No. 66.
Mr. Martinez to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Washington, January 10, 1882. (Received January 10.)
Sir: I have had the honor to receive your excellency’s note of the 7th instant, whereby you were pleased to request me to furnish to you, in writing, the explanations which I had the honor to give you on the occasion of our conference which was held on the 5th instant, in reference to the circumstances which preceded or accompanied the arrest of Don Francisco Garcia Calderon, at Lima, and the bearing which that act might have upon the very friendly and cordial relations which happily exist between your excellency’s government and mine.
I thank your excellency for the opportunity which you have thus afforded me to contribute, by means of a plain and unvarnished statement, towards drawing still closer the bonds of sincere friendship which unite our respective countries.
I have already taken occasion, verbally, to furnish the explanations which I now have the pleasure to put in writing, three times to Mr. Blaine, your excellency’s honorable predecessor, and once to your excellency. Both Mr. Blaine and your excellency were fully satisfied, and I did not think it necessary to reduce said explanations to writing, because it did not appear to me that the Secretaries of State had attached serious importance to a hypothesis which, in my humble opinion, had no foundation worthy of consideration. Nevertheless, in the memorandum which I had the honor to address to the Department of State on the 21st of November last, I explained all the circumstances relative to the ephemeral government of Garcia Calderon, and stated the incontestable reasons that had existed for its abolition, which reasons are altogether unconnected [Page 109] with the fact of the recognition of that government by that of your excellency.
I must, moreover, remind your excellency that during our interview I called your attention to a very significant incident, which was that a fortnight before the arrest of Garcia Calderon at Lima, I read to the Hon. Mr. Blaine, in the presence of Mr. Hitt, his First Assistant Secretary, a letter addressed to me by Rear-Admiral Lynch, in which the latter stated that if Mr. Garcia Calderon did not yield obedience to the order issued by him (Lynch), forbidding him to perform jurisdictional acts within the lines of the Chilian occupation, he should be obliged to put him under arrest. Admiral Lynch could not know when or how Mr. Garcia Calderon would disobey that order, and when I communicated the contents of the aforesaid note to Mr. Blaine (which I did as an evidence of the most perfect frankness and of the fullest confidence in the sincerity of the friendship of the United States for Chili), I considered the event in question as being a future and contingent one which would probably never come to pass.
After the repeated and terrible disasters which Peru had suffered, it seemed that none but a man of very high intellectual and moral qualities could unite the scattered elements of order existing in the country, in order to treat for peace. Peru has always had military governments, which are better respected in countries in which public order stands on no solid foundation; and when the attempt was made to establish a civil government there, it was found impossible to advance beyond the initiatory steps.
Chili has never desired to interfere in the domestic politics of her enemy; she has, nevertheless, not failed to study with the deepest interest the character and qualities of the men who have taken, or who might be called to take, a prominent part in public affairs, and who seemed capable of rising to the height which the situation demanded, of holding the reins of government with a firm hand, and of inducing their fellow-citizens to take the only course reserved for them by the laws of war. It was natural, too, that sensible men in Peru should think of seeking and finding the man whom the situation demanded, in order that they might place the destinies of their country in his hands.
Mr. Garcia Calderon was mentioned, although it was said of him that his character lacked most of the qualities which the circumstances required; that he was not fit to govern, that he was deficient in courage, and that he had no following upon which he could really rely. It was, however, added that he was unstained by peculation or extortion; that he had the reputation of being an excellent lawyer, and that his elevation to power would meet with no serious opposition.
My government had no reason to express an opinion with regard to the choice of the person who was to be placed at the head of affairs in Peru. It appeared to it sufficient that Mr. Garcia Calderon enjoyed a good reputation for honesty, and it decided to lend him a certain amount of co-operation and support, in order to furnish him the means and the opportunity to establish his authority.
The Chilian plenipotentiaries at Lima informed the future President of Peru what where the conditions of peace, and he accepted them as relatively good, and promised to labor with a view to making them the basis of a treaty.
Chili did not recognize, nor was she willing solemnly to recognize, Garcia Calderon’s government, for many reasons. When he asked that his government might be formally recognized, so that he might be enabled to gain some ascendency in public opinion, this was refused, on the [Page 110] ground that his government did not yet possess any condition of solidity, respectability, or independence.
In fact, the manner in which that provisional President rose to power could not have been more irregular and anomalous than it was, and the position in which he was placed, as regarded his own country and the army of occupation, was still more extraordinary and exceptional. He exercised no jurisdiction save within the limits of the territory which was under the control of the Chilian authorities, and he was under the wing and the moral and material protection of the army of occupation. He might at any time have been arrested by any police officer.
Your excellency knows that a government of that kind could not be recognized by that of Chili, which needed, in order to be able to treat, to have a respectable and respected government to treat with, and one that was able really to pledge the faith of its nation.
Your excellency’s government, undoubtedly, had more liberty of action than did mine, because it did not need to enter into any ulterior negotiations with the Peruvian Government, and was consequently able to act with greater freedom in contributing to give Garcia Calderon the moral prestige and authority of which he stood in need.
Under such auspices, Garcia Calderon began to act in violation of all his previous promises, and was guilty of a series of acts subversive of the legitimate rights and interests of Chili, so that he rendered himself absolutely unworthy of any toleration or indulgence on the part of my government.
In the memorandum of November 21, to which I refer, I mentioned four or five of the principal acts which, with evident reason, caused that gentleman to lose the favor of the Chilian Government. In order to avoid repetitions, which would make this communication too long, I will simply refer to what I said in that paper, which I had the honor to transmit to your excellency immediately after your elevation to the high position which you now occupy.
Mr. Garcia Calderon having been guilty of these offenses, and having openly declared that he would not treat on the bases proposed by Chili, the doom of his government was irrevocably sealed.
In the steps subsequently taken by the Government of Chili, that government paid no attention to the proceedings of General Hurlbut, upon which the provisional president of Peru said that he based his reactionary conduct, but acted exclusively in accordance with its own rights.
The fact is that my government never believed that General Hurlbut was faithfully interpreting the lofty, considerate, and friendly policy of the United States Government.
The first step taken by General Lynch (who had been duly authorized to do so) was to deprive Garcia Calderon of the arms which, trusting to his honor, he had lent him. Subsequently, when that gentleman’s attitude became more dangerous, he was dispossessed of the bureaus which he had organized and was peremptorily ordered to perform no governmental or jurisdictional act within the lines of the Chilian occupation. Still later, when he intentionally violated this order, he was arrested and sent to Chili, but was treated with every courtesy and attention.
The American General Scott acted, under similar circumstances, in the same manner in Mexico.
Even if the provisional government had been recognized by all friendly powers, Chili would have had to act as she did, not only for the maintenance of her rights, but from a sense of her own dignity and self-respect. And even if Chili had recognized that government, that circumstance [Page 111] would not have rendered it inviolable, and she would still have been obliged to act precisely as she did.
Consequently I can and do assure your excellency, in the most formal and solemn manner, that my government had not the most remote intention or the slightest purpose to impair, in any way, the state of friendship and cordialty which previously to those events, during the same and subsequently, has existed, and which it has always desired should exist, between it and the Government of the United States.
I likewise had the honor to remark to your excellency, in our interview of the 5th instant, that certain financial schemes had thrown difficulties in the way of the conclusion of peace with Peru, and that while those schemes remained on the carpet it would be difficult to reach the desired solution. I may now add that the parties interested in those operations are endeavoring, both through the public press and such other means as they find available, to predispose the United States against Chili, and that they spare no pains to present the most natural and logical acts of my government in a wrong light.
I avail myself, &c.,