No. 23.
Mr. Hall to Mr. Frelinghuysen .

[Extract.]
No. 96.]

Sir: The subject of the union of the Central American states under one general government has been referred to in my dispatches No. 56, of the 8th January, and No. 85, of the 27th of March ultimo. In the letter I stated that there was no prospect that the present movement would be successful. Subsequent events fully confirm that opinion.

It would seem that the project never had any real support outside of Guatemala, although ostensibly favored by the Governments of Salvador and Honduras, and commended by the late President Zavala, of Nicaragua, in his last message.

In all the states except Guatemala the popular opposition has been demonstrative and apparently nearly unaninous.* * *

In my dispatches above referred to, I reported that commissioners of Guatemala and Salvador had visited the other states. The result of their mission was an agreement on the part of all the states to send delegates to a convention which it was proposed to hold in Salvador in March last. The convention did not meet at the time appointed, and it now appears none will be held. Costa Rica* * * declines to send delegates. This was communicated by the representatives of that state in Nicaragua to the Nicaraguan Government and by the minister for foreign affairs to his colleague of Guatemala, and inquiring into the advisability of a convention of the other four states; in reply, the Nicaraguan minister is informed that a meeting of the delegates of four states, with the object of forming a union of five, could have no practical result.* * *

I transmit herewith the published correspondence and other documents relating to the foregoing, taken from the official newspaper at this capital. They comprise the note of the minister for foreign affairs of Costa Rica, addressed to the two commissioners before referred to; the correspondence between Nicaragua and Guatemala, and the circular of the Costa Rican Government, setting forth the reasons which constrain it not to send delegates to the proposed interstate convention.

* * * * * * *

I have, &c.,

HENRY C. HALL.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 96.—Translation.]

Extract from the Official Gazette of Guatemala of April 12, 1883.

Hon. Messrs.: I have had the honor to receive the very important note of your excellencies dated the 15th instant, and informing me that the tranquillity and other favorable conditions in which the Republics of Central America are to-day situated for uniting under a common government, which is demanded by their great interests and the promising future to which their destinies call them, have inspired in the cabinets of Guatemala and Salvador the noble thought of attempting the said union, for which purpose, your excellencies being accredited to the other Central American Governments, [Page 55] with your present character, have obtained from those of Honduras and Nicaragua the promise to concur, each one, by means of five delegates, to a congress of plenipotentiaries, which is to meet in March next, in the city of Santa Tecla or Ahuachapan, to discuss and sign the projects of the general constitution and other organic laws conducive to the grand end indicated; and that you invite my Government to the same concurrence.

This communication, so pleasing from its origin, and interesting from the magnitude of its object, being brought to the notice of the President of this Republic, he has given me instructions to answer it in the following terms.

The union of the Central American Republics, under a compact which shall perfectly provide for all time the constant equilibrium necessary to make it just, profitable, and durable, is a thing demanded by the nature, the history, the future aggrandizement, the respectability, and the good name of Central America.

Impartial Costa Ricans so recognize it, and immediately with the same pleasure with which the Governments of Honduras and Nicaragua have promised to send their delegates to the congress, whose mission is limited to discussing and signing the projects of the general constitution and organic laws to be proposed for the political reorganization of Central America, that of Costa Rica responding also to the fraternal call of those of Guatemala and Salvador, promises to send, together with the delegates of Nicaragua, the five corresponding to it.

It also takes pleasure in promising the Governments that your excellencies worthily represent, that the said projects being received, it will give account of them to the legislative power of this Republic, to the end that it may determine by its high judgment and patriotism what it may think best, in accordance with the legal prescriptions, and keeping in view, as no doubt it will do, the particular convenience of the country and the general interests of Central America.

In thus answering your excellencies I have, &c.,

JOSÉ Ma. CASTRO.

Hon. Don Salvador Gallegos and
Hon. Don Delfino Sanchez, &c.

[Telegram.]

To His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations, Guatemala:

The Government of this Republic has been disposed to send to Santa Tecla its delegates to the diet, not having been able to do so before on account of the attention required for the change of administration, The Government of Costa Rica has officially declared, by means of its minister here, that it will not be represented at the diet. Nicaragua desires to know if your excellency’s Government believes that the reunion of the representatives of only four states can have any practical result, since in that case she will send hers by the steamer passing Corinto the 13th.

