Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Thirty-ninth Congress
Mr. Hovey to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the Spanish squadron, under the command of Admiral Nuñez, arrived at the port of Callao, and anchored off the island of San Lorenza on the morning of the 25th instant.
From the enclosed translation of a manifesto, No. 1, which I transmit, you will be enabled to judge of the reasons which have influenced the Spanish admiral in the proposed bombardment of the port.
On this day, the 27th instant, the port of Callao was declared to be blockaded, (see enclosure No. 2,) and the diplomatic body here were notified that the attack was to be made on the 1st of May proximo.
I have no doubt that the town will be bombarded on the day specified, unless the engagement should be precipitated by the action of the Peruvian government.
Should the city be bombarded much American property will be destroyed, and the chances seem to be, at present, favorable to the Spanish fleet
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Manifest or Circular to the Diplomatic Corps resident in Lima.
Headquarters of H. C. M. Squadron in the Pacific.
The treaty that was made on the 27th of January last, on board the Villa de Madrid, in the harbor of Callao, by the plenipotentiaries duly authorized by Spain and Peru, defined the basis for the definitive one that was to place both countries on the footing of the most complete and lasting peace.
That treaty was and is the most complete evidence that anything but views of conquest had brougnt the Spanish squadron to Callao, and that its only aspiration, in conformity with the instructions of her Catholic Majesty’s government, was to obtain that satisfaction to which Spain thought herself entitled from this republic.
[Page 636]But few days had passed since that happy termination, when an unprovoked aggression from the populace of Callao—aggression not repressed by the armed forces—endangered the lives of not a few of the crews of the Spanish squadron, who, unarmed and confiding in the faith of what had been stipulated, were tranquilly promenading the streets of the city. One lost his life, horribly mutilated; others were wounded; while that same populace assaulted and sacked nearly all the residences of the Spanish subjects. At the same time, in the capital of the republic, several individuals of the same squadron were assaulted, pursued and wounded, also, and the rest sought safety in the residences of the representatives of his Majesty the Emperor of the French, and of Bolivia.
His excellency the late General Don José Manuel Parepa, acting with a prudence and forbearance praised by every one abstained from employing force to destroy a city where such offences had been committed, being convinced that their origin and perpetration sprung, not from what constitutes the true people of a country, but from the instigations of a party that, desirous of power, used the scum of society to involve Peru in a new conflict that, reviving the one that had been settled by the stipulations of the 27th of January, would have brought on it great evils, even at the risk to that party of having to bear the terrible responsibility of having originated them, as poor compensation for the power obtained.
To the 5th of February in Callao nearly corresponds the successive uprisings of the principal departments of the republic, adopting as a primary and prominent motto the treaty adjusted with all the solemnity required by the rules and usages of civilized countries; a treaty that in proper time obtained reciprocal ratification.
The revolution having been begun and continued with views hostile to Spain, the chief of this squadron not only abstained from acting, as he could with safety have done, against the vessels that had joined the revolution, but obeying, also, the orders he had received from the government of her Catholic Majesty, forbore from the least demonstration that could be interpreted as a desire on his part to aid in any way the government of President Pezet. And it was because the government of her Catholic Majesty and its representative in the Pacific were convinced that the noblest titles of a powerful nation, as the one they represented, are those resulting from a dignified moderation in their relations with others, particularly with those that, beside not being as strong, are much less so from their normal state of intestine dissensions.
The whole time of duration of the revolution of Peru, begun by the aggression in Callao, has served to demonstrate clearly the most sincere desire on the part of Spain to maintain herself completely neutral in the civil contest that has afflicted Peru—of which the present dictatorship is merely a stage or step (estapa)—a desire emanating purely and simply from the more, if possible, sincere one of living in peace with that of a people that owes to its former metropolis that which even ages will be unable to efface, its language and religion, its history and many of its customs.
Spain and her representative in the Pacific confided, from the signing of the treaty on the 27th January, in the faith of that treaty; they remained in dignified impassibility before the fratricidal struggle which they saw, with no little regret, devouring the resources of the republic.
It would appear as if this conduct, appreciated at its full value by the other countries, and the more appreciated by reason of the conviction that the weight of the naval forces of Spain, thrown into the balance of the contest, would have inclined victory to the side of the government of President Pezet, would have been also duly appreciated by that which the triumphant revolution would have definitively created or established.
Unfortunately for the counsellors of the dictatorship, and still more unfortunately for Peru, it has not been so. From the moment of its enthronement by the power of the bayonet, began in the republic a series of acts, one more hostile and offensive than the other to Spain. To the slighting of her Catholic Majesty’s representative, installed in Lima under the sacred guarantees of a preliminary treaty of peace, solemnly exchanged and ratified, was added the firing of a projectile against the coat-of-arms of the Spanish legation by the hand of one of the aides of the dictator himself, and in broad daylight—both insults more offensive to the government that authorized than to the one against whom they are directed; the adoption of all kinds of measures hostile to Spain, initiated in that bastard manner that even as it depreciates the character of a government, plainly reveals not only the injustice of its impulses, but also the conviction of that same government of its own injustice.
