful 
 spirit, but in order to strengthen the certitude which the 
 natives of the West Indies should be possessed of that 
 whatever Spain offers she stands ready to fulfill with 
 inviolable good faith. For, if the present Prime Minister 
 speaks now, more particularly in his own name, he hastens 
 to acknowledge and proclaim that all other Councilors in- 
 vested with Your Majesty's confidence will in the future 
 act in like manner, because Spanish statesmen can differ 
 in regaixl to this question only in their ability or in the 
 degree of success they may attain, but never in their 
 good faith or in their loyalty in redeeming the pledges 
 made in Your Majesty's name and on behalf of the nation. 
 
 With the issuance of this Decree Spain will have com- 
 pleted all that it is incumbent upon her to do in order to 
 
 — 7 — 
 
hasten the end of Cuba's misfortunes. The rest of the 
 task, i. e., the material and practical application of the 
 reforms, will not depend for its performance exclusively 
 upon the mother country in the future. It will also be 
 necessary that the insurgents, convinced as they must be 
 of the futility of their struggle, and moved to compassion 
 by the desolation and ruin of their native land, lay down 
 their arms soon and allow free play to the inexhaustible 
 generosity of the mother country, ever ready to take them 
 back into her fold. Although such hopes may be cherished 
 as to many of them, perhaps it would be presumptuous to 
 entertain them as to all. For reasons already set forth 
 by Your Majesty's Government, it may be deemed prob- 
 able that there will not be wanting men who, blind to 
 their own as well as to their country's best interests, will 
 endeavor to prolong, for however brief a period, the de- 
 plorable evils which now afflict the Island, imagining, per- 
 chance, that Spain will tire of her sacrifices and raise the 
 flag of peace upon any terms, leaving that beautiful land, 
 together with the lives and property of its loyal inhabitants 
 enlisted in our cause, at the mercy of the irreconcilable 
 advocates of separation from the mother country. As to 
 the present Government, it may here be said that no one 
 will ever obtain its co-operation in such a course. 
 
 But it is time, Your Majesty, to acknowledge that meas- 
 ures of such scope as those herein proposed are not of the 
 kind that in free countries usually come within the 
 attributes of the Executive. Only the manifestly extraor- 
 dinary nature of the present circumstances could have 
 persuaded Your Majesty's Government to adopt them in 
 the form of a Decree, upon which the Council of State is 
 to be heard, and which is to be duly laid before the 
 Cortes, in order that it may receive from them the utmost 
 legality that it may require. For less obvious reasons 
 other governments have considered themselves compelled 
 to act in like manner, asking afterward for what, bor- 
 
rowing the term from the English, is now called in Spain 
 a " Bill of Indemnity." To have made such a matter the 
 subject of a prolonged and critical discussion while the 
 war is waging would have invited troubles so self-evident 
 that it is needless to particularize them here. Our Con- 
 stitution itself recognizes in the Crown the right, in the 
 event of a foreign war, both of declaring it and of making 
 and ratifying peace, submitting afterward to the Cortes 
 a documentary report thereon. And although the insur- 
 rection in Cuba is not in truth a foreign war, it may well 
 be compared with those of that nature that we have 
 sustained in the past, on account of the vast sacrifices in 
 men and money that it entails upon the nation There 
 are not lacking, therefore, plausible reasons for proceed- 
 ing in the same manner that the Constitution provides in 
 the case of a war with an independent state. But the 
 Government is not seeking at all to shirk its responsibility 
 in endeavoring by means of this Decree to facilitate the 
 ultimate accomplishment of peace. As the Cabinet is 
 ready to face its responsibility before the Cortes, the 
 respect in which the latter are held by the former simply 
 induces it to present here excuses the validity of which 
 it is incumbent exclusively on them to decide. In the 
 meantime, as the thirteenth paragraph, Section 45, of the 
 organic law of the Council of State requires that this 
 body be consulted in regard to ' ' any innovation in the 
 laws, ordinances, rules and regulations applicable to our 
 trans-oceanic provinces," the present Ministry shall not 
 fail to meet this essential requirement in a matter of such 
 moment as the one under consideration, even if it be only 
 in order to strengthen its own judgment with that of the 
 supreme consultative body of the Realm. 
 
 Not all the problems involved in the government of the 
 West Indies will be solved, however, by means of the 
 Decree herewith submitted. Some of them give us time to 
 seek their solution from the Cortes — a course, moreover, 
 
 — 9 — 
 
which their exceptional character demands. One of these 
 is in reference to the determination, in a precise and abso- 
 lute manner, of the expenses necessary to the maintenance 
 of sovereignty, and of all other expenses, aside from those 
 purely local, that shall correspond to Cuba, as fixed 
 charges upon her Budget. This is a matter that must be 
 submitted to the Cortes, as it affects the Peninsular prov- 
 inces equally with those of the Island. 
 
 Another of the problems referred to above is the one 
 relative to the judicial organization; for, though all judi- 
 cial functionaries are already included in one civil list with 
 those of the Peninsula, and though some rules are laid 
 down in the present Decree for their appointment to fill 
 vacancies that correspond to the " turn of selection "* for 
 the West Indies, there remain some essential points to be 
 covered by legislative enactment, among others the pro- 
 portionate share that the West Indies and the other Spanish 
 provinces shall have in the number of aspirants to the 
 national magistracy. 
 
 No reference is made, either, in the present Decree to 
 electoral reform, because certain reasons of a high order 
 bar the introduction by the Government of changes in the 
 existing system for the election of Representatives and 
 Senators, without the concurrence of the Cortes; and 
 
 * In almost every branch of the Spanish Government service the 
 officers and functionaries thereof are registered in the respective 
 civil list according to rank and to seniority in each rank ; and in fill- 
 ing vacancies in any but the lowest rank, the appointing officer is not 
 only obliged to promote one of those registered in the rank immedi- 
 ately inferior to the one in which the vacancy is to be filled, but he 
 is obliged to follow two alternate " turns," viz., to the first vacancy 
 occurring in any given class he is to promote the employee, officer or 
 functionary heading, as senior, the list of the class next inferior in 
 rank, this being termed the " turn of seniority." To the next vacancy 
 occurring in the same class he may promote, at his discretion, any 
 employee, officer or functionary included in the list of the class next 
 inferior in rank, provided that the person so selected is otherwise 
 legally entitled to promotion, there being certain requirements such 
 as a certain number of years of service in each rank. This is called 
 the "turn of discretionary selection." — {Translator 's Note.) 
 
 — 10 — 
 
because to the above system, which is the primary one, 
 all others relative to Provincial Assemblies and Munici- 
 palities have always been subordinate. 
 
 The Government is not yet in a position to determine 
 how brief or how long the period may be within which the 
 present reforms can be put into effect in Cuba and, conse- 
 quently, in Porto Rico, although from all the data at hand 
 at the moment of draughting the following Decree the out- 
 look seems very satisfactory and there are many indications 
 that peace is not far off ; but, at any rate, the Government 
 feels that it must be prepared to put such reforms into 
 practical operation without delay as soon as may be pos- 
 sible. To this end, therefore, the Council of State 
 shall be immediately consulted, although the Decree of 
 Reforms shall not be enforced until all necessary condi- 
 tions are complied with. This done, and the intentions of 
 Spain being from this moment known, it is to be hoped 
 that a conciliatory spirit will prevail in the West Indies, 
 thus hastening by easy means that which the country 
 has always longed for ; that which the civilized world de- 
 sires, and that which Your Majesty and the Government, 
 as much or more than anyone else, have striven for in 
 the past and will continue in the future to strive for — a 
 
 fruitful and lasting peace. 
 
 Your Majesty: 
 
 I have the honor to be Your Majesty's 
 
 Most humble servant, 
 
 ANTONIO CANOVAS DEL CASTILLO. 
 
 11 
 
ROYAL DECREE. 
 
 Upon the proposition of my Prime Minister, and with 
 the concurrence of the Council of Ministers, in the name of 
 my august son, King Alfonso XIII., and as Queen 
 Regent of the Kingdom, I hereby decree, as follows : 
 
 Sole Section — The plan for extending the scope of 
 the reforms for the Island of Cuba which were embodied 
 in the law of March 15, 1805, and which plan shall in due 
 time apply as well to the reforms already put in force in 
 Porto Rico, shall be submitted to the full Council of State, 
 for its prompt consideration and report, in accordance with 
 the provisions of Section 45, paragraph 13, of the organic 
 law of that Supreme National Advisory Body. 
 
 Given in the Palace on the fourth day of February, in 
 the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven. 
 
 MARIA CRISTINA. 
 The Prime Minister, 
 
 Antonio Canovas del Castillo. 
 
PLAN FOR THE EXTENSION IN 5C0PE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REFORM LAW OF flARCH 15, 1895. 
 
 Article 1. 
 
 The Law of March 15, 1895, relative to Reforms in the 
 system of Government and Civil Administration in the 
 Island of Cuba, shall be extended and given a wider scope 
 in accordance with the following bases, which so far as 
 may be necessary shall be amplified and developed by 
 means of Rules and Regulations. 
 
 Basis I. — The Boards of Aldermen and the Provincial Powers of the 
 
 Provincial 
 
 Assemblies of the Island of Cuba shall enjoy such liberty Assemblies 
 
 r , ,..,.,,. n , and Boards of 
 
 of action as may be compatible with observance of law Aldermen. 
 and with the rights of private individuals. 
 
 They shall be free to appoint and remove all their 
 employees. 
 
 The Presidents of the Provincial Assemblies shall be 
 elected by said assemblies from among their own mem- 
 bers. In each Provincial Assembly there shall be a Pro- 
 vincial Executive Committee, consisting of Assemblymen 
 elected semi-annually by the Assembly. The Provincial 
 Executive Committee shall elect its chairman. 
 
 Mayors and Deputy Mayors shall be elected to the Mayors: How 
 
 Elected. 
 
 respective offices by the Board of Aldermen from among 
 their own members. The Mayors shall without limitation 
 exercise the executive functions of the municipal govern- 
 ment, as the executive officers of the Boards of Aldermen. 
 A Provincial Assembly may stay the execution of reso- 
 lutions adopted by any of the Boards of Aldermen under 
 its jurisdiction; it may also censure, warn, fine or suspend 
 the members thereof, whenever said members shall exceed 
 
 — 15 — 
 
The Raising of 
 Revenue. 
 
