Mr. Hall to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Entire quiet continues to prevail throughout this country. Since their total defeat in January by General Melgarejo, his opponents have abandoned the idea of a further struggle with him, at least for the present. There is no force in arms against his government in any part of the republic, so far as I can learn. He has just caused the publication of a general amnesty and it is believed that all of the opposition who have fled from their homes will speedily return to them. He has made common cause with Chili and Peru against Spain, and, through their ministers in Bolivia, established the most friendly relations with those republics. I can see no prospect whatever of any armed opposition to his [Page 330] rule that shall have the slightest chance of success. Such opposition will doubtless arise, sooner or later, as it has done with every one of his presidential predecessors, with one exception; but when it will arise it is impossible to foresee. His authority may exist unimpaired for years, as did that of his dictatorial predecessors, Santa Cruz, Bolivar, and Belzu; or he may fall within a shorter period, as did Cordova and Linares. Each of those presidential personages came into power by revolution, and, with the exception of Cordova, who was not feared, each was compelled to leave the country. Cordova himself, though considered a weak, harmless sort of man, was permitted to live for a short time only after his overthrow, having been shot in a military effervescence, under circumstances which rendered his death almost an assassination.
Next month General Melgarejo will doubtless be elected provisional president, and his election will be pronounced valid by the congress which will assemble in August. These circumstances considered, it appears to me that after his election in May, and without waiting for the assembling of congress in August, it would be fit and proper for the United States to recognize the government of Melgarejo as the government of Bolivia, a government as constitutional in its character, and to all appearances as firmly established, as was that of any of his predecessors at their accession to office, with the sole exception of that of the distinguished soldier and patriotic statesman General Sucre, who succeeded Bolivar, the first president of the republic. Bolivar was constitutionally elected the first president (1825) but resigned in the following year and left the country.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.