No. 655.
Mr. Caldwell to Mr. Evarts.
Legation of
the United States,
Montevideo, March 20, 1880.
(Received May 24.)
No. 44.]
Sir: On the 13th of this month Colonel Latorre
resigned the presidency of this republic. This step was taken without
consultation with his ministers, or political or personal friends, and
persisted in, in spite of efforts made from every side to induce him to
withdraw his resignation and continue in the exercise of power.
I inclose his letter of resignation, and his proclamation to the inhabitants
of the country, with translations of each.
Congress immediately met, and, finding all efforts to make Colonel Latorre
reconsider his determination unavailing, elected as his successor for the
unexpired term of three years Dr. Francisco Vidal, president of the
Senate.
President Vidal has nominated the following ministry: Edward McEachen,
minister of interior; Joaquin Requena y García, minister of foreign
relations; Juan Peñalva, minister of hacienda (treasury); Col. Máximo
Santos, minister of war and marine.
I have the honor to be, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
44.—Translation]
To the honorable General
Assembly:
In obedience to the dictates of my conscience and the duties of my civic
dignity, I neither can nor ought longer to continue at the head of the
public affairs of the country, and I come before your honorable body to
present my irrevocable resignation of the charge of President of the
Republic, with which I was honored on the 1st of March, 1879.
In my retirement to private life I shall wait the time marked by law to
relieve me from my respéonsibility as ruler, without withdrawing as a
simple citizen my adhesion to the authorities, nor my concourse to the
maintenance of public order.
God guard your honorable body.
LORENZO LATORRE.
Montevideo, March 13,
1880.
Colonel Latorre to his
fellow-citizens, and to all the inhabitants of the
republic:
Resolved to separate myself from the government, to which end I have just
sent my indeclinable resignation of the presidency of the republic to
the honorable General Assembly, I owe to my fellow-citizens, and to the
entire country, a manifestation of gratitude for the assistance with
which it has honored me during the entire time that I have occupied the
first magistracy of the state.
Duties of conscience and personal dignity impose upon me this firm
resolution, withdrawing from the public stage my political personality,
which, if it has weighed something in the balance of the stability, the
advancement, and the well being of the country, has, at the same time,
imposed upon me great sacrifices, to organize that which was
disorganized, and to raise the spirits of a despairing country to the
hope of its politico-social reconstruction.
Among the sacrifices, I have borne with tranquil mind the most difficult
of all—that of defamation; for I have the conviction that public men owe
to their country even the sacrifice of their own name; for above the
ingratitude and passion of discontented
[Page 1028]
spirits is the serene judgment of the calm reason
of peoples, which does justice to him who possesses it, and the verdict
of history, which judges, with severe impartiality men and events.
In my retirement to private life I carry my discouragement to the point
of believing that our country is a country ungovernable. In this
conviction, I have not the civic valor to face longer the rude mission
which the vote of the national representatives imposed upon me.
But do not judge me ill: I neither desire, nor an able to be longer
governor of my country, under any form, or under any pretext or
consideration whatever, and for this reason, in taking the step which I
have taken, I release myself completely from all compromise or political
union with my friends.
I am going to be a simple citizen, with the fixed resolution to accept no
charge or representation whatever, return to private life, where I shall
discharge my duties as a citizen, supporting the authorities, and with
the resolution to lend my concourse to the public order and stability of
my country.
In abandoning public life, I sincerely hope that my fellow-citizens and
all the inhabitants of the country will surround the magistrate who
succeeds me with all their opinion and prestige; that my loyal
companions in arms, who form the army of the republic, will continue
faithful to the examples of morality, patriotism, and discipline which
they have shown until the present, forming the prime support of the
authorities and the public peace; that, in a word, Providence,
protecting our beloved land, will inspire all its sons with one sole
idea, one single sentiment—that of maintaining its honor and making its
complete happiness.
LORENZO LATORRE.
Montevideo, March 13,
1880.