 Public 
 education. 
 
 Financial 
 
 Statements by 
 
 the Mayors. 
 
 the limits of their municipal jurisdiction; in such case the 
 Assembly shall report such action to the Civil Governor 
 for his approval and for its execution. 
 
 Should the Civil Governor not approve the action of the 
 Provincial Assembly, either in whole or in part, said 
 Assembly may appeal to the full Supreme Court of the 
 corresponding territory, whose decision shall be final. 
 
 For the purpose of raising the revenue necessary to meet 
 their expenses and obligations, the Municipal Coun- 
 cils and Provincial Assemblies shall be vested with all the 
 authority compatible with the system of taxation govern- 
 ing the general and local Budgets of the Island; it being 
 understood that the revenues for the provincial Budgets 
 shall be independent of those for the municipal Budgets. 
 
 The establishment of public educational institutions in 
 the provinces shall devolve exclusively upon their respective 
 Provincial Assemblies, and of those in the cities and towns 
 upon the Boards of Aldermen. 
 
 The Governor General and the Civil Governors shall have 
 the right of intervention in these matters only to the extent 
 necessary to insure compliance with the general laws, 
 and to satisfy themselves that the new charges imposed 
 by the local Budgets are not in excess of the respective 
 provincial and municipal resources. 
 
 The annual financial statements rendered by the Mayors, 
 which shall include all receipts and expenditures, both 
 ordinary and special, shall be published in their respective 
 localities, and whatever may be their total amount 
 shall be audited, and objected to or approved, as the case 
 may be, by the Municipal Council, after hearing any pro- 
 tests offered against them. From the action of the 
 Municipal Council appeal may be taken to the Provincial 
 Executive Committee, and in cases where the latter shall 
 declare the liability of any official or officials, an appeal 
 may be taken to the full Supreme Court of each respec- 
 tive district, which shall decide, without further recourse, 
 
 — 16 — 
 
in conformity with the administrative and penal laws that 
 may be applicable thereto. 
 
 Basis II. — The Council of Administration shall consist 
 of thirty-five Councilors. Of these, twenty-one shall be 
 elected as follows by the same voters who are entitled to 
 suffrage at the elections for Assemblymen and Aldermen, 
 and according to the provisions of Article III. of the 
 Reform law of March 15, 1895, as follows: Five by the 
 Province of Havana, four each by the Provinces of Santa 
 Clara and Santiago de Cuba, three each by the Provinces 
 of Pinar del Rio and Matanzas, and two by the Province 
 of Puerto Principe. Nine other Councilors shall be the 
 following: The Rector of the University of Havana, the 
 President of the Havana Chamber of Commerce, the 
 President of the Economical Society of the Friends of the 
 Country, the President of the Sugar Planters' Association, 
 the President of the Tobacco Manufacturers' Union, a 
 member of the Chapters of the Cathedrals of Havana 
 and Santiago de Cuba, which Chapters, assembled as 
 electoral colleges, shall elect such member every four 
 years; a representative of all the trades associations of 
 Havana, to be chosen every fourth year by the presi- 
 dents of such trade associations, and two Councilors 
 representing the principal taxpayers of the Province of 
 Havana, to be elected every four years, one by the 
 hundred citizens paying the highest taxes on real estate 
 and the other by the hundred paying the highest taxes 
 on industries, commerce, arts and professions. The re- 
 maining five Councilors shall be the Senators or Repre- 
 sentatives to the Cortes who shall have been elected the 
 greatest number of times at general elections, seniority of 
 age determining where other conditions are equal. 
 
 The Governor General shall be the Honorary President 
 of the Council, and he shall preside, without vote, at any 
 session he may attend. The regular President shall be 
 
 — 17 — 
 
 Council of 
 Administra 
 tion : How 
 Constituted. 
 
 President of 
 the Council. 
 
The Office of 
 Councilor. 
 
 Appointment 
 
 and Removal 
 
 of the 
 
 Council's 
 
 Employees. 
 
 appointed by the Governor General from among its 
 members. 
 
 The office of Councilor shall be without compensation, 
 shall carry personal liability, and, once accepted, cannot be 
 resigned except for cause. The office shall also be incom- 
 patible with that of Representative to the Cortes or Sen- 
 ator, and anyone eligible to the two shall elect between 
 them within two months. 
 
 Candidates having the qualifications necessary for elec- 
 tion as Representatives to the Cortes, and having resided 
 two years on the Island, may be elected Councilors. 
 
 In no case shall those debarred from election as Repre- 
 sentatives to the Cortes by Section 19 of the Provincial 
 Law, now in force, be elected Councilors. 
 
 The Council shall have a Secretary's office, with an ade- 
 quate force for the transaction of the affairs hereby 
 assigned to it. 
 
 The power of appointment and removal of all employees 
 of the Secretary's office shall be solely and exclusively 
 vested in the Council. 
 
 The Council shall elect every six months a Committee 
 on Reports, whose duty shall be to report upon all matters 
 coming within the jurisdiction of the Council. 
 
 Said committee shall consist of five Councilors, each of 
 whom shall be entitled to such compensation as the Council 
 may determine, but which shall not exceed the sum of 
 $2,000 for each term of six months. 
 
 Expenses 
 
 Inherent to 
 
 Sovereignty. 
 
 Levying of 
 Taxes. 
 
 Basis III. — The Cortes shall determine the expenditures, 
 which shall necessarily be chargeable as expenses inherent 
 to sovereignty, and every three years shall fix the total 
 amount of revenue required therefor; this without preju- 
 dice to the right of the Cortes to alter this provision. 
 
 The Council of Administration shall each year levy such 
 taxes and imposts as may be necessary to provide the total 
 amount of revenue required and to meet the expenditures 
 
 — 18 — 
 
approved by the Cortes in the national Budget for the 
 Island ; this without prejudice to the constitutional right of 
 the Cortes to introduce such changes as it may deem 
 proper in the premises. 
 
 The Council of Administration may renounce the powers 
 conferred upon it by the last preceding paragraph; in 
 which case it shall be understood that it also renounces, 
 for the term covered by the Budget, the powers conferred 
 by vSections 1 and 2 of the first paragraph, Basis IV. 
 
 Should the Council of Administration surrender said 
 powers, or should it fail on the first day of June of any 
 year to levy the taxes and imposts for the revenue required 
 to meet the expenditures included in the national Budget 
 for the Island, the Governor General shall supply such 
 defaidt, so far as it may exist, and either in part or in 
 whole, through the Chief of the Treasury. 
 
 The Council of Administration shall also prepare and The Council to 
 approve every year the local Budget for the Island of Cuba, Budgets. 
 in order to make provision for such branches of the public 
 service as are intrusted to it. It shall also include in said 
 Budget the necessary appropriations for the personnel and 
 the supplies for the office of the Secretary of the General 
 Government of Cuba, for the Bureau of Local Administra- 
 tion, for the Department of Finance, for the office of the 
 Auditor, and for the offices of the six Provincial Governors 
 of the Island, which expenses are hereby declared to be 
 obligatory charges upon said Budget. 
 
 In regard to the obligatory charges just mentioned, the 
 Governor General shall, should the case arise, become vested 
 with the powers mentioned in the fourth paragraph of 
 the present basis, relative to the national Budget for the 
 Island. 
 
 Should any changes or modifications adopted by the 
 Council of Administration affecting services chargeable, as 
 fixed obligations, against the local Budget for the Island, 
 not be approved by the Governor General, they shall be 
 
 — 19 — 
 
Revenues for 
 Local Budgets. 
 
 Educational 
 Institutions. 
 
 submitted to the Minister for the Colonies for final action, 
 to be taken by resolution of the Cabinet, after first 
 obtaining a report thereon from the Council of State. 
 In default of any action by the Minister within two 
 months, the action of the Council of Administration shall 
 stand. 
 
 The Council of Administration shall approve the local 
 Budget for the Island before the first day of June in each 
 year. 
 
 The revenues of the local Budget, besides those already 
 provided, shall consist of such taxes and imposts as the 
 Council of Administration may determine and as shall not 
 conflict with the sources of revenue applied to the national 
 Budget for the Island 
 
 The establishment of new educational institutions pre- 
 paratory for the various Government services*, the Army 
 and Navy excepted, shall devolve upon the Council of 
 Administration, whenever such institutions shall be of a 
 general character and for the benefit of the entire Island. 
 
 The Council of Administration may file with the Gov- 
 ernor General claims or protests, should there be occa- 
 sion for them, against any resolution or action taken by 
 the Chief of the Bureau of Local Administration. 
 
 Powers of the Basis IV. — The Council of Administration shall have 
 
 Council in 
 
 the natter of the following powers m the matter of customs tariff : 
 
 Tariff" 8 1- To ma ke, upon the recommendation of the Chief of 
 
 the Treasury of the Island, the rules and regulations for 
 the administration of the customs revenue. 
 
 2. To take such action as it may deem advisable, with 
 the advice of the Chief of the Treasury, or upon his 
 recommendation, in regard to export duties. 
 
 3. To fix or change at its discretion, with the advice of 
 the Chief of the Treasury, or upon his recommendation, 
 
 * See notes on pages 10 and 25. 
 
 — 20 
 
the fiscal duties to be levied upon imports through the 
 Custom Houses of the Island of Cuba. 
 
 4. To report upon and to recommend any changes 
 which experience may suggest in the general or supple- 
 mentary dispositions of the tariff, or in the schedules, 
 notes or repertory thereof; said report to necessarily pre- 
 cede any action taken thereon. 
 
 These powers are granted subject to the following limi- 
 tations : 
 
 1. A reasonable and necessary protection shall be main- 
 tained in favor of national products and manufactures, 
 provided they be directly of national origin, as regards 
 their importation into the Island of Cuba; such protec- 
 tion to be accorded by means of differential duties to be 
 levied at the minimum rates, hereafter to be determined, 
 equally upon all products of foreign origin. 
 
 2. The fiscal duties to be fixed by the Council of Ad- 
 ministration shall not be differential, but must apply 
 equally upon all imports, those of national origin included. 
 
