Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1888, Part I
No. 107.
Mr. Hall
to Mr. Bayard.
Guatemala, April 5, 1888. (Received April 25.)
Sir: With further reference to your instruction No. 554, of the 27th of February last, and in continuation of my despatch No. 788, of the 16th ultimo, I have the honor to inclose copies and translations of correspondence with the minister for foreign affairs of Guatemala relative to the disquietude prevailing in Nicaragua by reason of the rumors that the plan of a consolidation of the Central American States under one Government, undertaken by General Barrios in 1885 and signally failed, is about to be revived by his successor, General Barillas.
On the 17th ultimo I addressed the minister a note in consonance with the instruction. He replied at length on the 28th, declaring the rumors prevalent in Nicaragua to be unfounded, and giving their supposed origin; he declares, also, that Guatemala contemplates a restoration of the Central American Union by legitimate or lawful means only; he refers to the treaty of the 16th of February, 1887, as having been concluded for the same object. But in the same paragraph he states, substantially:
That at any time and under whatever circumstances, however difficult, whenever on the part of one or more of the Central American Republics the idea of a union shall be developed, the people and Government of Guatemala, in use of their undoubted autonomy, will always be disposed to make use, by lawful means, of whatever may conduce to the national reconstruction of Central America.
As this paragraph appears to be ambiguous, I addressed him a second note, stating that a frank disclaimer that any other means than those provided by the treaty of the 16th of February, 1887, are contemplated would probably allay all doubts as to the intentions of his Government.
I am very confident that no such movement as has been feared in [Page 145] Nicaragua is contemplated, nor have I any apprehension that under any circumstances will General Barillas resort to coercive means for the purpose of carrying out an enterprise which, after the failure of 1885, would hardly be considered other than as utterly impracticable.
I have, etc.,
Mr. Hall to Señor Barrutia.
Sir: I am instructed by the honorable Secretary of State of the United States to apprize your excellency’s Government that he has learned that much disquietude is felt in Nicaragua by reason of the rumors that a plan of a consolidation of the Central American Republics which was undertaken by General Barrios three years ago is about to be renewed by the present Government of Guatemala. On that occasion my Government expressed its strong and decided disapproval of any steps of coercion or constraint by one or more of the Central American States toward the others with the view to such consolidation; this disapproval was made known by me to your excellency’s Government soon after the promulgation of the union proclamation of President Barrios in 1885.
The circumstances under which his excellency General Barilias assumed the reins of the Government after the death of General Barrios, gave hopes of permanent tranquillity in Guatemala and of its good relationship with the other States of Central America. My Government has hitherto entertained the same hope as well as its belief, and is by no means disposed to abandon it, but, under the circumstances of the rumors which have caused so much disquietude in Nicaragua, it is of paramount importance, and it would also be very gratifying to my Government, to have that hope and belief confirmed by receiving from the Government of Guatemala its assurance of the absolute groundlessness of these rumors. The importance of such assurance will be shown hereinafter.
The great interest expressed in the proposed construction of the interoceanic canal through Nicaragua by citizens of the United States, under an act of incorporation granted according to the laws of the United States, and the apprehension naturally felt for the security of the vast capital necessary for the accomplishment of such a work under effective guaranties of stability and order, will suffice to show to the Government of Guatemala how important to an enterprise of that magnitude already inaugurated are the assurances asked for; that there shall be no ill-counseled plans of domination or control to cast a doubt upon the capacity of the Central American Republics to maintain orderly and local self-government and to observe relations of good will towards each other.
While my Government would sympathize with any movement having for its object a voluntary, harmonious, and peaceful union of the five Central American States, it would always strongly disapprove any attempt of coercive union upon whatever pretext. Until such a union can be realized my Government will favor their independent, tranquil, and harmonious continuance under the reign of constitutional law.
It requires but little argument to emphasize the feeling of disquietude and the grave results of unfriendliness which would be created if the capital and interests of citizens of the United States in Central America should be jeopardized by the ambitions of any of these Republics, and the paramount urgency of avoiding such a contingency by all available means.
My Government in instructing me to set forth to that of your excellency the foregoing frank and friendly statements, is fully persuaded that the Government of Guatemala will give such assurances as will effectively dissipate all doubts to which the reports from Nicaragua have given rise.
Renewing to your excellency, etc.,
Señor Barrutia to Mr. Hall.
Guatemala, March 28, 1888.
