Office of the Historian

No. 101.
Mr. Williamson to Mr. Fish.

United States Legation in Central America.
Guatemala, December 20, 1874. (Rec’d Jan. 26, 1875.)
No. 278.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose you Spanish and translated copies of a note received to-day from Mr. A. Zuniga, minister of foreign affairs of Honduras, dated November 24, 1874, in reply to my note to him dated the 10th of October, 1874, a copy of which accompanied my dispatch to you of the 13th of October, 1874, No. 261,* all relative to the demand for satisfaction for the outrage upon the United States consulate at Omoa, in July, 1873.

Although the note of the minister is not satisfactory either in language or tone, and although he seems to intend to convey the impression that there was a satisfaction demanded and agreed upon, and that it was limited to a salute to “the American flag,” a reasonable degree of confidence is felt that when I see President Leiva he will comply with the terms which were intimated to him might be satisfactory to my government, as reported to you in my No. 107,† of date February 19, 1874.

I beg, however, to state that this moderate degree of assurance is rather based upon the fact that by that time he will probably have been inaugurated constitutional President of Honduras than upon an opinion he has become exempt from the characteristics of Central American officials, referred to in my No. 242.*

I have been so unwell since my return from the late visits to Nicaragua and Salvador that I do not now expect to be able to leave for Honduras before about the 1st of February.

I have, &c.,

GEO. WILLIAMSON.
[Inclosure in No. 278.—Translation.]

Mr. Zuniga to Mr. Williamson.

Office of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honduras,
Comayagua, November 24, 1874.

Sir: I have had the honor to receive the attentive dispatch of your excellency, dated the 10th of last October, in which, referring to the correspondence exchanged between your excellency and this department concerning the outrage inflicted upon the American consulate in Omoa, your excellency insists upon demanding a speedy and full satisfaction.

From the inquiries ordered to be made in Omoa itself, and followed up by the judges of the first instance, civil and military, the outrage done to the American consulate does not appear entirely proved; but the government has the full belief that the American consulate, the same as almost all the mercantile houses of the natives and foreigners, had to suffer from the forces of General Straeber. On said consideration, the government of Honduras is disposed to give the satisfaction demanded and agreed upon in conversation with your excellency, minister of the United States, to salute the American flag.

The undersigned hopes that your excellency will be pleased to instruct to that effect the American consul in Omoa, it being due on the part of the government of Honduras to give itself, at a suitable time, the corresponding orders to the chief commandant of that port.

I improve this occasion to offer myself your excellency’s very attentive and obedient servant,

ADOLFO ZUNIGA.

To His Excellency Hon. George Williamson,
Minister-Resident of the United States.

  1. Ante.↩
  2. See Foreign Relation for 1874, page 142.↩
  3. Ante.↩