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Latest News from the Seat of War: Fish

FISH.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 1873.

If upon the close of to-morrow no accommodation shall have been reached in the case of the Virginius, you will address to the foreign office a note expressing regret at the delay of the reparation asked for, and stating that, in conformity with instructions from your government, you were under the necessity of withdrawing from Madrid, for which purpose you request the usual passport for yourself, your family and suite. If, however, the accommodation desired should be brought about in the course of to-morrow, either here or in Madrid, you will, until otherwise directed, abstain from addressing the note adverted to. Should a proposition be submitted to you to-morrow, you will refer it here, and defer action until it be decided upon. A telegram has just now been read to me by Admiral Polo, which gives reason to hope for a satisfactory accommodation. You will, therefore, allow the whole of to-morrow to pass before addressing your note.

FISH MADRID, Nov. 25, 1873.

Layard says Granville has expressed his sense of the justice and moderation of the reparation we have demanded, and this has been communicated to Castelar. England reserves her reclamation for the present, and endeavors to promote a settlement of the question pending between the United States and Spain. SICKLES.

MADRID, Nov. 26, 1873.

At half-past two this afternoon, half an hour after I had asked for my passports, I received a note, dated to-day, from minister of state, in which he says:

First. If it appear, on or before the 25th of December next, that the Virginius rightfully carried the American flag, and that her documents were regular, Spain will declare the seizure illegal, salute the flag as requested, and return the ship with the surviving passengers and crew. Second. If it be proved that the authorities of Santiago de Cuba, in their proceedings and sentences pronounced against foreigners, have essentially infringed Spanish legislation or treaties, this government will arraign those authorities before competent tribunals.

Third. Any other reclamations growing out of the affair, which either of the respective governments may have to present, will be considered diplomatically, and, if no agreement be reached, they will be submitted to the arbitration of a third power, named by mutual consent.

Fourth. If the 25th day of December shall have expired without the Spanish government having resolved, in so far as comes within its province, the questions arising out of the demand for reparation, it will hold itself bound to accord such reparation the same as if the right of the United States to receive it were recognized, and such reparation will be given in the form specified in the first and second paragraphs.

SICKLES.

MADRID, Nov. 28, 1873.

Last night it was agreed here informally that, accepting my declaration of the nationality of the Virginius, reparation would be made in accordance with our demand of the 15th inst. This was ratified by the council of ministers at 3 this morning, and I was promised an official communication in that sense to-day. I am now informed in a note from minister of state that yesterday you authorized the Spanish minister in Washington to convey to this government a different proposition on the part of the United States, and that it has been accepted, of which you have been notified through Admiral Polo. Please let me know whether this statement is true. The only instruction I have had from you since my four telegrams of the 26th, is a copy of the Senate resolutions passed in fifty-six.

SICKLES.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 1873.

Remain at post. Further instructions soon. Settlement being effected here. FISH.

MADRID, Dec. 15, 1875, 4:30 P.M. (Received 3:20 P.M.) President Castlear called at the legation this afternoon and informed me that the Virginius and survivors had been surrendered to those authorized to receive them on the part of the United States.

SICKLES.

MADRID, Dec. 20, 1873, 12:30 A.M. (Received Dec. 20, 10:20 A.M.) It is stated here by authority that in consequence of a communication this government has received from that of the United States, in which it appears the Virginius is not an American ship, a reclamation will be made by Spain for the restoration of the vessel and passengers.

SICKLES.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 1873. (Sent 11:20 A.M.) Official advices received of surrender of survivors from Virginius. FISH.

MADRID, Dec. 26, 1873. (Received Dec. 26, P.M.) My resignation having been accepted, I now respectfully renew my request for the publication of the correspondence relating thereto, comprising my telegrams of the 6th, 16th and 20th inst., and your replies of the 6th, 17th and 20th. I beg that this request may be submitted to the President. SICKLES.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 1873.

SIR: On the 26th ult., General Sickles' No. 893, arrived at this department during my absence for the holidays. In it he states that it was informally agreed, on the night of the 27th of November last, that on a declaration made by him of the American nationality of the Virginius, the vessel and surviving passengers and crew would be delivered up, the flag saluted, and the other measures of reparation accorded in conformity with our demands of the 15th inst. It is greatly to be regretted that General Sickles did not state with whom this informal agreement was made.

The note of Mr. Carvajal, minister of foreign affairs, which accompanies General Sickles' despatch, does not convey the idea that he had been a party to that agreement, but does intimate that he would have discussed some of the points raised in General Sickles' note but for the arrangement which was made here.

General Sickles further says, that at noon on the 28th of November, Mr. Carvajal sent him a copy of a telegram from Admiral Polo, containing what purported to be a fresh proposal from me respecting the Virginius, which General Sickles appears to have supposed was in conflict with the informal arrangement of the previous evening.

Without more accurate information concerning the person with whom the informal arrangement was made, I cannot permit myself to think that the Spanish government receded from any undertaking which it had once assumed. So far, however, as General Sickles' statement may be supposed to affect this government, it is proper to say that the changes from the original demands of the United States, which were agreed to in the protocol of the 29th of November, were adopted on the suggestion of the Spanish government, under the belief that they did not affect the principles upon which our demands were founded, and were calculated to promote a peaceful settlement of the unfortunate differences which had arisen between the two powers. Spain having admitted (as could not be seriously questioned) that a regularly documented vessel of the United States is subject, on the high seas, in time of peace, only to the police jurisdiction of the power from which it receives its papers, it seemed to the president that the United States should not refuse to concede to her the right to adduce proof to show that the Virginius was not rightfully carrying our flag. When the question of national honor was adjusted, it also seemed that there was a peculiar propriety in our consenting to an arbitration on a question of pecuniary damages. This happy adjustment of the difference between two sister republics, on a basis honorable to both, fortunately makes the matters referred to by General Sickles of little importance. I have thought it right, however, to correct the misapprehensions under which his despatch seems to have been written. I am, sir, etc.

HAMILTON FISH.