Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 5, 1881
No. 2.
Mr. Osborn
to Mr. Evarts.
Buenos Ayres, January 13, 1881. (Received March 8.)
Sir: The Government of the United States of Colombia having addressed a note to this government informing it that a compact had been entered into between that government and Chili to submit all questions in dispute between them to arbitration, and at the same time invited the Argentine Government to join the other republics of South America by representation in a congress to meet in Colombia for the purpose of effecting similar compacts between the governments so represented, Dr. Iregoyen, Argentine minister of foreign affairs, in behalf of his government replied, under date of December 30th ultimo, a copy of which I have the honor to inclose herewith.
I have the honor, &c.,
Señor Bernado Irigoyen to Señor Santa Maria.
Buenos Ayres, December 30, 1880.
Monsieur le Ministre: The undersigned, minister and secretary of state in the department of foreign affairs, has the honor of receiving and making known to His Excellency the President of the Republic the note which, under date of the 11th October, his excellency the minister of foreign affairs of Colombia has been pleased to address to him, and he hereby does himself the pleasure of replying thereto.
The Argentine Government has experienced great satisfaction in view of the work effected between the United States of Colombia and the Republic of Chili, and it duly esteems the courtesy by which it is invited to adhere to the principles of arbitration embodied in the said convention. All stipulations tending to preserve the peace or consolidate the union existing among the states of this continent will always meet with the sincere sympathy of this republic, which, ever since the dawning of independence, has consecrated American fraternity among the rules of her international policy. Arbitration is certainly one of the noble aspirations of the present, and the Argentine Government can display the assent it granted long since to that formula which wisely consults the interests of justice together with all the generous demands of humanity. It had an opportunity of stipulating it with the Chilian Government in 1856, in order to settle the limits questions which then existed, and which might arise thereafter. In 1874 it declared its readiness, in documents which have been made public, that “it was willing, either through treaties or without them, to settle all international questions by arbitration,” and, in accordance with this statement, it admitted the principle in 1876 to settle its controversy with Paraguay, after a long war, undertaken in deference to its honor and safety, and in which its arms, and those of its allies obtained a complete mastery over the pretensions of that nation. It would have been an easy thing for this republic to have reincorporated the territories in dispute definitely, and once for all, under the protection of the internal perturbations and of the indulgent policy adopted after the emancipation. But neither the facilities that intervened to consolidate the revindication, nor the knowledge the Argentine Government had of its perfect right, was sufficient to weaken the moderation that prevailed throughout in its dealings with its friendly states, and the undersigned may call to mind with true pride the fact that his government presented the lofty example of submitting to the decision of an impartial power its dominion over territories to which it considered itself with a perfect right, and which it regained at the cost of dearly bought victories.
“Peace is certainly one of the most special necessities in Spanish America,” and it depends to-day on the foresight of the governments. Happily the day has gone by in which political combinations on this continent had for their principal object the preserving of their independence against foreign aggressions and machinations. Europe [Page 4] no longer harbors any thoughts of conquest or of chimerical vindications. Such thoughts have been abandoned in view of the insuperable action of the people; and if the continental congress suggested by Colombia is ever carried into effect, it will not be, probably, to sanction the essentially defensive programme which was prescribed by Bolivar. The alarms and doubts which awakened that patriotic idea in the mind of the liberator have vanished in the logical development of the nations. The demands of colonization, the great interests of commerce which make themselves felt on every hand, the facilities for communication and traffic that stand out among the advances of the age, and the liberality with which America makes those who were born in other parts of the world partakers of her wealth, are the beneficent influences by which the antagonistic feelings of both worlds are suppressed. But the efforts of these countries to insure order and to strengthen the genuine practice of republican institutions would surely be fruitless were armed conflicts, such as those alluded to by his excellency the minister of foreign affairs, to be easily brought about, and were it made possible to invest them with desolating circumstances such as are reprobated by humanity. It is, therefore, a noble thing to endeavor to prevent the dangers and the discredit by which they are followed, and the undersigned is charged to inform your excellency, Monsieur le Ministre, that in so laudable an undertaking Colombia may depend upon the cooperation of the Argentine nation, which, since its beginning, has ever been identified with the fortunes and vicissitudes of South America.