 3. Such export duties as may be established shall not 
 be differential, but shall be applied equally to the same class 
 of products, whatever their destination. Exception may be 
 made, however, in favor of products exported directly for 
 national consumption, in which exclusive case the Council 
 of Administration may grant exemption from or a differ- 
 ential reduction in the duties by it established. 
 
 •4. The prohibition to export any product, should this 
 at any time be ordered, shall not apply to products 
 exported directly for national consumption. 
 
 5. The powers granted by virtue of Sections 1 and 2 of 
 the first paragraph of this present basis shall be exercised 
 by the Council of Administration or, in default thereof, by 
 the Governor General, in accordance with the obligations 
 imposed by the second paragraph, Basis III. The fiscal 
 import duties, and also the export duties, should such be 
 established, shall remain unchanged during the term cov- 
 
 — 21 — 
 
 Protection to 
 National 
 Products. 
 
 Export Duties. 
 
Form 
 
 of Customs 
 
 Tariff. 
 
 Fiscal Duties. 
 
 rtaximictn at 
 Protection. 
 
 Differential 
 Duties. 
 
 ered by the Budget which is based upon the revenues that 
 those duties are estimated to provide. 
 
 The import tariff shall be embodied in the following- 
 form : The duties shall be set forth in two columns, viz., 
 the first shall contain the fiscal duties to be levied and col- 
 lected on all importations of whatever origin, national 
 included ; the second shall contain the differential duties 
 to be levied equally upon all products of foreign origin; 
 these last mentioned duties to constitute the necessary 
 protection which is secured to national products and 
 manufactures. 
 
 The fiscal duties comprised in the first or general column 
 may be freely altered by the addition of such extra rates 
 of duties and by such reductions or exemptions as the 
 Council of Administration may determine, in the exer- 
 cise of the powers hereinbefore granted, subject to the 
 limitations also hereinbefore expressed. 
 
 The Cortes shall determine the maximum of protection 
 to be maintained in favor of national products and manu- 
 factures. The maximum thus established shall not be 
 altered without the concurrence of the Cortes, and this 
 concurrence shall also be necessary for any changes in the 
 column of differential duties. 
 
 The initial duties to be levied upon all the articles com- 
 prised in the various schedules of the tariff and which are 
 to constitute, for the first time, the differential column 
 before mentioned, shall be fixed by the Government. 
 
 These differential duties, which need not in general be 
 higher than 20 per cent, ad valorem, shall not exceed 35 
 per cent, ad valorem, even on such articles as may require 
 this exceptional and maximum rate. A special act of the 
 Cortes shall be required in order to exceed the above limit 
 of 35 per cent, on any article. Such act may raise the 
 limit to 40 pe: cent, ad valorem. 
 
 The Government shall order a revision of the official 
 schedules of valuations of merchandise after a full hearing 
 
of all interests. Whenever, as a result of the revision of said 
 schedule of valuations, and by reason of the limitations 
 established by the preceding rule, it shall appear that a 
 reduction should be made in the differential duty on any 
 specified article of the Tariff, the finding of said fact shall 
 of itself operate to effect such reduction. The official 
 schedules of valuation of merchandise, once revised, shall 
 remain unchanged for the term of ten years, unless other- 
 wise provided by the Cortes. 
 
 It being impossible to carry immediately into effect all 
 the provisions that this basis establishes for the future, 
 and it being deemed inadvisable to further delay the 
 revision of the Tariff now in operation in Cuba, the Min- 
 ister for the Colonies shall, by virtue of legal authority 
 now vested in him, and in accordance with the law of June 
 28, 1895, publish and put into effect a provisional Tariff, 
 the general lines and the schedules of which shall be 
 adjusted to the requirements of this present basis; and 
 the fiscal duties which may be thus fixed and which may 
 appear in their respective column, and also whatever may 
 relate to export duties or regulations, shall be provisionally 
 put into force. 
 
 Commercial treaties or conventions which shall affect 
 the customs tariff of the Island of Cuba must be of a special 
 character. The benefits of the clause of the " most favored 
 nation," or any equivalent thereof, shall not be granted 
 therein. The Council of Administration shall be con- 
 sulted as to the advisability of granting any special con- 
 cessions which the Government may have in view, in nego- 
 tiating any treaty, before the latter shall be completed 
 for submission to the Cortes. 
 
 Revision of 
 
 Schedules of 
 
 Valuation. 
 
 Provisional 
 Tariff. 
 
 Commercial 
 Treaties. 
 
 Basis V. — The Governor General shall have the power Power of 
 
 Appointment 
 
 to appoint and remove all the employees of the office of of Employees. 
 the Secretary of the General Government of the Island, 
 of the Bureau of Civil and Economic Administration and 
 
 — 23 
 
of the Provincial Governments, as provided in Basis 
 VII. 
 
 Basis VI. — The office of the Secretary of the General 
 Government shall be under the direction of a Superior 
 Chief of Administration. 
 Chiefs of The Chief of the Treasury of the Island of Cuba, the 
 
 Bureaus to 
 
 Nominate Comptroller and the Chief of the Bureau of Local Adminis- 
 tration shall propose to the Governor General the appoint- 
 ment of all the employees of their respective offices, 
 according to the provisions of Basis VII., and they may 
 likewise propose their removal. 
 Postal The Bureau of Posts and Telegraphs, under the direction 
 
 and Telegraph 
 
 service. of a Chief of Administration, shall have under its charge 
 the services relative to postal and telegraphic communi- 
 cations, both land and maritime, for which the Council 
 of Administration may make provision; and it shall be 
 its duty to examine and render annually the accounts of 
 said services and to execute all the resolutions of the 
 Council concerning the Bureau. 
 
 Employees to Basis VII. — All the employees of the Civil and Economic 
 
 Be Natives . .. . . . 
 
 or Residents of Administration of the Island of Cuba, with the exception 
 of the Secretary of the General Government, the Chief of 
 the Treasury, the Comptroller, the Chiefs of the Bureaus 
 of Local Administration and of Posts and Telegraphs, and 
 the Civil Governors of the six Provinces, shall be appointed, 
 as vacancies occur, by the Governor General of the Island 
 of Cuba, in conformity with existing laws or with such as 
 may be hereafter enacted, from among the natives of said 
 Island or from among others residing or having resided 
 there during two consecutive years. 
 
 The Governor General shall submit to the Council of 
 Administration, for its cognizance, evidence of the legal 
 qualifications of all appointees. 
 
 In the appointment of all functionaries belonging to the 
 — 24 — 
 
civil service professions* and to the postal and telegraph Civil service 
 
 iii- • • i 1 i 1 Provisions. 
 
 service, the legal dispositions and rules and regulations 
 relating thereto shall be complied with. 
 
 The employees of the office of the Secretary of the 
 General Government and of the offices of the Provincial 
 Governors shall be appointed and removed by the Gov- 
 ernor General at his discretion. The employees of the 
 Bureau of Local Administration, of the Treasury and of 
 the Administration of Customs (except in case a corps of 
 experts be organized) and of the office of the Comptroller, 
 shall be appointed by the Governor General upon the 
 nomination of the respective chiefs of the above men- 
 tioned branches of the service. They may be removed by 
 the Governor General upon the proposition of said chiefs, 
 or directly by the former whenever he shall deem it 
 necessary. 
 
 The Governor General may appoint Supervisors of supervisors of 
 
 Public 
 
 Public Education; two each for the Provinces of Havana, Education. 
 Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba, and one each for the 
 Provinces of Pinar del Rio, Matanzas and Puerto Principe. 
 The Governor General may also appoint, upon the nomi- 
 nation of the Provincial Governors, Deputies representing 
 the latter authorities in the municipal districts. Said 
 Deputies shall have gubernatorial authority in their 
 respective localities and shall have control of the police 
 
 Deputies to 
 
 Represent 
 
 Civil 
 
 Governors in 
 
 Towns. 
 
 * Various branches of the Government service in Spain constitute 
 what are termed state or civil service professions. Admission thereto 
 can only be obtained through a special course of studies for each, and 
 after a rigid competitive examination for such vacancies in the lowest 
 rank as from time to time are to be filled. Once admitted, members 
 of said professions cannot be removed from office, except after trial 
 for cause, though they may be assigned to different posts pertaining 
 to their respective ranks ; and their advancement is regulated by a 
 system which, while securing to all equal justice in promotion by 
 seniority, still offers to all an incentive to zeal and efficiency. See 
 note on foot of page 10. At a certain age, and after a given number 
 of years' service, members of civil service professions may retire with 
 a pension, proportionate to their rank on retirement. — Translator s 
 Note. 
 
 — 25 
 
force. In no case shall they interfere with the Mayors or 
 Boards of Aldermen in the exercise of their powers. 
 
 The Governor General, whenever he shall deem it advis- 
 able, and acting upon the recommendation of the Pro- 
 vincial Governors, may in the same manner deputize the 
 Mayor of any city or town. 
 
 Administra= 
 tion of Justice. 
 
 Hirnicipal 
 Judges. 
 
 Basis VIII. — Any vacancies which may hereafter occur in 
 any of the offices under the Administration of Justice* and 
 the appointment to which may, according to turn, be dis- 
 cretionary,** shall be filled by the Minister for the Colo- 
 nies, either from natives of the Island of Cuba or from 
 those who reside or may have resided there. Applications 
 for appointment, accompanied by the records of the 
 respective applicants, shall be filed with the Presidents 
 of the Supreme Courts of the various districts, and shall 
 be forwarded to the Department through the Governor 
 General. 
 
 The Municipal Judge of each judicial district shall be 
 appointed by the Governor General, who shall select for 
 that office one of three persons to be nominated by the 
 Aldermen of the respective municipalities and by the 
 voters entitled to vote for the electors of Senators, regard 
 being had to the provisions of the law relative to the ap- 
 pointment of electors. 
 
 In municipalities where two or more Judges are to be 
 appointed separate ballots shall becast for each set of 
 nominees in the manner above provided. 
 
 The Municipal Judges who may be elected must possess 
 the qualifications prescribed by the existing laws in the 
 Island of Cuba. 
 
 Council to 
 
 Respect 
 
 Pending Con= 
 
 tracts. 
 
