Mr. Garcia to Mr. Seward.
Sir: In accordance with the anouncement which I had the honor of making to your excellency in my dispatch of the 27th of February, I sent my government a copy of the correspondence between your department and the minister plenipotentiary of the United States in Lima, occasioned by certain claims of American citizens arising from the civil war which took place in Peru during the latter months of the past year of 1867.
My government, duly appreciating the high and laudable spirit of justice of which your excellency has just given a new proof in the instructions relative to these matters sent to your plenipotentiary in Lima, as well as the generous interest evinced in the stability and future of the other republican states of America, takes pleasure through me, as its organ, in acknowledging in all sincerity its gratitude to the United States. I should have performed this pleasing duty in person, by reading to your excellency a communication from the minister of foreign affairs of Peru, had it not contained another point which it will be easier and more convenient for your excellency to take into consideration, having before you said dispatch, together with the documents to which it refers, and of which I inclose authenticated copies, numbered from one to seven inclusive.
The qualification of de facto, given by your excellency to the government which at present rules the destinies of Peru, has not been accepted, nor can it be assented to by an administration, established and existing under the ægis of the national constitution. In the hope of rectifying the opinions which governed your excellency in forming a judgment as to the present order of things in Peru, my government submits to your excellency certain serious considerations, which present in a clear and definite manner the truth of the matter; but should they not suffice for that purpose, I shall be happy to fulfill the duty with which I have been charged of explaining the case, either by writing or at a special conference, as may be most agreeable to your excellency, and of making known to you in detail all the circumstances and legal grounds applicable to the same.
I feel persuaded, nevertheless, that new resolutions have been taken by your excellency’s government, so constantly in harmony with justice and the ever-complaisant friend of Peru, which will reconcile the principles and precedents of the United States, applicable to cases differing from the one under consideration, to the titles which warrant the Peruvian government in trusting that all other nations will recognize its existence de jure. The renewal of the friendly offices of the United States for the settlement of peace between Peru and Spain, recently recommended by your excellency to his excellency General A. P. Hovey, bind anew direct diplomatic relations between the governments of the United States and Peru, and involves the implicit official recognition of the right with which the latter assumes, within the sphere of its legal attributes, to represent the national sovereignty, since in no other way would your excellency have drawn up initiatory propositions of peace, the acceptance of which as well as all other international acts resulting therefrom, can have no significance either moral or political, nor be legally binding upon the Peruvian people, if the government to which your [Page 895] excellency has been pleased to communicate them, in exercising the regular duties which pertain to the public power with which it is invested, be not acting with legitimate authority emanating from the constitution of the country. I therefore believe I have grounds for feeling convinced that your excellency will expressly assent to what your own course through positive acts has already signified, and that it will accordingly be unnecessary to enter into any discussion upon facts and principles which are within your excellency’s knowledge.
I avail myself of this new opportunity to subscribe myself, with the highest respect, your excellency’s most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.