No. 116.
Mr. Williamson to Mr. Fish.
Guatemala, July 27, 1874. (Received September 9.)
Sir: Referring to your instruction No. 79, I have the honor to inform you, that yesterday afternoon the council of war, composed of the chief officers of the army of Guatemala, over which Ex-President Grenados presided, concluded the trial of Gonzales and his confederate, Bulnes. The sentence of the court was, that the former should be degraded from his rank, be forever prohibited from holding any office of honor or profit in Guatemala, and be imprisoned for five years. The latter’s sentence was the same in all respects, except that he is imprisoned for two years. Both have appealed to the supreme court of war, which is a civil tribunal for the final trial of military cases, and is composed of the same judges who constitute the supreme court of justice; so I am informed by the prime minister.
As instructed by you, I communicated both to the minister of foreign affairs and to the prime minister that the Government of the United States felt “that the civilization of the age, and the immunity which the intercourse of governments exacts for their representatives in other lands,” gave it the right to expect the stern visitation of the law upon [Page 176] the perpetrators of the outrage upon Vice-Consul Magee. Both of them professed to receive the declaration as an evidence of the friendly interest which the United States takes in the welfare of Guatemala.
To-day the prime minister told me he thought the sentence of the court was too lenient as to Gonzalez. He also stated the supreme court of war had the right to change the sentence and increase the punishment, and that the government would use its influence to have it do so. It is perhaps a coincidence that no steps (so far as I can learn) were taken to bring Gonzalez to trial until it became known the British dispatch war steamer Petrel had landed at San José with dispatches for the English chargé, and that the British Pacific squadron had been ordered to rendezvous at Panama.
The British chargé is very indignant at the sentence of the court, and has expressed to me and the French chargé his determination to notify the government of Guatemala that he considers the protocol annulled. He takes the ground that the punishment is totally inadequate to the offense, and that the government of Guatemala has shown its mala fides by permitting the smallest puishment to be imposed upon the accused that the law allows.
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He says, moreover, that such a punishment in Guatemala would be a farce, and that even if the supreme court does not reverse the sentence, or the president pardon the criminals in a few months, they will become heroes, instead of being degraded, in the eyes of the public.
In this opinion I fully concur with him. In any country where there are guarantees that the punishment would be inflicted according to the sentence, it would seem to be sufficiently heavy.
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I have, &c.,