 Basis IX. — The Council of Administration shall respect 
 pending contracts throughout the various branches of the 
 
 * This comprises Judges and Prosecuting Attorneys. — T. A'. 
 ** See note foot of page 25. 
 
 — 26 
 
Government service and of the Treasury of the Island, 
 and upon their expiration may renew them or not at its 
 discretion. 
 
 The Council of Administration is hereby empowered to 
 apply to the Island of Cuba the Law regulating- the opera- 
 tions of the Treasury which is now in force in the Penin- 
 sula, and to enter into an agreement for that purpose with 
 the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba. 
 
 The Council is further empowered to intrust the above 
 mentioned Bank with the collection of revenues, or to con- 
 tract with it with reference thereto, subject always to the 
 approval of the Minister for the Colonies. 
 
 Council 
 
 Empowered to 
 
 Contract for 
 
 Collection of 
 
 Taxes. 
 
 Basis X. — A special Decree, which shall be reported Preservation 
 to the Cortes, shall contain such dispositions as may be p U bii C Peace. 
 deemed necessary for the preservation of the public peace 
 and for the suppression of any separatist movement which 
 by any means whatever may be again set on foot. 
 
 Article 2. 
 
 The Government shall embody in a single instrument Previous and 
 
 . . , r Present 
 
 the foregoing provisions and the provisions of the reform Reform neas= 
 law of March 15, 1895, so as to harmonize the two; and ^'diusted 6 
 shall in due time report the same to the Cortes. 
 
 These united provisions shall be supplemented by rules 
 and regulations to be subsequently formulated, which, 
 however, shall in no manner change the intent or mean- 
 ing thereof, and whose sole purpose shall be to adjust 
 the said provisions to other legislation now in force, 
 as provided in the before mentioned law of March 15, 
 L895. 
 
 Upon the issuing of an order putting into effect in Cuba These Disposi= 
 
 tions to 
 
 the provisions of the law of March 15, 1S95, and the pro- Have the Force 
 
 visions of this Royal Decree, said provisions shall, so far 
 
Reforms 
 Applied to 
 Porto Rico. 
 
 When the 
 
 Reforms Shall 
 
 Be Put Into 
 
 Effect. 
 
 as may be possible, have all the force of law, without preju- 
 dice to the rules and regulations subsequently to be made. 
 
 Article 3. 
 
 The provisions of the present Decree, as an extension in 
 scope of the law of March 15, 1895, shall be applied to the 
 Island of Porto Rico wherever compatible with the differ- 
 ent conditions prevailing in said Island and with the insti- 
 tutions already established there. 
 
 The rules and regulations already issued for Porto Rico 
 shall be amended so far as may be necessary to bring them 
 into accord with those which shall be issued for the Island 
 of Cuba. 
 
 Article 4. 
 
 The date upon which the provisions of the reform law 
 of March 15, 1895. shall be put into effect in Cuba, and 
 upon which the provisions of this supplementary Decree 
 shall be applied to both Cuba and Porto Rico, shall be 
 determined by the Government as soon as the condition 
 of the war in Cuba shall permit. 
 
 The Prime Minister, 
 
 Antonio Canovas del Castillo. 
 
 Madrid, February 4, 1897. 
 
 28 
 
. COMMENTARY. 
 
 I 
 
 N perusing - the official text of the ' ' Expository Pre- Points to Be 
 amble " and " Royal Decree " embodvinsr the reform "d" 6 !" ♦H d 
 
 -' jo m Reading the 
 
 measures recently adopted by Spain for the govern- Foregoing 
 
 ment of the Island of Cuba, which is herein rendered in as 
 faithful an English version as the difference in construction 
 of the two languages would permit of, the reader will un- 
 doubtedly have a better comprehension of those measures 
 and a more adequate appreciation of their scope if he 
 will bear in mind : First — The political complexion of the 
 party whose leader, as Premier of the Kingdom, has pre- 
 pared and obtained the sanction of the Crown for such a 
 radical measure of Spanish colonial policy. Second — The 
 purpose which has actuated Her Majesty's Government in 
 adopting such a course, and its intentions as to the devel- 
 opment and application of the plan of reforms. Third — 
 The view taken in regard to this plan by the leaders of 
 other Spanish political parties. Fourth — The spirit in 
 which its announcement has been received in Cuba by 
 prominent natives and influential Peninsular-born resi- 
 dents. Fifth — The trend of public opinion in foreign 
 countries on the reforms. 
 
 As an aid, therefore, to those not thoroughly acquainted 
 with the subject, the writer here presents, supplemented 
 by a few remarks of his own, various statements and ex- 
 pressions of opinion covering the points above enumerated, 
 which he has culled, extracted and rendered into English, 
 where necessary, from ?uch matter as he has at hand. 
 
 As to the first point, it is well to remember that while 
 the Conservative party, under the leadership of the present 
 
 — 29 — 
 
Conservative eral party. 
 
 Party Fore= 
 
 stalls the 
 
 Liberals in 
 
 Granting Re= 
 
 forms. 
 
 Prime Minister, Seflor Canovas del Castillo, has always, 
 true to its name and creed, opposed radical legislation and 
 the adoption of political measures for which it did not 
 consider the time ripe nor the people of Spain prepared, 
 it has almost invariably, when called into power, respected 
 or " conserved" all successive political rights enacted into 
 the Laws of the Realm through the initiative of the Lib- 
 And in many instances, as in the present 
 Cuban question, the Conservatives have forestalled the 
 more advanced party in the granting of reforms, going 
 even beyond the limits predetermined by the latter' s 
 declarations of principles as to certain issues. 
 
 Thus, not only did the Conservative party, then in the 
 opposition, heartily support and solidly vote in favor of 
 the Abarzuza Cuban Reform bill, draughted and submitted 
 to the Cortes by the Liberal Cabinet of Premier Sagasta 
 in 1895, but now, while under the tremendous responsibili- 
 ties inherent to power in such critical circumstances as 
 Spain is going through, Sehor Canovas boldly steps far 
 beyond the boundaries pointed out by the promises of 
 other Spanish statesmen or even by the demands of the 
 several Cuban legal political parties, the Autonomist 
 party alone excepted. 
 
 Intentions 
 
 of the 
 
 Government. 
 
 In regard to the second point, Senor Canovas del Cas- 
 tillo made the following statement on the day in which 
 the Royal Decree was published in the Gaceta de Madrid 
 (official organ of record). These utterances of the emi- 
 nent Spanish statesman confirm and throw additional 
 light on that noble and remarkable official writing : the 
 " Expository Preamble " to the Royal Decree. 
 
 To a press representative Senor Canovas said : 
 
 I have devoted much study and thought to the preparation 
 of the plan of reforms, and being inspired by the utmost 
 
 — 30 — 
 
sincerity I have endeavored to imbue the measure with the 
 broadest spirit. 
 
 It has been my aim to make of the reforms a national 
 undertaking; I have worked on them, therefore, on behalf of 
 my country and for my country. 
 
 My idea, my determination, is to put them into effect 
 according to the most liberal interpretation and with abso- 
 lute sincerity. 
 
 With entire good faith I am resolutely going toward the 
 establishment of autonomy in Cuba. On this line no radical- 
 ism can check me. What I have been most careful of is not 
 to leave any loophole for independence. And in this I have 
 fulfilled my duty. 
 
 Sr. Canovas 
 
 del Castillo's 
 
 Statement. 
 
 It is not necessary to await the complete pacification of the Application of 
 
 Island of Cuba in order to put the reforms into practical 
 operation. 
 
 As soon the rebellion is reduced to the Oriental Depart- 
 ment all the pacified provinces shall immediately enter upon 
 the enjoyment of the advantages to be derived from the new 
 measures. Without further delay the Boards of Aldermen 
 and the Provincial Assemblies shall be elected in those prov- 
 inces, and they shall have entire liberty of action without 
 any Government intervention. And thus the entire plan of 
 reforms shall be rapidly developed, with a view of having it 
 in practical operation in as short a period as possible. 
 
 In connection with this same point, i. c. , the intentions 
 of the Spanish Government as to the development and 
 application of its plan of reforms, it will be proper to 
 transcribe here the statements made by the Spanish 
 Minister in Washington, Senor Dupuy de Lome, to a 
 representative of The United Associated Presses on the 
 7th of last February. 
 
 A close study of the course of the Cuban question could 
 not but convey to the least observing mind the conviction 
 that this most efficient and able diplomat enjoys to more 
 than an ordinary degree the confidence of his Government. 
 It is but fair to assume, therefore, especially if it be re- 
 membered how discreet and cautious have been all Senor 
 Dupuy de Lome's utterances, that in the following state- 
 
 — 31 — 
 
 the Plan of 
 Reforms. 
 
 Sr. Dupuy de 
 
 Lome's 
 Statement. 
 
ment the Spanish representative reflects the purpose of 
 his Government; or, in other words, that he gives, unoffi- 
 cially, expression to certain knowledge, officially acquired, 
 bearing on the question under review. 
 
 His statement, in substance, as published is as follows: 
 
 Electoral The electoral reforms were not referred to at length in 
 
 Reforms. ^he decree of the Ministry, for the reasons stated in the pre- 
 amble of Senor Canovas, that they will require the action of 
 the Cortes. I am informed, however, that the Government 
 will not oppose the extension of the basis of the suffrage, but 
 they desire to do it in such a way as to prevent undue 
 influence being acquired by the illiterate portion of the 
 population. 
 
 The present law requires the payment of taxes amounting 
 in the aggregate to $5, except where the privilege of voting 
 is extended to the graduates of the universities and other 
 members of the learned professions. Any educational quali- 
 fication which may be suggested by the Cubans, and which 
 seems reasonable and proper, will undoubtedly be adopted 
 by the Cortes. The subject must be regulated by that body. 
 
 It is the purpose of the Government to show the greatest 
 generosity toward the insurgents who lay down their arms. 
 The reforms cannot well be put into full effect until the sover- 
 eignty of Spain is acknowledged. The Government will not 
 relax its military activity in any degree if the insurgents 
 show a disposition to continue the contest and fail to appre- 
 ciate the great concessions made by the home Government. 
 Spain's Gen= Spam has gone to the utmost limit in her generosity to 
 erous Spirit in ^e Q UDan p e0 ple, and has established a system by which the 
 Cuba. Island will hereafter be governed in Cuba by residents of the 
 
 Island, instead of being governed from Madrid. The right 
 to hold office is given to Spaniards who have lived two years 
 in Cuba, because they have become in a large degree 
 identified with the interests of the Island. 
 
