as the delegate of the central Government.
This parliament receives the oath of the Governor-General to preserve
faithfully the liberties and privileges of the colony, and to it the
colonial secretaries are responsible. It has the right to propose to the
central Government, through the Governor-General, modifications of the
national charter and to invite new projects of law or executive measures
in the interest of the colony.

Besides its local powers, it is competent, first, to regulate electoral
registration and procedure and prescribe the qualifications of electors
and the manner of exercising suffrage; second, to organize courts of
justice with native judges from members of the local bar; third, to
frame the insular budget, both as to expenditures and revenues, without
limitation of any kind, and to set apart the revenues to meet the Cuban
share of the national budget, which latter will be voted by the national
Cortes with the assistance of Cuban senators and deputies; fourth, to
initiate or take part in the negotiations of the national Government for
commercial treaties which may affect Cuban interests; fifth, to accept
or reject commercial treaties which the national Government may have
concluded without the participation of the Cuban government; sixth,
to frame the colonial tariff, acting in accord with the peninsular
Government in scheduling articles of mutual commerce between the mother
country and the colonies. Before introducing or voting upon a bill the
Cuban government or the chambers will lay the project before the central
Government and hear its opinion thereon, all the correspondence in such
regard being made public. Finally, all conflicts of jurisdiction arising
between the different municipal, provincial, and insular assemblies, or
between the latter and the insular executive power, and which from their
nature may not be referable to the central Government for decision,
shall be submitted to the courts.

That the government of Sagasta has entered upon a course from which
recession with honor is impossible can hardly be questioned; that in
the few weeks it has existed it has made earnest of the sincerity of its
professions is undeniable. I shall not impugn its sincerity, nor should
impatience be suffered to embarrass it in the task it has undertaken.
It is honestly due to Spain and to our friendly relations with Spain
that she should be given a reasonable chance to realize her expectations
and to prove