It will be seen that Colombia declares it impossible for her government
and people to remain indifferent should the war waged by the allied
powers have for its object or tend in its effects to impair the
independence or sovereignty of Paraguay.
It is not likely that this declaration will have any marked influence on
the course of the war, as Colombia has neither a man nor a dollar to
employ in making
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it good,
which is well known to the parties addressed. The declaration is perhaps
only the outbreaking of one of President Mosquera’s fits of supercilious
vanity, which in him are irrepressible.
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
A.
[From El Registro Oficial, No. 795.—Translation.]
Notes addressed to the governments of
Brazil, Uruguay, and the Argentine Republic.
United States of Colombia,
Department of the Interior and Foreign Relations, Bogota, September 2, 1866.
The undersigned, secretary of the interior and foreign relations of
the United States of Colombia, has the honor to address his
excellency the minister for foreign relations of * * * * for the
purpose of making known to him that having come to the knowledge of
the Colombian government some of the stipulations contained in the
treaty concluded on the 1st of May, 1865, between Brazil, the
Argentine republic, and Uruguay, on undertaking the war which said
republics (?) are prosecuting against Paraguay, the government of
the Colombian Union esteems it its duty to submit for the
consideration of the allied governments some reflections which it
believes will be kindly received and fully appreciated by those
governments, on account of the motive which inspires them.
However painful it may have been for the government of this republic
to contemplate the spectacle offered by the allied republics in
making war against Paraguay, and especially in view of the solemn
and critical circumstances through which America is now passing, and
when the cannon of our former mother is thundering in the Pacific,
threatening the existence of two nations of this continent, and
endeavoring, perhaps, to trample down the principles of American
sovereignty and liberty, so indelibly stamped on the annals of our
emancipation, nevertheless, this government, which would have seen
with pleasure the re-establishment of peace between neighboring and
even sister nations, could not for the reasons first named have
ignored the right of sovereign and independent nations to form
alliances offensive and defensive, and to appeal in extreme cases to
the use of arms.
But even admitting this doctrine, the Colombian government, taking
into consideration official publications within its knowledge, does
not hesitate to say that if, as appears from the treaty of May 1,
1865, the war between the Argentine republic and Uruguay and the
empire of Brazil on the one side, and the republic of Paraguay on
the other, shall have for its object or should result in the
dismemberment of Paraguay or in the annihilation of its sovereignty
and independence, the government and people of the Colombian Union,
true to the principle of respecting inviolably the autonomic and
free entities on this continent, could not remain indifferent should
such act be consummated, because, aside from the unfortunate
precedent which would be thereby established, and which might sooner
or later expose other nationalities of the new world to perish, it
would be in open conflict with all our political and social
traditions from the time when the American colonies, comprehending
their rights, proclaimed their independence and constituted
themselves free and sovereign nations. If the idea of conquest and
colonization has been abandoned by almost all enlightened nations;
if the dogmas of modern civilization oppose the principles of
vassalage and slavery which prevailed in the past ages of ignorance;
if we, on emancipating ourselves from the mother country, proudly
proclaimed the great principle that the people are sovereign and the
source of all power, having the inalienable, essential, and
indisputable right to rule their own destinies, what might not be
justified rather than give even the show of reason and right to the
scandal with which America would contemplate—not astonished, but
indignant—the disappearance of one of its nationalities, subjugated,
conquered, and cut to pieces by others?
The undersigned, therefore, fulfils the express orders of the grand
general, President of the Colombian Union, in putting within the
knowledge of * * * * through the honorable organ of your excellency,
that the Colombian government and people, recognizing on the one
hand the right of the natives allied against Paraguay to make war in
common against the republic, would, on the other hand, see
themselves under the necessity of solemnly protesting, and in fact
do protest henceforth, if such war shall have for its object,
result, or consequence, the disregard or destruction of the
sovereignty and independence of an American nation, to
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establish over it a
protectorate, or to deprive it in fine of its eminent and essential
right to direct its future destiny.
The undersigned lastly has the honor to offer to his excellency the
minister of foreign relations of * * * * the assurances of the high
esteem and very distinguished consideration with which he subscribes
himself, your excellency’s very attentive, obsequious servant,
