[Inclosure to inclosure in No. 27.1 Statement in regard to the tonnage-tax paid at Havana in one year by American fishing smacks. HAVANA, November 2, 1877. Tabular statement showing the names of 18 American vessels employed in the live fish trade between Havana and Key West; the number of voyages made by each, their tonnage as per register, and the same by Spanish admeasurement; the amount of tonnage-tax paid by each in Havana during the year 1876; and the tax that Spanish vessels of the same tonnage and making the same number of voyages would have paid in the United States during the same period. Accompanying a slip from the New York Herald of 20th October, 1877, with a telegram from Madrid respecting the tonnage-tax collected from Spanish vessels in the United States. Accompanying, also, two original bills of consular fees paid by American vessels to the Spanish consul at Key West. [New York Herald of October 20, 1877.] DIFFERENTIAL DUTIES-CHARGE IMPOSED ON SPANISH SHIPS BY THE UNITED STATES— INDIGNANT PROTEST FROM SPAIN—A RECONSIDERATION SOUGHT BY THE MADRID GOVERNMENT. The news of the enormous differential charge of 50 cents per ton imposed by the United States in September upon Spanish vessels trading in American waters was received here a few days ago, and was confirmed yesterday. Its publication in the Madrid papers has brought forth expressions of deep resentment on all sides, more especially among the mercantile classes, whose interests are more or less affected by the change. All the papers devote editorials to the subject, and their criticisms are of the sharpest possible kind. SURPRISE IN MADRID. The reason of the measure is unknown here, and as no warning or explanation had been given either to the Spanish Government or the Spanish minister at Washington, it has taken every one completely by surprise. The relations between the two governments were never of a more friendly character, and the Madrid Government are most anxious that the friendly spirit should be maintained. AT A LOSS WHAT TO DO. They are at present in considerable embarrassment as to the best course to adopt in order to meet this unexpected difficulty, as public opinion will be opposed to any appearance of yielding to what is here considered as a gross injustice. The government will make every effort in their power to induce the United States Government to reconsider the action taken. PROBABLE RETALIATORY CHARGES. This differential charge will have the effect of ruining Spanish ship-owners if continued for any length of time. Unless the Washington Government withdraws the measure the Spanish Government will be compelled by the outery among mercantile classes and in the press to impose a retaliatory charge, which would exclude American bottoms from the Cuban trade and lead to the indefinite postponement of the commercial treaty. American schooner In Time, 22d June, 1877, to Spanish consulate, Dr. Premium on gold.......... Received payment. 15 4 19 2.8 21.8 J. J. DE EMPERANZA. American schooner Alaska, 8th July, 1877, to Spanish consulate, Dr. From the foregoing statement it will be seen that 18 American fishing smacks, plying between Key West and Havana, paid into the Havana custom-house during the year 1876 the sum of $8,934.93 gold, while the same number of Spanish vessels of the same tonnage, making the same number of trips to the United States, would have had to pay during the same period $190.80; in other words, where a Spanish vessel would have had to pay $1 in tonnage-tax to the United States, the American vessels above named have paid into the Cuban Treasury $46.83. These vessels being subject to readmeasurement in Cuba have had their tonnage augmented to an average of 34 per cent. over their register tonnage, No. 450. Mr. Evarts to Mr. Lowell. No. 28.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 12, 1877. SIR: In the dispatch from Mr. Hall, the United States consul-general at Havana, of which a copy accompanies my No. 27, of this date, reference is made to the Spanish system of readmeasurement by local officers of vessels bearing American registers, which is shown during a given period during the past year to have resulted in assigning to certain American vessels a tonnage some 34 per cent. in excess of that ascertained in the United States. It is not unlikely that the same discrepancy may occur to a greater or less extent in other instances where officers of the Spanish service readmeasure American vessels for the purpose of assessing tonnage-taxes thereon, notwithstanding the proven identity of the system of admeasurement prescribed by the laws of the two countries, in common with England, Germany, and other nations, and which is known as the Moorsom system. The difficulty, so far as Cuba is concerned, is believed to have been already remedied by a royal order of the ministry of ultramar, of the 30th of July last, admitting vessels of the United States into the ports of the island without readmeasurement, on