No. 554.
Mr. Christiancy to Mr. Blaine.
Lima, Peru, May 17, 1881. (Received June 17.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that on the 14th instant the following appeared in El Orden of Lima, the paper which is the organ of the provisional government of Calderon, viz:
[English: official cablegram, Paris, May 12, Valparaiso, 13th, at 1.50 p.m.]
President Calderon, Lima:
Elmore telegraphs from Washington saying that the Calderon government has been recognized by the American Government.
If I could confidently rely upon the authenticity of this, I should, of course, at once recognize the provisional government, though no other [Page 910] minister here has yet done so. The dispatch looks authentic on its face, when taken in connection with the facts that Elmore is understood here to be the agent of Calderon’s government at Washington, that Goyeneche is a relation of Calderon, that he is the wealthiest citizen of Peru, that he resides in Paris, and that Calderon has had the charge of his property and business here.
For these reasons all the ministers of foreign nations here have taken it for granted that the cablegram is authentic, and that the United States has recognized the provisional government. They have inquired of me, and I have been compelled to say to them that they knew as much as I did in reference to the matter, as alll the evidence I had was the publication of the dispatch in the paper; that it might be true, but that it seemed to me that in a matter of such importance it would naturally be supposed my government would have telegraphed me, instead of leaving me to guess at the authenticity of the dispatch sent as this was, through a party in no way authorized to speak for my government, and that for these reasons I doubted the truth of the dispatch, and that I must therefore wait for direct official information from my government before taking any step officially for recognition until I should see satisfactory evidence that Peru had acquiesced in the provisional government; the evidence of which I have not yet seen, though for the last week that government seems to have made some progress in this direction; since, so far as we can learn, Piérola has been driven from Jauja, and his present whereabouts is unknown.
I have, &c.,