Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/105

 Project of Latin-American Confederation. iS^6 95 For the opportunity to see them, the readers of the Review are in- 'debted to ^Ir. Luis M. Perez, who discovered them in the course of his work in the Archivo Nacional of Cuba for the Department of Historical Research of the Carnegie Institution, in the preparation of his forthcoming Guide to the Materials for the History of the United States in Cuban Archiz'es. It is unusual to be able to pre- sent in print the texts of confidential diplomatic documents of so recent date as 1856. ]^Iost such documents preserved in the cor- respondence of the captains-general of Cuba were doubtless included in the large masses of papers transported to Spain in 1898. But, partly by accident, partly through the patriotic foresight of the late Professor Manuel Mllanova of the Instituto of Havana, cer- tain portions escaped transportation and were preserved to the na- tional archives of Cuba. The papers here presented are found among
 * he Villanova Papers in that repository, in the bundle devoted to

1856. The translation is furnished by ^Nlr. Perez. Senor Juan de Zavala was the Spanish secretary of state. Seiior Alfonso de Escal- ante was minister of Spain to the United States, October, 1855- November, 1856. The reader may compare Francisco Bilbao, In- iciativa de la America: Idea de mi Congreso Federal de las Repitb- licas (pph., Paris, 1856) ; Lastarria, Covarrubias, Santa Maria, and Vicufia iMackenna, Coleccion de Ensayos i Documentos reldtivos a la Union i Confedcracion de los Pueblos Hispano-Americanos, piib- licada a espcnsas de la " Socicdad de la Union Americana de San- tiago de Chile" (Santiago, 1862) ; and J. :I. Torres Caicedo, Union Latino-Americana, Pensaiuiento de Bolivar para forinar una Liga Americana; sii Origen y sus Desarrollos (Paris, 1865, French edi- tion, Paris, 1875). I. Zaval. to the Captaix-Genep.al of Cuba Primera Secretaria de Estado. dlrecciox politica. E.vmo Sci'ior Con esta fecha digo al Ministro Plenipotenciario de S.M. en ^^'ash- ington lo que sigue " Se ban recibido en esta Primera Secretaria los Despachos de V.E seiialados con los numeros 18 y 20 y fechados el 23 y 28 de Febrero ultimo, en los que da cuenta de varias conferencias celebradas en su casa per los representantes de las Republicas espanolas y del Ymperio del Brasil, con obgeto de formar una especie de Confederacion 6 Dieta que asegure su independencia y cuj'o proyecto de bases, acordado en una de las reuniones, acompana V.E. a su comunicacion del 23. " Este pensamiento de estrecha alianza y mutua defensa, en que tanta parte ha tomado ^E., no puede menos de merecer la aprobacion