Mr. Hovey to Mr.
Seward.
No. 21.]
Legation of the United States,
Lima,
May 29, 1866.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt, on the 19th instant, of your despatch No. 10, dated April 21,
enclosing a copy of your communication of the 19th ultimo to Señor F. S.
Asta Buruaga, the chargé d’affaires of Chili at Washington.
As instructed in your No. 10, I, on the 22d instant, presented my
original letters of credence to General Prado, the “supreme provisional
chief” of the government of Peru.
I am gratified to inform you that my presentation was attended with all
the ceremonies and courtesies due to the reception of a minister from
the United States.
I enclose, herewith, a copy of my address on the occasion, together with
a translation of General Prado’s response.
In the President’s reply you will perceive a frank avowal of those
republican
[Page 643]
and democratic
principles with which our countrymen sympathize, and which it was partly
the purpose of my remarks to elicit.
The same sentiments and purposes you will find more fully expressed in
General Prado’s fine speech, which accompanies my No. 22.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Untitled]
Address of Alvin
P. Hovey to the government of Peru, on presenting his
credentials as envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary of the United States, May 22, 1866.
Mr. President: In presenting myself as
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United
States of America near the government of Peru, I take great pleasure
in assuring your excellency that the President and people of the
republic which I have the honor to represent feel a deep interest
and solicitude in the welfare and future progress of your
country.
Our continent should be the abode of freemen, and, as in the language
of the great Jefferson, “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,”
we should be more than watchful over our republican
institutions.
The elevation of the human family should be the aim of every
government, and I fondly hope and believe that it is the destiny of
the North and South American republics to lead the van in the
consummation of that grand result.
Nations, like men, date their greatness from acts which at the time
seem trivial to the beholder, but which are potent for good or evil
in the progress of human events.
Permit me to say that during your short administration, all of which
it has been my pleasure and honor to witness, new life has been
infused into Peru, which will be felt to its latest generations.
I now have the honor of presenting my original letter of credence,
and I assure your excellency that I will do all in my power to
maintain the cordial and friendly relations existing between the
United States and the republic over which your excellency now has
the great honor to preside.
[Untitled]
Translation of a
speech made by General Prado, supreme provisional chief of
the government of Peru, on accepting the credentials of
General A. P. Hovey, United States
minister, on
May 22, 1866.
Mr. Minister: The great nation which you
represent showed us the way to independence and liberty, and
although the vicissitudes natural to the infancy of nations have
been able to cause superficial minds to believe that the principles
of Washington had degenerated in our country, recent events have
proved the contrary.
To preserve liberty and independence, nations, guided by a mysterious
instinct, sometimes employ means which appear contradictory to the
ends proposed, and the most liberal government in the world, that of
the United States, has been invested ere now with powers which at
first sight appeared incompatible with republican principles,
precisely with the object of preserving the institutions of that
great country.
It is highly satisfactory to me, Mr. Minister, to hear the opinion
which the representative of the United States has just emitted in
such honorable terms regarding the use which my government had made
of powers which, also, apparently contradictory to republican
principles, have been placed in my hands for the purpose of
consolidating them, and at the same time defending against an unjust
aggression the independence of Peru, and the dignity of America, of
which I am as jealous as of that of my own country.
I venture fully to hope, Mr. Minister, that whatever may have been
the apprehensions which the establishment of a dictatorial
government in Peru may have for the moment awakened, the people of
the United States will see in my policy the practice of the
doctrines of Washington, in the defence of which the Peruvian people
are exercising the vigilance of Jefferson.
For my own part, I am much pleased that you, general, have been
appointed to maintain and make closer the friendly feelings and
relations which exist between your country and mine. Your residence
of some months in the capital of the republic has, doubtless, made
you aware that, strong as are the sentiments of fraternity which the
Peruvian people entertain for the American, not less strong are
those of sympathetic esteem which your eminent personal gifts have
gained for you.
Impressed with the same ideas, and with an identical object in view,
you may rest assured that every facility will be afforded you in
your official intercourse.
