1882 Matanzas Government Letter Documenting Civil Oversight of a Mercedarian Church Dispute and Addressed to the Provincial Governor and Forwarded to Higher Authority
On offer is an official 1882 manuscript letter from the Civil Government of Matanzas, written on printed papel sellado numbered No. 747.005, acknowledging receipt of governmental proceedings (diligencias gubernativas) concerning an internal dispute among members of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy (Mercedarians). Addressed to a higher authority (“V. E.,” Vuestra Excelencia), the governor reports having received the investigation intended to verify “the truth of the claims made by the Mercedarian friars and presbyters Emilio Ancalia and Ramón Campo against their prelate Don Martín Sánchez, and other matters denounced by Don Carlos Otroy.” The sheet bears a 3 cuartos de peso revenue stamp (Oficio Años 1882 y 83) featuring the allegorical seated figure of Spain, and carries two clear provincial impressions: the black oval seal of the Jefatura Política de la Provincia y del Distrito de Matanzas and the blue circular seal of the Gobierno Civil de Matanzas, both dated 1882. On the verso appear two additional manuscript elements: a forwarding endorsement dated September 23, 1882 and signed “Alejandro Laurel,” reading “Por a V.E. m.l.a.” [For Your Excellency’s most worthy attention], and an address panel inscribed “Almo Sr. Gobernador Civil de esta Provincia.” These markings confirm that the letter was folded, sealed, and transmitted through official channels to the provincial governor and subsequently forwarded upward, preserving a full example of late-colonial bureaucratic circulation. The closing “Dios” abbreviates the formal benediction “Dios guarde a V. E. muchos años.” Together, the content and markings illustrate the intervention of civil government in ecclesiastical matters, the procedural structure of Spanish colonial administration, and the persistence of imperial oversight in Cuba’s final decades under Spanish rule. One folio leaf approx 8x12 inches, brown ink on laid papel sellado. Moderate toning and foxing, light folds, ink strong and legible. Overall G.