 In this respect the proposed policy is not unlike that which 
 has been pursued by the United States, where members of 
 both political parties have delighted to honor citizens born out- 
 side of the country. Conspicuous examples are found in the 
 cases of Mr. Wilson, of Iowa, who is to be a member of the Cab- 
 inet of your next President, and who was, I believe, born in 
 Scotland, and of Carl Schurz, who was born in Germany, but 
 was Secretary of the Interior under the administration of 
 President Hayes. 
 
 The tariff features of the new Decree are very comprehen- 
 
 — 32 — 
 
sive in their scope, and mean a great deal for the United 
 States as well as for Cuba. The duties levied will be equal 
 against all countries except Spain ; and American manufac- 
 turers and exporters, in view of their familiarity with 
 Cuban trade and their nearness to the Island, are likely to 
 appreciate the importance of these concessions. 
 
 The situation will be much more favorable to American 
 trade than under the reciprocity treaty of 1890. There were 
 in that treaty two schedules for American goods, one of 25 
 per cent, and another of 50 per cent., but Spain had the right 
 to provide for the entry of her products free of duty, thus 
 giving her a marked advantage over the United States. The 
 Spanish West Indies are the best consumers of United States 
 products that you have on this continent. It will be neces- 
 sary for the home Government to consult the Cubans before 
 a reciprocity treaty is concluded. The new reforms dis- 
 tinctly provide that such treaties may be suggested by the 
 new Council of Administration. 
 
 The Council of Administration shall not only contain 
 twenty-one members elected by the qualified voters of Cuba, 
 but will contain Cubans among the other members, if they 
 possess the qualifications to attain the position which entitles 
 them to seats. The members of the Council of Administra- 
 tion, who shall sit by virtue of their office as Presidents of 
 the Chamber of Commerce, the Planters' Association and 
 other bodies, may just as well be Cubans as persons born in 
 Spain, if they show the qualities which naturally advance 
 them to those places. The places are entirely open to native 
 Cubans as well as Spaniards. 
 
 The Liberal party, upon returning to power, could or 
 would never attempt to take a step backward on such a 
 vital national issue, either by reactionary legislation or by 
 a narrow interpretation of the measures enacted by the 
 Conservatives. 
 
 That is not only self-evident, but it is assured beyond 
 
 peradventure by the fact that the leaders of the Liberal 
 
 party have approved of the new plan of reforms. In 
 
 effect, Sefior Maura, who in colonial matters can speak 
 
 with best authority on behalf of said party, he being the 
 
 author of the Reform bill of 1893, has said: 
 
 The Royal Decree issued by the Prime Minister unfolds 
 with vigorous frankness a system which differs much more 
 
 The Tariff 
 Features. 
 
 More Favora= 
 
 ble to the 
 
 United States 
 
 than the 
 
 Reciprocity 
 
 Treaty. 
 
 The Liberal 
 
 Party Indorses 
 
 the Plan of 
 
 Reforms. 
 
 — 33 — 
 
radically from that now established in the West Indies than 
 did the Law of 1895* or the Bill of 1893.** It adopts principles 
 and lays down bases which should satisfy all aspirations, 
 that are not insatiable, of the liberal political parties in 
 Cuba. I spurn as absurd any insinuation to the effect that 
 the scope of the reforms may be impaired by the rules and 
 regulations and other means for their application, because 
 no statesman should be insulted by imputing such bad faith 
 to him, nor would any fail to perceive the dangers of so 
 acting. 
 
 The Re P ubii= The present reform measures also meet the favor of the 
 
 cans Also. 
 
 Spanish Republicans, as is evidenced by the following 
 words from their leader, the great orator, Don Emilio 
 Castelar : 
 
 I, as a writer, can only applaud the tendencies of the 
 reform decrees. I approve them with all my heart, and sup- 
 port them with all my power. I oppose any design of 
 reducing them, whatever be its origin. 
 
 With the projects of Maura, Abarzuza and Canovas, all 
 defended by me, we have dealt justice to Cuba, establishing 
 her self-government and developing her commercial rela- 
 tions. 
 
 From them good, nothing but good, can come. Therefore 
 I am satisfied, and thus you have my opinion. 
 
 As to how the reforms will be accepted by the political 
 
 parties in Cuba, by influential organizations of the Island 
 
 and by Cuban public opinion in general, the following 
 
 excerpts from statements thereon may give a fair idea. 
 
 The Cuban Those from the leaders of the Autonomist party, who are 
 
 Autonomists 
 
 Approve of tie also Members of the Cortes, are of the utmost importance, 
 6 0r u"res. CaS= because the principles and ideals of this party undoubtedly 
 represent the aspirations of the majority of native resi- 
 dents of the Island, and because it is more than likely 
 
 * In force in Porto Rico, but not yet applied to Cuba on account of 
 the insurrection. 
 
 ** Of which Senor Maura, then Minister for the Colonies, was 
 author, but which did not become law on account of his leaving the 
 portfolio. 
 
 — 34 — 
 
that to its banners shall rally the better class of those who 
 have participated in the present insurrection, as soon as 
 the latter is finally put down. 
 
 Here are the extracts above referred to : 
 
 From Senor Rafael M on toro, a native of Cuba, one of statement of 
 the leaders of the Autonomist party and Member of the 
 Cortes for the Island: 
 
 It is difficult to make quite clear to the Anglo-Saxon 
 mind what will be the political relations in Cuba to the 
 mother country in the new era which is dawning. It is im- 
 possible to reason by analogy and contrast with the British 
 colonies, because, to cite merely one cause of essential differ- 
 ence, Spain has a written Constitution which is the palladium 
 and supreme guarantee of our liberties, and Great Britain is 
 ruled by a more flexible and an unwritten Constitution. 
 
 Our Constitution establishes a certain identity of civil and 
 political rights between all subjects of the Crown, and it pro- 
 vides that we Cubans must have our representatives in the 
 Cortes, as do all other provinces of the kingdom. 
 
 Our suffrage for the election of Deputies to the Cortes is 
 even now, in my opinion, sufficiently ample, but it will be even 
 more extensive under the new regime, so that the voice of 
 Cuba may be heard on all questions of finance and of foreign 
 affairs which interest and affect alike all portions of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 In connection and in harmony with the Local Assembly of 
 Cuba there is no room for doubting that the national or im- 
 perial Cortes will grant to us the fullest powers of self- 
 administration and self-government that are possible under 
 our Constitution and compatible with the unity of the 
 Kingdom. 
 
 I think that the Spanish Government will have fully satis- 
 fied every reasonable and practical demand of the Cuban 
 people. I expect that then the respectable but misguided 
 elements of the insurrection will withdraw from the field, 
 and that there will remain under arms only lawless adven- 
 turers and irreconcilable enemies of law and order. 
 
 The question of the adjustment of the indebtedness ensuing 
 out of the war is, I admit, a difficult one, perhaps the most 
 difficult one which the situation presents, but it is not an 
 insuperable obstacle to peace, as some especially ill-informed 
 publicists in foreign countries represent it to be. 
 
 I believe the subject can be reasonably and equitably set- 
 
 A New Era Is 
 Dawning. 
 
 Suffrage in 
 Cuba Is Suf- 
 ficiently. 
 Ample. 
 
 The Reasona= 
 ble Demands of 
 
 the Cubans 
 Fully Satisfied. 
 
 Adjustment of 
 
 the War Debt 
 
 Not an lnsur= 
 
 mountable 
 
 Obstacle. 
 
 — 35 — 
 
The New Meas= 
 ure Contains 
 All Essential 
 Elements of 
 Self=Govern= 
 ment. 
 
 Sr. Labra's 
 Statement. 
 
 Autonomy the 
 
 Best Guar= 
 
 antor of the 
 
 Nation's ln= 
 
 tegrity. 
 
 Sr. Fernando 
 de Castro's 
 Statement. 
 
 tied by an arrangement between the Spanish and Cuban 
 treasuries. 
 
 Also from Senor Montoro, on another occasion, con- 
 jointly with Senor Jose A. del Cueto, likewise a promi- 
 nent member of the Autonomist party : 
 
 In our opinion the reform measure is of the utmost im- 
 portance, since the institutions based thereon are remarkably 
 liberal, and the changes introduced in the present system 
 are very radical. If understood and loyally appreciated 
 they reveal the noble fulfillment of the promises contained 
 in the Crown Speech and explained in the memorable sum- 
 ming up of the debate in the Cortes on the 15th of July last 
 by Senor Canovas. 
 
 We believe that the above measure contains all the essen- 
 tial elements of self-government, and that the amendments 
 and extensions in scope that it may require in order to reach 
 all the development possible within the national Constitution 
 may well be left to the action of time, of public opinion and 
 of local initiative, when, peace being restored, it will become 
 possible for them to manifest themselves authoritatively. 
 The Expository Preamble of the Royal Decree opens reason- 
 able horizons to every loyal aspiration in that direction. 
 
 The effects of the reform measure upon the public spirit 
 cannot but be very favorable at the present moment, and 
 they shall be more so according as the intentions of the 
 Government become known. 
 
 From Senor Labra, a distinguished Cuban jurist, 
 Autonomist Member of the Cortes for the Island: 
 
 Senor Canovas' plan of reforms implies a laudable change 
 in the course of our colonial policy. It is necessary that we 
 work on that basis. We may now expect from the Liberal 
 Peninsular party a new determination and a more decided 
 spirit in its attitude and in its course, since the step in advance 
 taken by the Conservative party is really an exceptional one. 
 
 As for me personally, I may say that I have never been 
 pessimistic in politics, and that I have to-day additional 
 reasons for reaffirming what I have always held, that colonial 
 autonomy is the best guarantor of the honor, the strength 
 and the integrity of the nation. 
 
