"His Excellency the Regent of the kingdom communicates to me, under date of July 4th ultimo, the following law, which has been promulgated or sanctioned by the Congressional Cortes:
"Don Francisco Serrano of Dominguez, Regent of the kingdom, by the will of the sovereign Cortes, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:
"Know ye that the Congressional Cortes of the Spanish nation does hereby decree and sanction the following:
"Article 1. All children of slave mothers, born after the publication of this law, are declared free.
"Article 2. All slaves born between the 18th of September, 1868, and the time of the publication of this law, are acquired by the state by the payment to the owners of the sum of twenty five dollars.
"Article 3. All slaves who have served under the Spanish flag or who have in any way aided the troops during the present insurrection in Cuba are declared free. All those are equally recognized as free as shall have been so declared by the superior government of Cuba, by virtue of its jurisdiction. The state shall pay their value to their masters, if the latter have remained faithful to the Spanish cause; if belonging to insurgents, they shall receive no indemnity.
"Article 4. Slaves, who, at the time of the publication of this law, shall have attained the age of sixty years are declared free, without any indemnification to their owners. The same benefit shall be enjoyed by those who shall hereafter reach this age.
"Article 5. All slaves belonging to the state, either as emancipated, or who for any other cause are at present under the control of the state, shall at once enter upon the full exercise of their civil rights.
"Article 6. Those persons freed by this law who are mentioned in articles 1 and 2, shall remain under the control of the owners of the mother, after the payment of the indemnity prescribed in Article 2.
"Article 7. The control referred to in the foregoing article imposes upon the person exercising it the obligation to maintain his wards, to clothe them, care for them in sickness, giving them primary instruction, and the education necessary to carry on an art or trade. The person exercising the aforesaid control acquired all the rights of a guardian, and may, moreover, enjoy the benefit of the labor of the freedman, without making any compensation, until said freedman has reached the age of eighteen years.