No. 125.
Señor Flores to Mr. Bayard.
Washington, May 23, 1885. (Received May 23.)
Mr. Secretary of State: In the communications which I sent to my Government by the steamer which sailed day before yesterday from New York for Colombia, I took care to report, exactly and minutely, all that had occurred between the Department of State and this legation by reason of the Santos affair.
I deemed it of much importance toward the settlement of this difficulty, in the manner proposed by my telegram of the 15th instant, to set forth especially that I had written that telegram in the Department before seeing the proofs in behalf of Señor Santos, and that I had handed it to you at your request, being for my part happy to thus give a proof of confidence, and being persuaded, I should add, that the contents thereof would not be published by the press before it reached the knowledge of my Government.
I added that I had taken care to call your excellency’s attention to the above-stated tact that the telegram was prior to the examination of the proofs on behalf of Señor Santos, so that it might at no time be supposed that that telegram was a consequence of those proofs or reflected the impression their perusal might have produced in my mind, since any report of such a character spread in Ecuador by means of telegraphic dispatches before the arrival of my communication might have the serious result of misleading public opinion and frustrating the conciliatory measure suggested in my telegram of the 15th.
To the end of avoiding this danger, of putting the truth in its right light, and of aiding the speedy and satisfactory solution which we both seek, I beg your excellency to be pleased to state to me—
- (1)
- Whether your excellency confirm the foregoing statement which I have made to my Government, or if there be therein any point in which my memory may have been treacherous.
- (2)
- Whether your excellency confirms the statement which I likewise made to my Government that there had occurred no disagreeable incident whatever between the Department and the legation; since, for my part, I have received from your excellency nothing but attentions, doubtless undeserved by me, and which therefore the more constrain my gratitude.
It is quite true, Mr. Secretary of State, that the word of its own representative is sufficient for my Government to induce belief in that which he communicates to it; but it is not always sufficient to convince the enemies of the Government; neither is it on all occasions sufficient for the purposes of diplomacy, as is shown by the fact of verbal notes and protocols of conferences.
Moreover, in cases like the present, it is not unnecessary, at times, that the truth should be confirmed by both parties. This must have been the belief of the legation of Chili and the Hon. Hamilton Fish, in 1872, when, under analogous circumstances, the minister of Chili applied to the honorable Secretary and obtained from him the satisfactory answer which was to be expected. Authorized, therefore, by this precedent, and by others, and in the name of the good relations existing [Page 274] between our Governments, relations which I have come from afar off to strengthen, I respectfully beg of your excellency a like favor.
May your excellency be pleased to accept the assurance of the very high consideration with which I have the honor to subscribe myself,
Your very obedient and humble servant,