Mr. Tocornal to Mr. Nelson.
[l. s.]
Sir:On the 29th of February last I had the honor to receive the note which, under date of the 25th, your excellency was pleased to address to me in regard to the boundary question pending between Chili and Bolivia, and having given an account of its contents to the President of the republic, I have been in structed by his excellency to reply to it in the terms which I am about to use.
Your excellency assures me that you have examined with careful interest the antecedents of that question, so far as published, and that, in your opinion, any further discussion of the same would but lead the high powers interested to a confirmation of their respective opinions, sustained on either hand with equal pertinacity, and would be ineffectual to produce the desired solution.
The government of the United States, to whom your excellency informs me you have stated your views upon the question, has followed, with a solicitude equal to that of your excellency, the gradual progress of events tending to weaken the fraternal relations existing between Chili and Bolivia, and as a means of impeding their interruption, thus contrary to its ardent desire that they be maintained and strengthened, has instructed your excellency to manifest to my government the propriety and wisdom of submitting the differences alluded to to the arbitration of a friendly power, chosen by mutual consent.
In connexion herewith your excellency is pleased to remind me that such is the measure to which it is customary in similar cases, among friendly nations, to appeal for the purpose of settling their controversies by means of a final and conclusive decision; and your excellency adds, that even had not certain claims of that legation in favor of citizens of the United States, whose decision principally depends upon the settlement of these differences, been submitted to the consideration of my government, nor have furnished a sufficient motive for the vindication of the means proposed, the profound interest felt by your government in the prosperity of the sister republics of this continent, and its ardent desire for the preservation of peace and harmony among all the nations of America, would have been sufficient to authorize it.
In an opportune paraphrase which your excellency has made of my note of December 30, last, addressed to the cabinets of Quito and Bogota, your excellency concludes by signifying to me the confidence of your government and your own that Chili and Bolivia would accept the adoption of the arbitration indicated, and by giving me the assurance that the government of the United States would omit no effort whatever to bring about a good understanding, if its good offices or friendly mediation might facilitate it.
In replying to the foregoing it is my duty, before all else, to comply with the first and most grateful of the instructions which to that effect I have received from the President of the republic, expressing to your excellency the lively gratitude of his excellency for the friendly steps taken by the government of [Page 178] the United States, through your worthy instrumentality. The President recognizes therein an unequivocal proof of the excellent and cordial spirit of fraternity entertained by the government of your excellency towards Chili, and discovers a new motive for drawing closer the good relations which happily she cultivates with the United States. The generous sentiments manifested by the great republic towards the other republics of America are, moreover, in the opinion of my government, a certain promise of future prosperity for our continent, which can only find her well-being and power in peace and liberty, based upon a sincere union of all the American republics.
Such a union has ever been the object of the highest aspirations of Chili, as has been clearly demonstrated by the traditional policy which she has observed in her international relations. Good faith, equity, concord, a spirit serene and open to conciliation—such have ever been the motives of her policy. Ever disposed to make many sacrifices for the preservation of peace, she has never refused, save such as would have sullied her dignity or wronged her legitimate interests.
This policy and none other has my government pursued, in the case to which your excellency is pleased to call my attention in its differences with the government of Bolivia. While it is indeed true, as noted by your excellency, that it has maintained its right to the dominion of the territory in dispute with the energy and decision proper to a righteous cause, it has not thought, as your excellency, that the discussion of these titles, and of those presented and sustained with equal vigor by Bolivia, must be fruitless. On the contrary, it believes that if such discussion could have taken place, a good understanding would have been arrived at, without much difficulty, and even without having recourse to the good offices of a common friend. It would have been all-sufficient for the representative of Bolivia to have brought to the debate sentiments analogous to those of my government—sentiments of conciliation and equity. Unfortunately the Bolivian legation was far from entertaining such sentiments, and, confining itself to an insuperable refusal to make the reparation due to Chili, has made fruitless the preliminary discussion which my government has consented to open for the purpose of smoothing the way toward that which would have turned upon the main question, the question of boundary.
Thus has it been that this question has not even succeeded in entering into debate, notwithstanding the loyal endeavors of my government toward that object, and contrary to what was natural to presume, and to what doubtless was believed, until the recent publication of the correspondence of this department with the Bolivian legation.
How erroneous was such a conjecture has been already manifested by the published correspondence; but perhaps, as is probable, it is not strange that it should have occasioned the friendly action which the government of Peru first, and later your excellency, have taken in the endeavor to bring about a good understanding.
When the government of Peru tendered its good offices and friendly mediation for the arrangement of the boundary question, my government hastened to reply that this question not being in debate, and it being impossible to discuss it until the difficulties opposed thereto were removed, it found itself, with great regret, obliged to decline availing itself at present of so generous an offer, which otherwise it would have been happy to accept.
From that time to the present the state of affairs has undergone no change whatever, favorable to mediation, or to any other means conducive to a friendly and satisfactory solution. The conduct of Bolivia has postponed the possibility of obtaining this result, which my government has sought with so much solicitude. I find myself, therefore, obliged to give to-day to your excellency the same reply which a short time since, as I have manifested to your excellency, I gave to the government of Peru.
[Page 179]In doing so I am Instructed to express to your excellency the profound regret of my government at the rupture which has taken place in the relations between Chili and Bolivia, and its firm resolve to avoid, in so far as lies in its power, the painful consequences which may result from this rupture. It entertains the confidence of being able to do so, and even dares to hope that the government of Bolivia, permitting the access of more benevolent and equitable views than it has up to the present manifested, may return upon its steps, and offer to Chili the just reparation necessary to render possible the tranquil and friendly discussion of the pending differences.
Should this opportunity arrive, my government will seize it with satisfaction, and endeavor to profit by it, seeking a proper solution, either in the calm discussion of the titles alleged by the high powers interested, or in the adoption of some other honorable and pacific means. It will then be very grateful to recur, if necessary, to the mediation of the government of the United States, and to thus manifest how highly and gratefully it esteems the solicitous and fraternal interest it has shown in this affair.
I have the honor to reiterate to your excellency the expression of my most distinguished consideration with which I am your excellency’s most obedient servant,
The Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of North America.