Notwithstanding this, however, the invitation which the undersigned has had the honor to receive, suggests a few observations of general interest, which he will endeavor to present in the frank spirit that must prevail in the mutual relations between nations which are happily connected with each other in any way. The Argentine Government recognizes in arbitration all the importance attributed to it by that of Columbia, but it does not think that the propounding of that principle is of itself sufficient to insure the bringing into being of the purposes expressed in the note to which this is the reply. In corroboration of this remark the undersigned may point out, with sorrow, the events at present in progress on the coast of the Pacific, the fires of which consume such a multitude of the elements of order and of a common prosperity.
Bolivia and Chili solemnly stipulated arbitration, and in spite of their compact, which had been suggested by prudence and was backed by fraternity, there were submitted to arms differences, the origin of which did not, by any means, affect the honor of either nation. Neither the calamities of a war, the end of which has become the hope of humanity, nor the good offices tendered by European and American governments, nor the interposition of an impartial power that is respected the world over, have succeeded in inclining the belligerents toward the arbitration agreed to in their compact, and the war which goes on with the destructions of those nations demonstrate the fact that the principle incorporated in the recent convention of Colombia is not a sufficient guarantee for the maintenance of peace.
It is, therefore, necessary that it be accompanied by others which are not less important; and if the congress of plenipotentiaries which the Government of Colombia desires is to be called, it must have power to sanction all the statements and resolutions which are likely to aid the insuring of continental harmony. The old Spanish colonies having been made into free and sovereign nations, they proclaimed as a base of their public right, the independence of each one themselves and the integrity of territory they occupied, or of that one which a few of them established themselves with the common consent of governments and peoples. These principles were the indissoluble bases of American integrity. They were born of an identity of interests and of hopes. They were strengthened by the efforts of an epoch of sacrifices and of virtues, and since 1824 they have had an influence in the diplomatic claims of the independent republics. They must be inscribed upon the first page of the projected conference, because they have the assent of the people, and they must be regarded as heirlooms of our emancipation. It is necessary to establish clearly the unauthorized nature of all attempts at violent annexation or of conquests, such as might raise permanent obstacles in the way of future stability. Segregations obtained by the force of arms have been in Europe the occasion of deeply rooted rivalries and resentments, and they would be in America a senseless aggression against the fraternity of nations which are united by nature and by history. “Violent annexation,” said Lord Russell, in 1859, to the English ambassador to Paris, “may not be palliated by the causes which are usually alleged, for if might and not right were the determining power in the possession of territory the integrity and independence of all secondary states would be in continual danger.” It is also necessary to guard against seditious segregation, which, though never experienced by this republic, has been attempted elsewhere, at the instigation of turbulent ambition some government.
Some governments have provided in their compacts stipulations to cover such eventualities, and among the tutelar dictrines of general order that is received which forbids arbitrary separations on the grounds that all acts of that nature require the consent of the state in which they arc effected. The division of Colombia into three [Page 5] different republics was sanctioned by the will of that nation. The provinces of Potosi, Chuquisaca, Cochahamba, and La Paz, belonging to this republic, went in 1825 to form a part of the new state of Bolivia. According to an act of the Argentine Congress; the rich alienations which the Estado Oriental and Paraguay formed were authorized by the national will. The Argentine Government believes that this principle must be maintained by explicit resolutions. It was maintained by the United States of North America in its memorable struggle against the seditious theories of nullification, and it remembers in favor of Colombia the sympathetic declaration made by the liberator, to the effect that “the separation of any people or province without the consent of the political association to which it belongs, to be of the nature of anarchy.” The Argentine Government is of the opinion, moreover, that it would be well clearly to establish in the international resolutions to be adopted, the fact that there does not exist in Spanish America any territory which may be regarded as res millus, and that all it contains, however deserted or far off they may be, belong to the old Spanish provinces, which were invested after 1810 with the rank of free and sovereign states.