A consequence of this unjust conduct on the part of the dictatorship was the union of the vessels of war of Peru with those of Chili in the waters of Chiloe, where, unfortunately for Peru—itself victim of the blameful recklessness of its present rulers—remains fastened to the reefs one of its frigates, and in whose waters, also, the other vessels fared badly, while the most powerful one of Chili, within sound of the cannon that was causing serious damages, some irreparable to its allies, near whom it only came to conduct them to a place where the natural obstacles, insuperable to the class that composes the Spanish squadron, saves them from attack.
The treaty of alliance offensive and defensive between Peru and Chili—bringing out in bold relief the bad faith which, it can safely be said, keeps pace with its political ignorance— came to crown that series of acts that constitutes the most wanton or scandalous of aggressions.
[Page 637]And, as if it was necessary that this government, even in the preamble of the pact of that alliance, should demonstrate the iniquity of the aggression to which it has made a victim of its country, it is impossible to do it more completely than its minister of foreign affairs has done in the text of that document.
Still more, the dictatorship did not consider sufficient what has been above stated. It wanted to arrive at the end of the road of vexatious acts on which it had entered, and to accomplish it, it gave the decrees prohibiting Spaniards from leaving the territory of the republic, and entering into any transactions with the property they possess in it; or, what is equivalent, declaring as prisoners foreign subjects, who thought they were residing in Peru under the safeguard of that good faith which ought to be obligatory on all governments, and seized—it is nothing else—that property.
Such an act constitutes a double and repugnant infraction of one of the most sacred principles of human rights; a principle that, subordinating all political egotism to the precepts of morality and humanity, prohibits a sovereign, when he declares a war, from detaining the subjects of his enemy who may be within his dominions at the time of declaring it, or on the commencement of hostilities, or to seize their property. The sovereign must concede a reasonable time for leaving the country, and to realize or send off their property; and if at the expiratiou of the term they continue residing within his dominions, he then has the right to treat them as unarmed enemies.
But the dictatorship, which has been careless about showing its injustice towards Spain, has not hesitated, either, even at the risk of making a greater boast of that injustice, to appear in its decrees before civilized nations as the most regardless of the precepts of human rights.
This simple narrative is an uncontradictable demonstration of the unjust as blameful aggression, on the part of the government of the dictatorship that reigns in Peru, as against Spain. It is not easy to find in the annals of the international relations of the civilized world an example of equal perfidy on the part of any other government. Neither is it possible, therefore, for Spain not to make this government feel the chastisement to which it has made itself liable by its conduct toward her, at the same time that she deplores the evils it will entail—with no desire to do so—on a people, victims of the bad faith and ambition of the men who now control their destinies.
The government of her Cathotic Majesty, that knew how to preserve the most dignified neutrality in the civil contest that has established in Peru a dictatorship, knows also the unavoidable obligations imposed by the honor and interests of its country; and with that view has ordered its representative in the Pacific to impose on the dictatorship the punishment which, motu proprio, (of its own accord,) it has sought; carrying out with the forces under his command all the hostilities that may conduce to that end.
In this virtue, the forces are going to act against Callao and its fortifications. And to enable foreign subjects residing in that city to place their interests in safety, I have decided to give them the term of four days, counted from this date, declaring, at the same time, the government of Lima responsible for any loss they may suffer; for having trampled even on the most rudimental principles of human rights, it has given to Spain a just and incontestable right of carrying them out.
Admiral Mendez to Mr. Hovey.
Sir: I have the honor to inform your excellency that, in virtue of my right as a belligerent, I have resolved to blockade, as I do blockade from this date, the harbor of Callao, conceding the term of six days, counted from this date, for all neutral vessels to leave its waters, that are now anchored in it, that have loaded previous to this declaration, or may load within the time specified, providing that their cargoes contain nothing contraband of war.
After that term only vessels in ballast will be allowed to leave the harbor.
I beg to inform your excellency that the instructions given to the commanders of the ships of the squadrons under my command for effecting the blockade mentioned are the same as those circulated and published for that of the Chilian ports, adding to the articles of the class previously mentioned and enumerated in the said instructions, the article of mineral coal from Chili, to which refer my declarations of 29th of January last.
I avail myself of this opportunity to manifest to your excellency my sentiments of respect and high consideration.
His Excellency the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States.
Admiral Mendez to Mr. Hovey.
Sir: I have the honor of accompanying the enclosed manifest, in which are expressed the powerful motives which, unfortunately, make necessary the adoption on my part of rigorous measures in return for the unjust aggression of the government of Peru.
I have no doubt that your excellency, the worthy representative of a friendly government, will be convinced, in view of the facts, of the evident justice that assists Spain.
I avail myself of his opportunity to offer your excellency my most distinguished consideration.
His Excellency the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America resident in Lima.