No. 122.
Señor Dardon to Mr. Fish.
New York, August 30, 1873. (Received Sept. 5.)
Sir: The undersigned, minister plenipotentiary of Guatemala, by order of his government, has the honor to inform his excellency the Secretary of Foreign Relations of the United States that Don Enrique Palacios and other Central American emigrants were engaged for some time at Aspinwall in preparing an armed expedition for the purpose of invading the republics of Guatemala, Salvador, and Honduras, and of reviving the civil war which has scarcely come to an end. With this design, they purchased the steamer General Sherman, which was sailing under the United States flag, equipped it with war material, embarked, and set sail for Belize, in order to get arms which they had deposited there. The governor of the colony, however, having been informed of the revolutionary designs of Palacios and his companions, forbade the shipment of the arms; whereupon they sailed for the ports of Truxillo and Omoa, in Honduras.
The government of the undersigned has learned with regret that the aforesaid steamer left the port of Aspinwall, raising the flag of the United States, and that, although the revolutionists publicly announced through the press that their object was to overthrow the order established in three of the republics of Central America, the consuls or consular agents of the United States at Aspinwall, Belize, and other ports in Honduras made no effort to prevent the American flag from being used to protect this unlawful enterprise.
The government of Guatemala, trusting to the high sense of justice of that of the United States, and to the friendship and harmony which happily exist between the two nations, hopes that your excellency’s government, having been made aware of the above facts, will be pleased to issue orders for the pursuit and apprehension of the steamer General Sherman, and to instruct the consuls and agents of the United States not to permit a filibustering expedition, whose object is to disturb the peace of Central America, to be protected by the flag of a friendly nation.
I avail, &c.,