Mr. Minister: I have received and taken into attentive consideration your note of the 17th instant, in which, complying with the instructions of the honorable Secretary [Page 146] of State of the United States, you are pleased to inform me that he has learned that much disquietude is felt in Nicaragua by reason of the rumors prevailing there that the plan of a consolidation of the union of the five Central American Republics is about to be revived by the present Government of Guatemala, and that on account of these rumors your Government has manifested its decided disapproval of any coercive step or of constraint on the part of one or more of the Central American States to carry out that plan; that your Government has entertained the hope that under the presidency of General Barillas tranquillity would prevail in Guatemala and good relations would be maintained with the other Central American States; but that in consequence of these rumors, which have caused disquietude in Nicaragua, it is important, and it would be satisfactory to your Government, to see that hope confirmed by receiving from my Government assurances that these rumors are unfounded; that the importance of such assurances is founded on the great interest manifested in the construction of the interoceanic canal through Nicaragua by citizens of the United States, and the natural apprehension felt for the security of the vast capital required for the accomplishment of such a work, already inaugurated; and finally that your Government would sympathize with a peaceful and harmonious union of the Central American States, at the same time disapprove of any plan to obtain it by coercive measures.
Duly appreciating the just desire of your Government to give confidence and security to its citizens in all that relates to the vast enterprise of the interoceanic canal through Nicaragua, I have the honor to reply to your note, in compliance with the special instructions of the President of the Republic.
It is frequently difficult, Mr. Minister, in any special or private affair, to reach definite and concrete conclusions when the facts are not defined, when no manifestations are even suggested of acts, real or supposed; when, finally, everything devolves upon the unsubstantial basis of rumors, whose origin is doubtful, whose object is unknown, and whose importance does not go beyond that of indefiniteness and vagueness.
Notwithstanding in the present case the rumors to which you refer are so unfounded that no effort is needed to destroy them, their falsity is proven by the very fact that my Government has taken no steps nor has it made any manifestations from which it can be in any way logically deduced that it entertains ambitious pretentions of domination. It would suffice to invoke your own respectable testimony as a resident of this capital, and able to observe political events closely, whether you have noticed any preparations of a hostile character against any Government or enterprise, or any political combination foreign to or contrary to the rights and common interests of the Central American peoples.
For several months past it has been notorious that these rumors proceed solely from Nicaragua, where they have been invented and sustained by a few emigrés enemies of the present political system of Guatemala, who, with the object of carrying out their revolutionary projects, promote all kinds of animosities against my Government, re gardless of the means employed, however unpatriotic or calumnious they may be.
In this connection I beg to inform you that already, at the end of August of last year, our minister in Washington, Señor Francisco Lain fiesta, communicated to the honorable the Secretary of State the existence of such rumors, and at the same time gave assurances of their absolute falsity.
Be pleased then to receive in the sense of a guaranty for the legitimate interests of your fellow citizens the assurance that the rumors are entirely and maliciously false which have circulated and unfortunately have caused unusual disquietude in the neighboring sister Republic of Nicaragua, designated by nature to produce in her territory, by means of the interoceanic canal, and thanks to the capital and energy of the North American citizens, the greatest economic transformation in these sections of Central America, a transformation which my Government anxiously awaits, as one of the most efficient means for carrying into practice the national union of these Central American peoples upon a solid and stable basis. This was set forth by the legation of Guatemala in Washington, by a communication dated the 2d of September of last year, expressing the lively sympathy of Guatemala for the canal, and offering the co-operation of my Government for the removal of any difficulties which might arise in the accomplishment of that grand and transcendental work.
The foregoing, in the opinion of my Government, answers all the points of your dispatch relating to the assurances which your Government has a right to demand as regards the interests of its citizens which are linked with the great enterprise of a canal through Nicaragua, interests which, under any circumstances, and for the good of Central America, would be respected and placed under safeguards, as is due to every kind of foreign interest existing in these countries.
It remains for me to refer to the declarations of your Government in regard to its views upon the national reconstruction of Central America.
My Government would fail to recognize the importance of the announced declarations without responding thereto, and at the same time making, explicitly and honorably, frank manifestations in regard to the sentiments it entertains and the principles which have decided, and will hereafter determine its conduct.
[Page 147]Aside from the personal convictions which the President of the Republic and the persons who compose his cabinet entertain in regard to the loyalty and desirability of the Central American union, I should state, in response to your courteous and friendly frankness, that according to our constitution, article 2, the Guatemalan nation will always be ready to re-incorporate itself with the Central American nationality.
