No. 130.
Señor Flores to Mr. Bayard.
Washington, June 2, 1885. (Received June 2.)
Mr. Secretary of State: I hasten to acknowledge the response with which your excellency has honored me, and which was delivered last night at this legation.
In view of the contents thereof, I begin by communicating to your excellency the circumstance that, since our interview of the 29th ultimo, [Page 278] I have sent to my Government two telegrams, one on that same day, and the other on the following, both tending to the speedy settlement of the Santos matter according to the terms of my telegram of the 15th of May, which, as I had the honor to remind yon in the said interview of the 29th, was nothing more than its literal tenor makes it out to be, that is, a “request of mine,” and at the same time a proposal for a settlement which I sent to my Government in order that, if it accepted it, it might answer “agreed to,” and so the matter might be settled.
It pertained, therefore, to my aforesaid Government to accept or not that project of settlement, the acceptance of which I had requested of it. Moreover, I did not bind myself, neither could I bind myself, seeing that the result, unfortunately, did not depend upon my own wishes. Thus I fulfilled what I had offered, and to the end that your excellency might have proof thereof, I confided to you the telegram in question in order that it might be ascertained that it had been transmitted to its destination. I carried into execution, consequently, all that part of the projected settlement which pertained to me. Since then I have done more, as I now say, and have urged its acceptance.
As for the hope which your excellency expresses that the delay may not result in inducing me to annul my proposed settlement, I assume that your excellency does me the justice to believe me incapable of such a proceeding. In effect, Mr. Secretary of State, whatever may be the proofs which my Government may show to offset those of Señor Santos, I adhere, in so as depends upon me, to the projected settlement of my telegram of the 15th, and confirm all the contents thereof, which, as your excellency well knows, was the spontaneous birth of my own will, independent of all evidence, and without any discussion whatever, since I desired to give to the Government of the United States this testimony of high deference. To-day, as then, I cherish the same desire, as well as the expectancy that the wished-for response of my Government may put a speedy and satisfactory end to this incident.
I think that the delay in receiving that response may arise from several causes, as I observed to your excellency in our interview of the 29th.
One of them is that the chief of the State may be in the mountains or on the road thence, to be present at the opening of the congress at Quito on the 10th of this month, since his excellency’s telegram which I received the night before, and which I showed to your excellency, is dated at Quito and was transmitted by the governor of Guyaquil.
This circumstance induces also the belief that perhaps telegraphic communication between Quito and Guayaquil may not be open, by reason of frequent interruptions in the long stretch of more than eighty leagues, through forests, deserts, and the mountain chain of the Andes, whose violent southern gales, especially in the neighborhood of Chimborazo, are sufficient alone to destroy or disorder that imperfect telegraph.
The President could not, in Guayaquil, where he was at least until the evening of the 21st, when he received my telegram of the 15th, neither could he in the course of the journey thence, decide this matter, since the constitution prohibits him from exercising the executive power at a distance of more than five kilometers from the capital. He had, therefore, necessarily to refer it to the Government at Quito, which in its turn lacks the authority to grant amnesty or pardon—in which case I understand Señor Santos to be—without the co-operation of the council of state, a majority of which is composed of eight members elected by the assembly, and consequently independent of the executive power.
[Page 279]In order to grant a pardon, our constitution moreover exacts the two following conditions precedent.
- (1)
- A judgment which shall have been duly pronounced; and
- (2)
- A report of the judge or court pronouncing it.
This court being at Manabi, and the report having to be sent to Quito, if the case be one of pardon, it is easy to explain the delay of the few days which have elapsed since the 21st, on the afternoon of which my telegram reached Guayaquil, from which point it must have had to be transmitted to Quito.
I state what in my opinion may be the cause of the delay, for your excellency’s satisfaction, but now without any desire to ask an extension of time. On the contrary, since your excellency reminds me of the grave responsibility which I assume in asking it, I beg to be permitted to Respectfully withdraw that request. Other motives constrain me to this withdrawal, and especially, if I have correctly understood your excellency, if there be no room for discussion, and if it be useless to present such proofs as my Government may send me to offset those of Señor Santos. I shall abstain, therefore, from presenting any proofs whatever, and will confine myself to reporting what has occurred.
I deem it due to add, Mr. Secretary of State, that I believe in my conscience that I have done all in my power for the immediate freedom of Señor Santos, and I say “freedom” (libertad) because I am convinced that he has been already judged; but if your excellency thinks that I can do anything more, I would esteem it a favor if you would be pleased to suggest it to me. Had my Government conferred upon me the authority to order from this place such a setting at liberty, I would have promptly ordered the same according to the conditions of my telegram of the 15th. But the Government could not confer upon me an authority which it lacked itself; and to this I understand that the delay is due. I hope, nevertheless, that, the obstacles which may have been the cause of the delay being smoothed away, I shall receive from one moment to another a favorable decision.
Meanwhile, I beg your excellency to bear in mind the painfulness of my situation, and at the same time to accept the assurances of the very high consideration with which I have the honor to subscribe myself,
Your very obedient, humble servant,