 From Senor Rafael Fernandez de Castro, a Cuban 
 Autonomist, ex-Member of the Cortes for the Island : 
 
 The reforms' represent a great progressive stride in Span- 
 ish colonial policy. They are more liberal than those 
 
 36 — 
 
embodied in the Reform Law of March 15, 1895, and of course A Great p ro= 
 more of a fundamental nature than those prepared in his ^t^d^ 
 bill by Mr. Maura in 1893. They are equivalent to a grand 
 and decisive entry into a regime that the wise nature of 
 things has been demanding here for some time ; that of 
 Autonomy. 
 
 From Senor Arturo Amblar, Member of the Cortes Sr. Ambiar's 
 
 - ., T , , - ~ . Statement. 
 
 for the Island of Cuba: 
 
 I believe that the reforms will completely satisfy the long 
 felt wishes of the people of Cuba, and that although they 
 contain details of secondary importance that in practice will 
 be corrected, they may be the means of bringing together 
 many men hitherto of clashing opinions, and of gaining sup- 
 porters to the national cause. 
 
 From Senor Rabel, leader of the Cuban Reformist sr. Rabei's 
 
 1 -r-> y~> CongratuIa= 
 
 party, m a cable dispatch to Premier Canovas : tions. 
 
 The executive committee of Reformist party, upon 
 learning of reform measures, has resolved to compliment 
 Your Excellency for the broad spirit that they reveal. By 
 such consistent action Your Excellency will satisfy the 
 legitimate aspirations of the people of this Island, who confi- 
 dently expect the development of the plan of reforms, with 
 the sincere co-operation of all the loyal elements of Cuba, 
 in order to bring about peace, which everyone desires. 
 
 The general applause with which the reform measures 
 have been received is the best evidence of their merit. 
 
 From Marquis of Apezteguia, a native of Cuba and statement of 
 
 the Cuban 
 
 leader of the Union Constitucional party (this, being the conservative 
 "Tory" or Conservative party of the Island, has always 
 opposed reform measures for Cuba in the direction of self- 
 government) : 
 
 The Union Constitucional party cannot oppose the work The Cuban 
 of the Government. I have come to the Peninsula for the Conservatlve 
 
 Party Will Not 
 
 purpose of avoiding friction and in the interest of harmony, oppose the 
 As to the effects of the reforms in Cuba, I believe that they Reforms. 
 will have none directly upon the insurgents in arms. But 
 the new measures will appeal to the reason of the pacific 
 native elements and to foreigners in general, and this moral 
 
 — 37 — 
 
force on our side will undoubtedly weaken the direct or in- 
 direct support that the insurrection has received in some 
 countries. 
 
 From Senor Rosendo Fernandez, President pro tern, of 
 
 Voice of the 
 Havana Cham- 
 ber of Com= the Havana Chamber of Commerce : 
 
 merce. 
 
 The Produce 
 
 Exchange in 
 
 Favor of the 
 
 Reforms. 
 
 Favorable 
 
 Opinion of the 
 
 Importers' 
 
 League. 
 
 I am positive that this Chamber of Commerce will nobly 
 aid the Government in every measure tending to the attain- 
 ment of peace and to the fostering of the moral and material 
 interests of the Island on the indisputable basis of Spain's 
 sovereignty. 
 
 From Senor Marceiino Gonzales, President of the Havana 
 Produce Exchange: 
 
 The reforms having been studied out and prepared by so 
 eminent a statesman as Senor Canovas del Castillo, and em- 
 bodying, as the press reports show, such liberal measures of 
 self-government, they cannot but be beneficial to commerce 
 in general, which shall have more within reach the means of 
 overcoming the obstacles it may encounter in the develop- 
 ment of its foreign trade. 
 
 From Senor Laureano Rodriguez, President of the Cuban 
 
 Importers' League: 
 
 It is my opinion that the reforms, after a revision of the 
 electoral census (enrolment), when put into operation in a 
 spirit of good faith, will satisfy the aspirations of the inhabi- 
 tants of this Island. 
 
CUBAN PRESS COMMENTS. 
 
 From El Pais, organ of the Autonomist party : 
 
 The reforms should be received with satisfaction and The Cuban 
 applause, and they should meet with our sincere co-opera- 
 tion, for they go much further in the direction of self-govern- 
 ment than the plans of either vSenor Abarzuza or Senor 
 Maura. 
 
 From the Diario dc la Matina, organ of the Reformist 
 
 party : 
 
 Thanks to the reforms we can now confidently say that the 
 misfortunes of the Island of Cuba are soon to end. 
 
 From La Lucha, Republican organ: 
 
 The time has come for every honest man who has the wel- 
 fare of Cuba at heart to exert all his influence and all his 
 endeavors toward convincing those who are at present in 
 arms that there exists no longer the reasons or the pretexts 
 with which they pretended to justify their rebellion. 
 
 From La Union Constitncional, organ of the party of 
 that name (Conservative) : 
 
 The Union Constitucional party will not set any obsta- 
 cles in the way of the solutions which the home Govern- 
 ment has prepared to the difficulties that beset out common 
 country. 
 
 From El Diario del Ejercito, organ of the army : 
 
 Senor Canovas has once more shown the deep interest he 
 takes in Cuban affairs by granting the Island such reforms as 
 Ihe spirit of the times and the public requirements demanded. 
 
 39 
 
FOREIGN PRESS COMMENTS. 
 
 From Zr Gaulois, of Paris: 
 
 As a whole the reforms planned by the Madrid Govern- The Foreign 
 ment are of a nature calculated to satisfy the aspirations of Press. 
 Cubans. If the latter should not consider themselves satis- 
 fied they would forfeit the sympathy of European nations, 
 who understand perfectly that the Spanish Government in 
 granting to Cuba such liberal laws has gone in one bound to 
 the limit which its dignity and its duty would allow. 
 
 From L 'Eclair, of Paris: 
 
 We must admit that in these circumstances Senor Canovas 
 has not revealed himself a Conservative after the fashion of 
 Guizot, who remained unmoved even while he foresaw prog- 
 ress. Sehor Canovas resembles rather the great British Con- 
 servative Robert Peel, who in 1846 did not hesitate to split 
 his party in order to grant political liberties to the British 
 people. 
 
 From Le Temps, of Paris: 
 
 If Senor Canovas del Castillo considers it necessary to 
 grant to Cuba ample concessions it is, in the first placed 
 because the urgency of establishing the reforms has appeared 
 perfectly clear to him, and, in the second place, because he is 
 perfectly satisfied that he can put them into effect without 
 prejudice to Spain's honor or Spain's interests. 
 
 The dispositions of the foregoing Royal Decree being The Reform 
 
 .. ,.. ,.„. ., .. r . Law of March 
 
 directed to the modification and extension m scope of the I5 1895) 
 
 Reform Law of March 15, 1895, a proper understanding of \VinConn!2 
 
 the former requires that the latter be referred to, and for tion with the 
 
 Present fleas= 
 
 this purpose the text in English of that law is hereunto ure. 
 appended. 
 
 41 
 
REFORM LAW OF HARCH 15, 1895. 
 
 LAW FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERN- 
 MENT AND CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF 
 THE ISLAND OF CUBA. 
 
 Alfonso XIII. , by the Grace of God and the Constitution, 
 King of Spain, and, in his name and during his minority, the 
 Queen Regent of the Kingdom : To all whom these presents 
 shall come, know ye that the Cortes have decreed and we 
 have sanctioned the following : 
 
 ARTICLE I. The system of government and the civil ad- 
 ministration of the Island of Cuba shall be readjusted on the 
 following bases : 
 
 BASIS I. 
 
 The laws of municipalities and of provinces now in force in Provincial 
 the Island are hereby amended to the extent necessary for d 
 
 the following ends : riunicipaiities. 
 
 The Council of Administration shall, upon the report of the 
 Provincial Assemblies, decide all questions relating to the 
 formation of municipalities, and to the determination of their 
 boundaries. 
 
 The law of provinces is hereby amended as to the matters 
 placed by these bases within the powers of the Council of 
 Administration. 
 
 The Provincial Assembly shall decide all questions pertain- 
 ing to the organization of Boards of Aldermen, to their elec- 
 tion, to the qualification of the members and other similar 
 questions. 
 
 Each Board of Aldermen shall elect one of its members as 
 Mayor. The Governor General may remove a Mayor and 
 appoint a new Mayor, but the new Mayor must be a member 
 of the Board. In addition to their functions as executive 
 officers of the Boards of Aldermen, the Mayors shall be the 
 representatives and delegates of the Governor General. 
 
 Whenever the Governor General shall stay the resolutions 
 of a municipal corporation* the matter shall be laid before 
 the criminal courts, if the stay be due to misdemeanor com- 
 
 * See note page 53. 
 
 — 43 — 
 
Taxation. 
 
 mitted by the corporation in connection with the resolutions, 
 or laid before the Provincial Governor, upon the report of the 
 Provincial Assembly, if the resolutions were stayed because 
 they exceeded the powers of the Board, or because they in- 
 fringed the law. 
 
 The Provincial Governors may stay the resolutions of the 
 municipal corporation, and censure, warn, fine or suspend the 
 members of the corporations when they exceed the limits of 
 their powers. 
 
 Previous to removing Mayors or Aldermen, in the cases 
 provided by law, the Governor General must give the Coun- 
 cil of Administration a hearing upon the removal. 
 
 Every member of a municipal corporation who shall have 
 presented or voted in favor of a resolution injurious to the 
 rights of a citizen shall be under a liability, enforcible before 
 the court having jurisdiction, to indemnify or make restitu- 
 tion to the injured party, the liability ceasing according to 
 the rules of the Statute of Limitations. 
 nunicipal Each Board of Aldermen shall, in matters defined as within 
 
 the exclusive municipal powers, have full freedom of action, 
 agreeably with the observance of the law, and with the 
 respect due to the rights of citizens. In order that the 
 Boards of Aldermen and the guilds* may fix the amount of 
 the taxes to cover the expenses of the municipality and may 
 determine their nature and their distribution, in accordance 
 with the preference of each municipality, the Boards of 
 Aldermen and the guilds shall have all the powers necessary 
 thereto, that is compatible with the system of taxation of the 
 State. 
 
