No. 115.
Mr. Beach
to Mr. Porter.
Guayaquil, Ecuador, July 10, 1885. (Received July 27.)
Sir: I herewith continue my report of action relating to the Santos case. On the 27th ultimo I received the following cablegram from Washington:
Beach,
Consul-General, Guayaquil:
Pending deliberation of Santos case let Iroquois withdraw from Guayaquil to Payta.
BAYARD.
On June 29 the Iroquois arrived at 7 o’clock in the morning, and sailed for Paytn at 6 p.m. the same day. Commander Yates Sterling visited me, and delivered dispatch No. 30 of the date of May 1, accompanying declarations and opinions of law officer. Though there were no letters [Page 268] for delivery, I supposed that the “not deliver letters” in dispatch of June 25 meant these documents; but to be entirely right I sent the following cablegram:
Guayaquil, June 29
Secretary Bayard,
Washington:
What letters referred to in dispatch 25th, saying not to deliver letters?
BEACH.
The next day the following reply was received:
Beach,
Consul-General, Guayaquil:
Instructions May 1, which Iroquois carried, not to he communicated pending action Ecuadorian Congress.
BAYARD.
On the 6th instant the following cablegram was received from Washington:
Beach,
Consul-General, Guayaquil:
Flores shows telegram from President announcing Ecuadorian Congress passed pardon, comprising Santos. Telegraph if liberated.
HUNTER.
On the receipt of the foregoing I immediately sent the following telegram to Quito, translated into Spanish:
Guayaquil, June 6,
President, Quito:
Cablegram from Bayard states that Flores shows telegram from you saying that Congress has passed pardon, including Santos. Has he been ordered liberated?
HORATIO N. BEACH.
I substituted the name “Bayard” for “Hunter,” as the official character of Mr. Bayard was known at the national palace, and that of Mr. Hunter not.
I have read attentively and with great interest dispatch No. 42, from Secretary Bayard, received day before yesterday, explanatory of the action taken at Washington in the Santos matter. As this arrived nine days after the departure of the Iroquois, I could not show it to Commander Stirling, who was substituted for Commander Mahan.
The cablegram of Secretary Bayard dated June 25 suspended instructions given in dispatches dated May 1 and June 17. I understood from this and subsequent cablegrams that the Department of State had assurances that Mr. Santos would be released by a bill of general amnesty.
I have no positive knowledge as to the matter of trial treated in (4) dispatch No. 42. In my interview with the President and minister of foreign relations at Quito, June 19, especially mentioned in my dispatch No. 41, I remarked that Mr. Santos claimed that he had been tried once, the trial annulled, and a second trial had been commenced.
The President replied that several prisoners were being tried in conjunction—general evidence being taken that applied to one or more of the accused—that each would be adjudged by the evidence produced against him, and that the trial as first instituted was in progress. I do not believe it has been ended. Relative to obtaining information, the fact must be considered that M. Santos is imprisoned at Portoviejo in [Page 269] the province of Manabi, with which there is no telegraph connection, and between which and Guayaquil it is four days’ journey by horse or mule or eight days for a round trip.
The bill previously referred to passed Congress last week, giving pardon to a named class of prisoners, and giving the President discretionary authority in regard to another class, which includes Santos. I have no doubt that much of Santos’s property has been confiscated, and that his trial has been irregular under Ecuadorian laws. My theory is that the Ecuadorian Government desires to free Mr. Santos and extinguish his claim for indemnity by one act.
After waiting four days for a reply to my telegram of the 6th to Quito, and not receiving any, this forenoon I sent the following cablegram to Secretary Bayard:
Guayaquil, July 10.
Secretary Bayard, Washington:
Telegraphed President 6th substance Hunter cablegram, and asked if Santos been ordered liberated. No reply; no informatien; no liberations here. Congress passed pardon bill giving President discretion some cases.
BEACH.
This gives all the information that I have regarding the Santos matter up to the closing of the mails to-day for the United States.
I am, &c.,
Just as I had completed the foregoing I received the following telegram from the President:
[Translation.]
Quito, July 10.
Consul-General Beach:
The pardon asked by mo is given by Congress, and in that pardon Santos is included. But the indispensable formality to give the decree is the cause that the decree is delayed for a few days. In any case the order of liberty will not be long delayed.
PRESIDENT.
I stopped my previously mentioned cablegram at St. Elena, and will send another immediately, that I have not had time to write.