exhibition of their national register, or "certificados de argues," which shall be taken to set forth their true tonnage for the purposes of assessing taxation. It is stated in that royal order that the measure is adopted provisionally in consideration of the good desires of the American Government toward that of Spain in the matter until the pending negotiation for the reciprocal admission of tonnage certificates between the two countries shall be settled. The friendly disposition of the Spanish Government in this matter, and its action in regard to American shipping in Cuban ports, is appreciated, and it is hoped that the Government of His Majesty may speedily concur in the adoption of the general measure providing for the recip rocal admission of tonnage certificates, to which this government gave its official consent more than a year ago, and which is so much needed in the interest of the commercial intercourse between the two countries. I am, &c., WM. M. EVARTS. No. 30.1] No. 451. Mr. Evarts to Mr. Lowell. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: On the 5th of June last my attention was arrested by an item of news which appeared in the public papers of the day, to the effect that, some days previous to that announcement, the Ellen Rizpah, an American whaling schooner, of Provincetown, Mass., and commanded by Capt. John A. Dunham, while engaged on a whaling voyage in the Caribbean Sea, and when off the South Keys, near the island of Cuba, had been overhauled by a Spanish cruising-boat, the master and mate made prisoners, and besides being detained four days, at great inconvenience to the interests of the vessel and her owners, they, the master and mate, were subjected to very gross and apparently wanton outrages at the hands of the Spanish officers in charge of this armed cruiser. Not permitting myself to believe that the officers of a nation between which and the United States the most peaceful and friendly relations have so long existed could have suffered themselves to become the instruments of a proceeding so wholly unjustifiable, I immediately caused inquiry to be made through the proper officers of this government, and the result of these inquiries, I regret to say, showed that the announcements of the newspapers, so far from either misstating or exaggerating the occurrence, had fallen greatly short of what the facts warranted as to the true characterization of the affair. I inclose herewith a copy of the sworn statement of the master, John A. Dunham, and the first officer, Benjamin J. Smith. It will be seen from this statement that the Ellen Rizpah was brought to by a blank cartridge fired from the Spanish boat, and that upon the American cap tain hoisting his national colors the cruiser immediately charged his gun with solid shot and ranged across the schooner's stern, bringing his armed vessel within easy range of the unarmed and defenseless whaler; that the master of the Ellen Rizpah was compelled at the cannon's mouth to leave his own vessel and go on board the Spanish boat; that he was there kept a prisoner, under armed guards, for four days; that he was exposed during much of this time to very inclement weather, in wet clothing, and was not permitted to visit his own vessel to obtain either food or a change of clothing, although that vessel was within easy reach, and kept during the whole time under the guns of her captor; and that, although he offered in the frankest manner to give full explanation of the business in which his vessel was engaged, and to exhibit his ship's papers, the Spanish officer refused to hear these explanations and declined to look at his papers; and that only upon the arrival on the scene of a Spanish steamer at the end of four days was he vouchsafed an inspection of his papers, and then rudely told to go about his business; that even after this, when he attempted to engage in the ordinary and legitimate pursuit of his voyage, and to capture some whales that were in sight, he was again chased for a distance of 20 miles by another armed Spanish cruiser of similar character to that of the one by which he was first molested; nor must the fact be overlooked that when the schooner was first overhauled by the Spanish boat she was at sea, at a distance of at least twenty miles from the shores of the island of Cuba. It would be difficult, by the use of any ordinary language which might be employed to characterize it, to add to the stigma which a mere recital of the facts imparts to this transaction. The immediate consequences resulting to the master, crew, and owners of the vessel, was the breaking up of the voyage and consequent loss of the hard-earned rewards which might naturally be expected from the peaceful, but at the same time hazardous, enterprise of a whale-fishing voyage. The pecuniary loss is estimated by the master and owners at $5,000, which sum they claim as indemnity; and, from an examination of the facts and circumstances, this amount appears