any additional charges therefor on the articles named in said Schedule imported from the United States.

I am directed by the President to state to you that, as a provisional measure, he accepts this action of the Government of Spain, in proposing to grant exemption of duties to the products of the United States, as a due reciprocity for the action of the Congress of the United States, as set forth in my note to you of the 3rd January last.

I am also pleased to reciprocate the assurance contained in your note, and to state that no export tax, whether national, State, or municipal, can or will be imposed in the United States upon the products and manufactures enumerated in the Schedule attached to your note of the 8th instant.

It may be further understood that, while the Government of the United States reserves the right to adopt such laws and regula tions as may be found necessary to protect the revenue and prevent fraud in the declarations and proof that the articles enumerated in my note of the 3rd January last, and whose free admission is provided for by the Tariff Law therein cited, are the product or manufacture of the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, the laws and regulations to be adopted to that end shall place no undue restrictions on the importer, nor impose any additional charges therefor upon the articles imported.

It is likewise understood that wheat flour shall not share in the specified reduction of duties which begins to take effect on the 1st January, 1892, which, on its exportation from the United States, may have been favoured with any tariff advantages in the nature of drawbacks.

I have, therefore, to request that you will be so kind as to call at the Department of State at your early convenience, to agree upon the time and manner of making public announcement of this transitory Commercial Arrangement, which, it is understood, shall remain in force so long as it shall not be modified by the mutual agreement of the executive power of the two countries, always reserving the respective right of the Congress of the United States and of the Cortes of Spain to modify or repeal said Arrangement whenever they may think proper.

Accept, &c.,

Señor Guanes.

JAMES G. BLAINE.

Señor Suarez Guanes to Mr. Blaine.

Legation of Spain at Washington, June 12, 1891.

THE Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Spain, has the honour to inform the Honourable

Secretary of State that, a transitory Commercial Arrangement having been agreed upon between the Government of His Majesty and that of the United States of North America, which is to go into effect on the 1st day of September, 1891, and it being the desire of both Governments that said Arrangement should have a definitive character from the time when Spain shall be free from her international engagements, the Government of His Majesty, in reciprocity and compensation for the admission into the ports of the United States of America, free of all national, State, and municipal duties, of the products of Cuba and Porto Rico enumerated in the note of the Honourable Secretary of State of the 3rd January of the present year, is prepared to make full use of the power granted to it by the Law of the 22nd July, 1884, authorizing the admission into all the established ports of said islands from the 1st July, 1892, of the articles or merchandize named in the Schedules annexed to this note, designated by the letters (A), (B), (C), and (D): provided that the duties of the third column of the Tariffs of the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, to which reference is made in said Schedules, are understood to be those stated in the Tariffs which are now in force, with the additional duties authorized by laws and orders previous to this date.

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

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

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

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

A repertory shall be compiled to regulate the better application.

of the annexed Schedules in the custom-houses of Cuba and Porto Rico, and, as a basis for the classification of articles, the repertory attached to the unratified Treaty of the 18th October, 1884, shall be taken with such modifications as the present Schedules require.

Flour which, on its departure from the ports of the Union for those of Cuba and Porto Rico, is favoured with drawbacks or other Tariff advantages, is excluded from the reduction of duties conceded in the annexed Schedules to American wheat and wheat flour, and shall not share in said favour.

It is to be understood that when this definitive Commercial Arrangement goes into effect, the transitory one shall terminate and be of no further force.

The definitive Arrangemeut thus put in operation shall remain in force so long as it shall not be modified by the mutual agreement of the executive power of the two countries,, always reserving the respective rights of the Cortes of Spain and of the Congress of the United States to modify or repeal said Arrangement whenever they may think proper.

The Governments of the two nations shall fix the day when this definite Arrangement shall be simultaneously and officially published in both countries.

In proposing in the name of his Government the project of the definitive Commercial Arrangement in the terms which he has just transcribed, it remains for the Undersigned to comply with the special instructions which his Government has likewise given to him, to submit to the consideration of the Honourable Secretary of State the serious injuries which have been occasioned to the tobacco production in the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico in consequence of the increase of duties imposed on said article by the new Tariff Law of the United States, cherishing the hope that, while it may not be possible to diminish them at once in the present Arrangement, because the President of the Union has not the power to do so, the latter will exercise his constitutional powers in order to recommend to Congress the said reduction of duties on the tobacco of Cuba and Porto Rico.