 The Provincial Assemblies may review the resolutions of 
 municipal corporations relating to the preparation or altera- 
 tion of their estimates of revenues and expenditures, and, 
 while respecting their discretionary powers, shall see that no 
 appropriation which exceeds the assets be allowed, and that 
 arrears of previous years and payments ordered by courts 
 having jurisdiction have the preference. The Governor 
 General and the Provincial Governors shall in these matters 
 have only the intervention necessary to insure the observance 
 of the law and to prevent municipal taxation from impairing 
 the sources of revenue of the State. 
 
 The annual accounts of each Mayor, inclusive of revenues 
 
 * For purposes of taxation the various trades are formed into 
 guilds. Taxes on trades are apportioned among the guilds, whose 
 officers fix the tax to be paid by each member according to the valu- 
 ation of his business. 
 
 — 44 — 
 
and expenditures, ordinary and extraordinary, shall be pub- 
 lished in the municipality and audited and corrected by the 
 Provincial Assembly, after hearing protests, and approved by 
 the Provincial Governor if they do not exceed 100,000 pese- 
 tas, and by the Council of Administration if they exceed that 
 sum. The Provincial Assemblies and the Council of Adminis- 
 tration shall determine if any officials have incurred liabili- 
 ties, except in the cases that come within the jurisdiction of 
 the ordinary courts. 
 
 Appeals to the Council of Administration may be taken 
 from the decisions of the Provincial Assemblies. 
 
 BASIS II. 
 
 The Council of Administration shall be organized as follows : 
 
 The Governor General, or the acting Governor General, 
 shall be President of the Council. 
 
 The Supreme Government shall appoint by Royal Decree 
 fifteen of the Councilors. 
 
 The Council shall have a staff of secretaries, with the per- 
 sonnel necessary for the transaction of its affairs. 
 
 The office of Councilor shall be honorary and gratuitous. 
 
 For appointment as Councilor the appointee must have 
 resided in the Island during the four years previous to appoint- 
 ment, and must have one of the following qualifications : 
 
 To be or to have been President of a Chamber of Com- 
 merce, of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, 
 or of the Sugar Planters' Association. 
 
 To be or to have been Rector of the University, or Dean of 
 the Corporation of Lawyers of a provincial capital for two 
 years. 
 
 To have been for the four years previous to appointment 
 one of the fifty principal taxpayers of the Island, paying 
 taxes on real estate, on manufactures, on trade, or on licenses 
 to practice a profession. 
 
 To have been a Senator of the Kingdom or a Representative 
 to the Cortes in two or more legislatures. 
 
 To have been two or more times President of a Provincial 
 Assembly of the Island ; to have served for two or more terms 
 of two years as member of the Provincial Executive Com- 
 
 — 45 — 
 
 The Council. 
 
 Councilors 
 
 Appointed by 
 
 the Crown. 
 
mittee ; * or to have been a Provincial Assemblyman eight 
 years. 
 
 To have been for two or more terms of two years Mayor of 
 a provincial capital. 
 
 To have been, until the proclamation of this act, member 
 of the Administrative Council for two or more years. 
 
 The Council may, whenever it shall deem it expedient, 
 
 summon to its deliberations, through the Governor General, 
 
 any chief of department, but the latter shall not vote with 
 
 the Council. 
 
 Councilors To form the Council fifteen additional Councilors shall be 
 
 Elected by the e i ec t e d bv voters having the qualifications requisite to vote 
 
 People. _ . J . , . , , to 
 
 for Provincial Assemblymen. 
 
 The term of office shall be four years. The elections to fill 
 vacated seats shall take place every two years, the Provinces 
 of Havana, Pinar del Rio and Puerto Principe voting at one 
 election, and the Provinces of Matanzas, Santa Clara and 
 Santiago de Cuba voting at another. 
 
 The Province of Havana shall elect four Councilors ; the 
 Province of Santiago de Cuba shall elect three ; and each of 
 the other provinces shall elect two. 
 
 All the Councilors shall be elected at the same time : upon 
 the establishment of this act, and after a total removal of the 
 Council. Two years after the establishment of this act, or 
 after a total removal of the Council, the Councilors from the 
 first group of provinces above named shall vacate their seats, 
 and their successors shall be elected.** 
 
 In ordinary cases the election shall take place at the same 
 time as the elections for Provincial Assemblymen, the votes 
 for Councilor and for Assemblyman being cast together. 
 
 The Council shall be the judge of the elections, returns 
 and qualifications of the Councilors-elect and of the quali- 
 fications of the Councilors appointed by the Crown, and shall 
 decide all questions concerning its own organization under 
 the law. 
 
 BASIS III. 
 
 The Council of Administration shall resolve whatever it 
 may deem proper for the management in the whole Island ; 
 
 * Each of the six provinces of Cuba— like every other Spanish 
 province— has a Provincial Assembly. The Assembly meets twice a 
 year in sessions of about two weeks, and appoints from its members 
 a Provincial Executive Committee (comision provincial) to act dur- 
 ing the intervals between the sessions. 
 
 ** At the next election the Councilors elected for the second group of 
 provinces would vacate their seats. 
 
 — 46 — 
 
of public works, posts and telegraphs, railways and naviga- 
 tion, agriculture, manufactures, trade, immigration and 
 colonization, public instruction, charities and the health 
 department, without prejudice to the supervision and to the 
 powers inherent to the sovereignty of the nation, which are 
 reserved by law to the. Supreme Government. 
 
 Each year it shall prepare and approve the estimates with 
 sufficient appropriations for all those departments. It shall 
 exercise the functions that the laws of provinces and of 
 municipalities and other special laws shall attribute to it. It 
 shall correct, and in the proper cases approve, the accounts 
 of its revenues and expenditures, which accounts shall be 
 rendered every year by the general management of the local 
 administration,* and shall determine the liabilities therein 
 incurred by officials. 
 
 The local revenues** shall consist of : 
 
 1. The proceeds of Crown lands and rents, and of the in- 
 stitutions whose financial management pertains to the 
 Council. 
 
 2. The surcharges which, within the limits fixed by law, 
 the council may add to the taxes imposed by the State. 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Governor General, as superior 
 chief of the authorities of the Island, to carry out the resolu- 
 tions of the Council. 
 
 For that purpose the general management of the local ad- 
 ministration, as delegate of the Governor General, shall at- 
 tend to the departments included in the local estimates and 
 shall keep the books thereof and shall be responsible for the 
 non-fulfillment of the laws and of the legitimate resolutions of 
 the Council of Administration. 
 
 Whenever the Governor General may deem any resolution 
 of the Council contrary to the law or to the general interests 
 of the nation, he shall stay its execution, and shall of his 
 own motion take such measures as the public needs — which 
 would otherwise be neglected — may require, immediately 
 submitting the matter to the Minister of the Colonies. 
 
 If any resolution of the Council unduly injures the rights of 
 a citizen the Councilors who shall have contributed with their 
 votes to the passage of the resolution shall be liable, before 
 
 Powers of the 
 Council. 
 
 Revenues. 
 
 * An office in charge of a superior official that under the Governor 
 General act as the executive of the Council of Administration. 
 
 ** Revenues of which the Council of Administration may dispose. 
 — 47 — 
 
the courts having jurisdiction, to indemnify or make restitu- 
 tion to the injured party. 
 
 suspension of The Governor General, after hearing the Council of Authori- 
 of Council. ties ' ma y suspend the Council of Administration, or, with- 
 out hearing the Council of Authorities, may suspend 
 individual members of the Council of Administration as long 
 as a number of Councilors sufficient to form a quorum 
 remains : 
 
 1. When the Council or any one of its members transgresses 
 the limits of its legitimate powers, and impairs the authority 
 of the Governor General or the judicial authority, or threat- 
 ens to disturb the public peace. 
 
 2. For a misdemeanor. 
 
 In the first case the Governor General shall immediately 
 inform the Supreme Government of the suspension, so that 
 the latter may either set it aside or, through a resolution 
 adopted by the Council of Ministers within two months, 
 decree the removal. If at the expiration of the two months 
 the suspension has not been acted upon, it shall, as a matter 
 of right, be deemed set aside. 
 
 In the second case, the matter shall come before the court 
 having jurisdiction, which shall be the full Supreme Court 
 of Havana, and its decision therein shall be final. In other 
 cases the accused may appeal. 
 
 Advisory The Council shall have a hearing : 
 
 Powers of 
 
 Council. i Upon the general estimates of expenditures and revenues 
 
 of the Island, which estimates, prepared by the Finance 
 Department of the Island, shall be submitted yearly, to- 
 gether with the changes suggested by the Council, 
 during the month of March, or earlier, to the Minister of the 
 Colonies. , 
 
 Although the Supreme Government may have varied the 
 estimates before submitting them to the Cortes for appro- 
 priations to meet the expenses of the departments and the 
 general obligations of the state, it shall always submit with 
 them, for purposes of information, the changes suggested by 
 the council. 
 
 2. Upon the general accounts, which the Finance Depart- 
 ment of the Island must without fail submit annually within 
 the six months following the end of the fiscal year, and which 
 shall include the revenues collected and the expenditures 
 liquidated, 
 
3. Upon the matters pertaining to the patronage* of the 
 Indies. 
 
 4. Upon the decisions of Provincial Governors which shall 
 come on appeal before the Governor General. 
 
 5. Upon the removals or suspensions of Mayors and Alder- 
 men. 
 
 6. Upon other matters of a general nature. 
 
 The Governor General may demand of the Council the 
 reports he may desire. 
 
 The Council shall meet in ordinary sessions at stated inter- 
 vals, and in extraordinary session whenever the Governor 
 General mav summon it. 
 
 BASIS IV. 
 
 The Governor General shall be the representative of the 
 National Government in the Island of Cuba. He shall as 
 vice-royal patron exercise the powers inherent to the patron- 
 age of the Indies. He shall be the Commander-in-Chief of 
 the Army and Navy stationed on the Island. He shall be the 
 delegate of the Ministers of the Colonies, of State, of War 
 and of the Navy. All the other authorities of the Island shall 
 be his subordinates. He shall be appointed and removed by 
 the President of the Council of Ministers, with the assent of 
 the Council. 
 
 In addition to the other functions which pertain to him by 
 law or by special delegation of the Government it shall be 
 his duty : 
 
 To proclaim, execute and cause to be executed, on the 
 Island, the laws, decrees, treaties, international conventions 
 and other mandates that emanate from the legislature. 
 