On reaching this point, the undersigned must make a few brief remarks on the subject of the lands which remain uninhabited, for in the event of the admission of any different pretensions, founded upon that fact, the tranquillity sought by Colombia would exist no longer. The American republics, being the owners of the broad lands embraced by the colonial demarkations, and the system of colonization having been recently begun by them as a means of rapidly increasing their population and fertilizing the deserts, they cannot admit that the circumstance of there being large tracts of uninhabited land is a reason why their right of possession should be called in question.
If lack of population were to be admitted as a reason for making away with the property of others; if the possibility of occupying places that are at present unoccupied might be urged as a legitimate reason for taking possession of them, disquiet would reign in the councils of the nations that have been designed by Providence to develop in the midst of confidence and universal cordiality. His Excellency the President does not accept any vacillations in this regard, and he believes that the efforts and aspirations of every government should unite to raise the truth of history and justice as the sole origin of territorial dominion in this part of the world. The Argentine Government believes it to be an easy matter to prevent, through prudent and timely stipulations, the possibility of claims for damages or other pecuniary indemnities being converted into motives for the setting aside of arbitration, and it believes that any resolutions tending to insure the impossibility of hostilities ever breaking out among the states of South America without due notice for conciliation would be received with joy by every one. The first of these suggestions is conformable with the liberal mind of these nations, and the second will permit the governments to encourage the advancement of the states over which they preside, without investing what they need for their peaceable development in elements of precaution or of defense. It is not impossible that notwithstanding the assent of the governments to the principle of arbitration, and that they may grant to the ideas held forth in this note, there may arise questions that shall break, as has been done on the Pacific, the good understanding between two or more nations, and it belongs to the conciliating programme recommended by Colombia to fix rules for the mitigation of the consequences of such a calamity.
If America unites for the purpose of hindering armed conflicts, it is natural that she should endeavor, in the event of any taking place in spite of the common effort against them, to insure that they be not marked by that devastation which accompanied the wars of olden times. The undersigned might dwell upon the patriotic purposes expressed in the note of invitation to which he replies, but that he deems it prudent to limit his observations more directly to what may contribute to consolidate general tranquillity, leaving it to the governments to touch upon further considerations which are surely worthy of being brought before the international congress.
The undersigned does not claim to have presented any new ideas to the consideration of the Government of Colombia, and he has no hesitation in saying that some of those brought forward already have been accepted by the nations, whilst the others are commenced by the vote of the men who excelled in the great events of the revolution.
His excellency Señor Santa Maria will argue from the foregoing that the Argentine Government does not consider the sole stipulation of arbitration as an efficacious means of eliminating international discords. That in its opinion we might only arrive at such a result by incorporating with American public law the principles that are here recorded, and others of a like nature, that banishing fruitless differences may be now and in the future the surest guarantees of peace.
His Excellency the President of the Republic has charged the undersigned to submit to the Government of Colombia the above remarks, returning thanks for its courteous invitation, and to express the hope that they may be accepted, with the assurance that the necessary means will be adopted for the republic to be represented at a conference [Page 6] having more far-reaching objects than those proposed. His excellency considers that this one, being limited to the subscription of the convention recently celebrated at Bogotá, would be to respond but feebly to the elevated views of Colombia, and would leave unprovided for many requirements and aspirations that are worthy of attention. His Excellency the President has also charged the undersigned not to end this communication without renewing his assurances that the Argentine Government, ever faithful to its antecedents, will contribute, by all the means in its power, to prevent those hapless wars that destroy the links of a glorious union.
The undersigned avails himself of this opportunity to assure his excellency the minister of foreign affairs of his highest and most distinguished consideration.
His excellency the minister of foreign affairs of the United States of Colombia, Don Eustaquio Santa Maria.