to the Department to be reasonable and moderate. The surprise, however, occasioned by the affair of the Ellen Rizpah had scarcely ceased, when a similar occurrence, in the same waters, was brought to the attention of the Department. The Rising Sun, a whaling-schooner of 69 tons burden, is also an American vessel, owned in Provincetown, Mass. She sailed from that port on the 1st of March last, duly equipped for a whaling-voyage, and under the command of Thomas S. Taylor. On the 23d of May following. in the regular pursuit of her voyage, the vessel in question arrived off the South Keys of Cuba; when at least 3 miles from the Keys (which are uninhabited and destitute of vegetation), and about 20 miles from the coast of Cuba, her two boats, one commanded by Captain Taylor and the other by his mate, Mr. John W. Atkins, being out in pursuit of whales, and distant from the schooner about 3 or 4 miles, and visibly engaged in the capture of whales, were fired at from a small Spanish guard-boat, schooner-rigged, and distant from them only a mile. The firing was from a rifled cannon, the first shot being a blank cartridge, and being immediately followed by two rounds with solid shots, the Spanish boat being between the whale-boats and the schooner to which they belonged. The captain steered for his vessel, leaving the mate, Atkins, to secure a whale which they were just in the act of capturing at the moment they were fired upon. The Spanish boat now bore down on Captain Taylor, and when within shot range fired into his boat three volleys from small-arms. Captain Taylor's steersman, who spoke Portuguese, was able to understand Spanish sufficiently to apprise Captain Taylor of what was said on board the guard-boat. They said, at first, that they were going to take the schooner and sink her. Captain Taylor was ordered on board the cruiser, and upon his obeying that order, he found the Spanish vessel, although a very small craft, manned with a crew of 12. These, he states, were not in uniform, and upon Captain Taylor's inquiring what they intended to do, he was answered that he would be detained until a gunboat should come along from Cuba to search his vessel and examine his papers. The American captain was detained about an hour and a half, and was then only permitted to return to his vessel on the condition that his mate, Atkins, should come on board the Spanish vessel. The mate was detained five days, without change of clothing, although he came on board in his wet whaling suit. Neither the captain nor any of the crew of his own vessel were permitted to visit him during the whole time of his detention. The schooner during these five days remained in the neighborhood, and when, on the fifth day, the looked-for gunboat arrived, an officer from that vessel came on board the Rising Sun, examined the ship's papers, and called the men aft to answer to their names. Captain Taylor asked the officer why his vessel was detained, and received for answer, in English: "There are a good many scamps in the world, and we don't know whom to trust." During all these proceedings the American colors were flying on the Rising Sun. In consequence of this seizure and detention Captain Taylor's voyage was broken up, and he estimates the pecuniary loss to himself and the owners of the vessel at $6,000. The mate, Mr. Atkins, from the harsh treatment and exposure to which he was subjected while on board the Spanish gunboat, suffered severely in health. He has not yet recovered,. and is even alarmed by his condition as to ultimate recovery. He claims $2,500 as pecuniary compensation for the personal injuries and losses thus entailed upon him. Still another case of no less aggravated character remains to be enumerated. The whaling-schooner Edward Lee, also of Provincetown, cruising after whales in the same neighborhood in March last, wasthe master, Captain Atkins, writes his owners-chased by a Spanish gunboat and fired into, at first with solid shot, then with grape, and finally with shell. Fortunately, being a fast sailer, his vessel escaped without being struck, but was driven out of those waters, and his peaceful and legitimate pursuit rudely interfered with. The particulars of this assault upon the Edward Lee have not yet reached this Department, as the vessel is now said to be in South American waters. Proper measures have, however, been adopted to obtain verified statements of the occurrence, so soon as the master of the vessel can be directly communicated with by the owners, or by the proper officers of the Treasury Department. Sensible of the cordial and uninterrupted friendship which has so long existed between the United States and Spain, this government did not permit itself to believe for a moment that these unfriendly proceedings on the part of the colonial officers of His Catholic Majesty would find any shelter in the sanction or approval of the home government; hence it was with unmixed satisfaction that the Department received |