 To proclaim, execute and cause to be executed the de- 
 crees, Royal orders, and other mandates that emanate from 
 
 Powers and 
 
 Duties of 
 
 the Governor 
 
 General. 
 
 * In England when lords of manors first built and endowed 
 churches on their lands they had the right of nominating clergymen 
 (provided they were canonically qualified) to officiate in them. This 
 right is the "patronage" {jus fiatronafus) . The Bulls of Alex- 
 ander VI. in 1493 and of Julius II. in 1508 granted the Crown of 
 Spain the patronage of the Indies (New World). It includes not only 
 the right of presentation to the churches and monasteries built and 
 endowed by the Crown, but other rights so extensive that the author 
 speaks of the Kings of Spain as the " born delegates of the Holy See 
 and apostolic vicar-generals in the Indies." — Trans/a/or' s Note. 
 
 — 49 — 
 
the executive, and which the Ministers, whose delegate he is, 
 may communicate to him. 
 
 To suspend the proclamation and execution of resolutions 
 of His Majesty's Government, when in his judgment such res- 
 olutions might prove injurious to the general interests of the 
 nation or to the special interests of Island, informing the 
 Minister concerned of the suspension, and of the reason 
 therefor, in the speediest manner possible. 
 
 To superintend and inspect all the departments of the 
 public service. 
 
 To communicate directly upon foreign affairs with the 
 representatives, diplomatic agents and consuls of Spain in 
 the Americas. 
 
 To suspend, after consultation with the Council of Authori- 
 ties, the execution of a sentence of death, whenever the 
 gravity of the circumstances may require it, and the urgency 
 of the case be such that there is no opportunity to apply to 
 His Majesty for pardon. 
 
 To suspend, after consultation with the same Council, and 
 on his own responsibility, whenever extraordinary circum- 
 stances prevent previous communication with the Supreme 
 Government, the constitutional rights expressed in Articles 
 IV., V., VI. and IX., and Sections 1, 2 and 3 of Article XIII. 
 of the Constitution of the State, and to apply the Riot Act. 
 
 It shall also be the duty of the Governor General as head 
 of the civil administration : 
 
 To keep each department of the administration within the 
 limits of its powers. 
 
 To devise the general rules necessary for the execution of 
 the laws and regulations, submitting them to the Minister of 
 the Colonies. 
 
 To conform strictly to the regulations and orders devised 
 by the Supreme Government for the due execution of the 
 laws. 
 
 To determine the penal institutions in which sentences are 
 to be served, to order the incarceration therein of convicts, 
 and to designate the jail liberties when the courts order con- 
 finement therein. 
 
 To suspend any public official whose appointment pertains 
 to the Supreme Government, giving the Government imme- 
 diate notice of the suspension, with the reasons therefor, and 
 to fill pro tempore the vacancy in accordance with the regu- 
 lations now in force. 
 
 To act as intermediary between the Ministers, whose dele- 
 gate he is, and all the authorities of the Island. 
 
 — 50 — 
 
The Council of Authorities shall consist of the following 
 members : The Bishop of Havana or the Reverend the Arch- 
 bishop of Santiago de Cuba, if the latter be present ; the 
 Commander of the Naval Station, the Military Governor, the 
 presiding justice of the Supreme Court of Havana, the 
 Attorney-General, the head of the Department of Finances, 
 and the director of local administration. 
 
 The resolutions of this Council shall be drawn up in dupli- 
 cate and one of the copies shall be sent to the Minister of the 
 Colonies. They are not binding upon the Governor General. 
 All his acts must be upon his own responsibility. 
 
 The Governor General shall not surrender his office nor 
 absent himself from the Island without the express order of 
 the Supreme Government. 
 
 In case of vacancy, absence or inability the Military Gov- 
 ernor shall be his substitute, and in default of the latter the 
 Commander of the Naval Station, until the Supreme Govern- 
 ment appoints a pro tempore Governor General. 
 
 The criminal part of the Supreme Court at Madrid shall 
 have the sole jurisdiction over the Governor General for in- 
 fractions of the Penal Code. Charges of maladministration 
 against th_ Governor General shall be brought before the 
 Council of Ministers. 
 
 The Governor General shall not amend nor revoke his own 
 decisions when they : have been confirmed by the Supreme 
 Government; or have vested rights; or have served as the 
 basis of a judgment of a court, or of the adjudication of a 
 mixed juridical administrative tribunal; or when he bases his 
 decision upon the limitations of his powers. 
 
 Council of 
 Authorities. 
 
 BASIS V 
 
 The civil and financial administration of the Island, under 
 the supervision of the Governor General, shall be organized 
 in accordance with the following rules : 
 
 The Governor General with his staff of secretaries, which 
 shall be under the direction of a chief of department, shall 
 attend directly to matters of government, the patronage of 
 the Indies, conflicts of jurisdiction, public peace, foreign 
 affairs, jails, penitentiaries, statistics, personnel of the de- 
 partments, communication between all the authorities of the 
 Island and the Supreme Government, and all the other mat- 
 ters that are unassigned. 
 
 The Finance Department, which shall be under the charge 
 of a superior chief of department, shall attend to the whole 
 
 — 51 — 
 
 Civil and 
 Financial Ad= 
 ministration. 
 
management of the finances; it shall keep the books, and 
 audit and submit the accounts of the estimates of the State on 
 the Island. 
 
 The provincial administrative sections shall be under the 
 direct control of the Finance Department, without prejudice 
 to the supervision that the Governor General may delegate in 
 fixed cases to the Provincial Governor. 
 
 The general management of local administration, under 
 the charge of a superior chief of administration, shall attend 
 to the departments that shall be supported with the appro- 
 priations made by the Council of Administration ; it shall keep 
 the books, and audit and submit the annual accounts of the 
 estimates of the Council and of the municipalities, and shall 
 enforce the resolutions of the Council of Administration. 
 
 The personnel of the offices and the methods for the trans- 
 action of affairs shall be adapted to the object of obtaining 
 the greatest simplicity in the transaction of affairs and in fix- 
 ing official responsibility. 
 
 The rules of law shall determine the cases in which aright 
 is vested through the decision of a superior official in a matter 
 that, in accordance with this basis, falls within his jurisdic- 
 tion, so that an action before the mixed juridical-administra- 
 tive tribunal may lie. 
 
 Nevertheless the injured party may at any time bring a 
 complaint before the Governor General in matters which 
 concern the Finance Department and the general management 
 of local administration, and also before the Minister of the 
 Colonies in any matter that concerns the administration or 
 the government of the Island ; but the complaint shall not 
 interrupt the administrative process, nor the legal procedure, 
 nor the course of the action before the mixed juridical-admin- 
 istrative tribunal. 
 
 The Governor General and the Minister of the Colonies, 
 when using their powers of supervision, either on their own 
 initiative or owing to a complaint, shall refrain from inter- 
 rupting the ordinary course of affairs, as long as there be no 
 necessity of taking measures to remedy or prevent irre- 
 parable damage, before the final decision of the competent 
 authority. 
 
 ARTICLE II.* 
 Provincial ARTICLE III. The system of election and the division of 
 
 Elections. ^he provinces into districts for the provincial elections shall be 
 
 "-Article II. of this act refers exclusively to Porto Rico. Article 
 III. refers both to Cuba and to Porto Rico. 
 
 — 52 — 
 
modified by the Government, in order to enable minorities in 
 both Cuba and Porto Rico to have representation in the 
 municipalities and in the Provincial Assemblies, and in Cuba 
 in the Council of Administration of Cuba, and in order- 
 to apply to the election of Aldermen, Provincial Assem- 
 blymen and Councilors of Administration — in so far as the 
 qualifications of voters and the annual formation and recti- 
 fication of the registration lists are concerned — the provisions 
 of the Royal Decree of December 27, 1892, upon the reform of 
 the electoral law for the election of representatives to the 
 Cortes, Articles XIV., XV. and XVI. of the said Royal Decree 
 shall be extended to all classes of elections. 
 
 For all electoral purposes the taxes imposed by the Council 
 of Administration in Cuba, and by the Provincial Assembly in 
 Porto Rico, by virtue of the new powers granted to them by 
 this act, shall be computed as if imposed by the State. 
 
 ADDITIONAL ARTICLE. 
 
 The Government shall render to the Cortes an account of 
 the use it makes of the powers hereby granted to it. 
 
 TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS. 
 
 1. The Councilors of Administration elected in the Island 
 of Cuba upon the proclamation of this act shall stay in office 
 until the first election for Provincial Assemblymen that hap 
 pens after two years have passed since the first election of 
 the Council. 
 
 2. The rectification, according to the methods that shall be 
 established under Article III. of this act, of the registration lists 
 for the election of Aldermen and of Provincial Assemblymen 
 in both Cuba and Porto Rico, and of Councilors of Adminis- 
 tration in Cuba, shall commence from the time of the 
 proclamation of this act. 
 
 The Minister for the Colonies shall ordain, by Royal Decree, 
 the necessary measures, and shall fix the time for the various 
 operations of the rectification, so that it may be finished 
 before any election take place to establish the Council of Ad- 
 ministration in Cuba or to fill the seats of members of 
 municipal corporations whose terms have expired. 
 
 The election for the latter purpose shall under no circum- 
 stances be postponed, except in the case of the Boards of 
 Aldermen,* which, in this present year, and if the Supreme 
 
 * Municipal corporations in Cuba, as in the Peninsula, have a 
 Board of Aldermen {ayuntamiento) and a Municipal Council {junta 
 municipal). 
 
Government deem it necessary, may be postponed until the 
 first fortnight of next June. 
 
 In subsequent years the rectification shall take place in the 
 manner provided by the Royal Decree of December 27, 1892, 
 referred to in Article III. of this act. 
 
 Therefore : 
 
 We order all the courts, justices, chiefs, governors and 
 other authorities, civil, military and ecclesiastical, of whatso- 
 ever class or dignity, to keep, and cause to be kept, fulfill 
 and execute this act in all its parts. 
 
 Given in the Palace, March 15, 1895. 
 
 I, the Queen Regent. 
 
 The Minister for the Colonies. 
 Buenaventura Abarzuza. 
 
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