F. J. MEDINA.
[Telegram.]

Hon. Minister of Foreign Relations of Nicaragua, Managua:

Last night I had the honor to receive your excellency’s telegraphic dispatch, in which you inform me of Costa Rica’s having declared, officially, that she will not be represented at the diet on Central American union, and express the desire to know if my Government believes that the reunion of the representatives of only four states can have any practical result, to send your delegates in the affirmative case.

The object of the diet being the union of the five states into a single nation, if the Government of Costa Rica does not join it, as your excellency affirms, the meeting of the representatives of only four states could net, in the opinion of my Government, I have any practical result.

I am, &c.,

FERNANDO CRUZ.

Sir: I have the honor to confirm to you my telegram of the 28th of the last month, which is as follows: [See above.]

At the same time, I inclose in this note a certified copy of the communication which, on the 26th of the same, the minister of Costa Rica addressed to this department, [Page 56] making the declaration referred to in the preinserted telegram. Notwithstanding that up to the present time no answer has been received from Honduras and Salvador, in view, of that which your excellency was pleased to give by telegraph the 30th of the said month, the Government of Nicaragua has resolved to suspend for the present the sending of its delegates to the projected diet.

I reiterate, &c.,

F. J. MEDINA.

His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Relations
of the Republic of Guatemala.

Sir: The supreme Government of the Republic of Costa Rica, in view of the marked opposition with which has been received in that country the project of sending delegates to a diet to meet during the latter part of the current month in Santa Tecla or Ahuachapan to treat of the national reconstruction of Central America, convoked an? assembly of prominent persons, to whose study it submitted the idea. In accordance with its resolution, Costa Rican delegates will not go to the diet treated of. I have the honor to communicate this to his excellency, the President of this Republic, by the distinguished medium of your excellency, in obedience to special instructions which I have received.

I reiterate, &c.,

A. ZAMBRANA.

Hon. Francis J. Medina,
Sub-Secretary of State, in charge of the Department of Foreign Relations.

A true copy.

MEDINA.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 96.—Translation.]

Circular to the other Governments of Central America.

The Minister of Foreign Relations of ———:

Sir: Discussion having been provoked concerning the invitation of the Governments of Guatemala and Salvador for the reorganization of the union of the five Republics into which Central America is at present divided, that of Costa Rica has been convinced that it was a faithful interpreter of public opinion in assuring them, by the dispatch of this department, dated the 19th of February ultimo, of its vehement desire for the re-establishment of an institution which, without any doubt whatever, is called to change the destinies of these peoples, offering them a life to which, disorganized as they are, they cannot aspire.

But at the same time it has been convinced also that any step directed toward the satisfaction of those aspirations, even the least significant of them as that of sending delegates to discuss the bases of reorganization, requires to be meditated on with the calmness and prudence demanded by affairs of such consideration and of such grave consequences.

On this account, without modifying the terms of the dispatch before alluded to, nor absolutely revoking the promise to send delegates to the place which has been designated, my Government esteems it prudent, and hopes that that of your excellency will not take it amiss to defer the execution of its proposal until the opinion of the people over whose destinies it rules, having been better informed, shall be pronounced with greater vigor, not on the matter of the initiative, concerning which it is not possible to entertain any doubt whatever, but rather concerning the opportunity of the carrying it into effect, considering the serious fears and disconfidence manifested by the press in several of the states, which discover an antagonism, a struggle being prepared, into which it is not disposed to enter, since it only accepts means peaceful and recognized by all for the realization of such an important work.

For the same reason that my Government wishes to arrive at practical and secure results it desires to avoid all haste, all collision which might be caused by lamentable reminiscences left by the extinguished federalism in the spirit of the Central Americans, and not to act except in perfect agreement with well-pronounced public opinion.

These are the sentiments of the Costa Rican people and Government, which I hasten to communicate to that of your excellency through your honorable means; and on fulfilling my charge, I improve, &c.

[From the inability of the secretary of the department, that of government],

VICTOR GUARDIA.