These measures will duly complete the friendly character of the commercial relations between the two countries, for which purpose the Spanish Government has not hesitated to facilitate, as far as was within its power, the negotiations of the present reciprocity arrange

ment.

The Undersigned Minister hopes, therefore, that the President will comply with these proper desires of the Government of His Majesty, and that the Secretary of State will respond to the same in a separate note, if possible, at the time he replies to the proposition for the arrangement contained in the present note, and he

gladly improves this opportunity to repeat the assurances of his highest consideration.

J. G. Blaine, Esq.

M. SUAREZ GUANES.

Note. Schedules (A), (B), (C), and (D), referred to in Señor Guanes' note, are included in the President's Proclamation,* with the exception of the following paragraph in Schedule (B) :—

"It is to be understood that the packages or coverings in which the articles named in the foregoing Schedules (A) and (B) are imported shall be free of duty if they are usual and proper for the purpose;" and the following in Schedule (C):

"It is agreed that the Third Column of the Tariffs of the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, mentioned in this Schedule, are understood to be those stated to be the Tariffs now in force with the additional duties authorized by laws and orders previous to this date;" and the following in Schedule (D) :--

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

SIR,

Mr. Blaine to Señor Suarez Guanes.

Department of State, Washington, June 16, 1891. HAVING already had the honour to enter with you upon a transitory Commercial Arrangement between the United States and the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, to go into effect the 1st September next, I now have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 12th instant, in which you inform me that, with the object of giving a definitive character to said Commercial Arrangement, the Government of Spain, in reciprocity and compensation for the admission into the ports of the United States of America, free from all national, State, and municipal duties, of the products of Cuba and Porto Rico, enumerated in my note of the 3rd January last, is prepared by due legal enactment to authorize the admission into said islands, from the 1st July, 1892, of the articles of merchandize named in the Schedules annexed to your note of the 12th instant, on the conditions stated in said note and Schedules; that your Government gives the assurance that no export nor port tax, whether national or provincial, shall be imposed on the articles adınitted free into the United States; that it will see to have no greater municipal duties than those paid by national products

imposed on the articles named in said Schedules, and that said duties shall not materially increase the price of said articles; and that the laws and regulations which may be adopted by Spain to prevent fraud shall not impose any additional charges therefor on the articles named in said Schedules imported from the United States.

I am directed by the President to state that he accepts this action of the Government of Spain, in proposing to grant exemption of duties to the products of the United States, as a due reciprocity for the action of the Congress of the United States, as set forth in my note to you of the 3rd January last.

I am also pleased to reciprocate the assurance contained in your note, and to state that no export tax, whether national, State, or municipal, can or will be imposed in the United States upon the products and manufactures enumerated in the Schedules attached to your note of the 12th instant.

It may be further understood that, while the Government of the United States reserves the right to adopt such laws and regulations as may be found necessary to protect the revenue, and prevent fraud in the declarations and proof that the articles enumerated in my note of the 3rd January last, and whose free admission is provided for by the Tariff Law therein cited, are the product or manufacture of the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico, the laws and regulations to be adopted to that end shall place no undue restrictions on the importer, nor impose any additional charges therefor upon the articles imported.

It is likewise understood that wheat flour shall not share in the reduction of duties specified in Schedule (B), attached to your note of the 12th instant, which, on its exportation from the United States, may have been favoured with any Tariff advantages in the nature of drawbacks.

It is agreed that a repertory shall be compiled before the present Commercial Arrangement goes into force under the joint supervision of the Department of State and the Spanish Legation in Washington, to regulate the better application of the said Schedules in the Custom-houses of Cuba and Porto Rico upon the basis stated in your note.

It is also agreed that when this definitive Commercial Arrangement goes into effect the transitory Arrangement to be put into operation on the 1st September next shall terminate, and be of no further force.

I have, therefore, to request that you will call at the Department of State at your early convenience to agree upon the time and manner of making public announcement of this definitive Commercial Arrangement, which, it is understood, shall remain in force