That for this great object a treaty was concluded in this capital on the 16th of February, 1887, and with the view to prepare for the national union. It was signed by the plenipotentiaries of the five Central American Republics, and has been ratified by the legislatures, of a majority of them (Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica), and that at any time and under whatever circumstances, however difficult, whenever on the part of one or more of the Central American Republics the idea of a union should be developed, the people and Government of Guatemala, in use of their undoubted sovereignty, without egotism, and without any spirit of domination, will always be disposed to make use, within the limits of law, and by lawful means, of whatever in their judgment may conduce for the general and permanent good, to the effective national reconstruction of Central America.
I believe, Mr. Minister, that the foregoing, which I trust you will be pleased to communicate to your wise and enlightened Government, will dissipate the unfounded apprehensions to which these false rumors have given rise, and that at the same time the principles and aspirations which the political faith of the people and Government of Guatemala sustains will be established with frankness and dignity.
This occasion affords me the pleasure to renew, etc.,
Mr. Hall to Señor Barrutia
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s communication of yesterday’s date in reply to mine of the 17th instant, in which, complying with the instructions of my Government, I informed your excellency of the prevalence of rumors in Nicaragua connected with the alleged intentions of the Government of Guatemala to revise the plan of a consolidation of the five Central American nationalities under one general government.
It will give me much pleasure to forward by next mail to the honorable the Secretary of State a copy and translation of this important communication, but I beg to be permitted to invite the attention of your excellency to some of its points which,; without explanation, might give rise to erroneous impressions, or at least to uncertainties; I refer to the following paragraph relating to a re-incorporation of the Central American nationalities:
“Que con este gran propósito se celebró en esta Capital el Tratado de 16 de Febrero de 1887, encaminado á preparar la union nacional suscrito por Plenipotenciarios de las cinco Repúblicas Centro Americanas y ratificado por la mayoría de las legislaturas de dichas Repúblicas, y que en cualquiera epoca y en cualquiera circunstancias por dificiles que sean en que de parte de una ó mas repúblicas del centro surja el pensamiento derealizar la union, el pueblo y Gobierno de Guatemala, en uso de su autonomia incontestable, sin egoismo y sin espíritu de predominio, y sin atentar intereses locales ní extrangeros estrán siempre dispuestos á emplear dentro de los límites del derecho, los medios legítimos que á ser juicio conduzcan para bien comun y estable á la eféctua reconstruccion nacional de Centro América.”
The treaty of the 16th of February, 1887, contemplates a restoration of the union of the Central American States by peaceful means only, but the latter part of the fore going paragraph leaves a doubt as to whether under certain circumstances the Government of Guatemala might not be disposed to resort to coercive means. A frank disclaimer that the Government of Guatemala contemplates a restoration of the union of these States, save solely in the manner provided by the above mentioned treaty, and that under no circumstances will the Government of Guatemala attempt to constrain by force of arms any of the other States to accept the union against their will, would probably allay all doubts and suspicions as to the praiseworthy intentions of your excellency’s Government in the premises.
Renewing to your excellency the assurances, etc.,
Señor Barrutia to Mr. Hall.
Guatemala, April 5, 1888.
Mr. Minister: I have the pleasure to refer to your esteemed communication of the 29th ultimo, acknowledging the receipt of mine of the previous day, relating to the false rumors current in Nicaragua that the Government of Guatemala proposed to renew by coercive means the project of the union of Central America, and calling my attention to the fact that the ideas expressed in the ante-penultimate paragraph of my aforesaid communication might, without some explanation, give rise to erroneous interpretations or to uncertainties as to the attitude of Guatemala in the matter referred to.
Permit me, Mr. Minister, to state that in the paragraph referred to the opinion of my Government in regard to this matter of Central American interest is clearly and definitely expressed, and, expressed as it is, I believe it will suffice to dissipate every doubt which might exist or arise by reason of the false rumors to which I have referred in my first communication, and which I believe I have demonstrated to be destitute of all foundation. I have assured your excellency, and I have the pleasure to repeat it, that my Government would employ for the consummation of the long desired Central American union the legitimate means to be found within the limits of the law (derecho)* and my Government hopes that the Government of your excellency, upon being informed of the friendly and frank manifestations which have been addressed to it on the subject, will accept them at their true value as a guaranty to the American interests in the Nicaragua canal enterprise and will at the same time be convinced of the rectitude of the intentions of the Government of this Republic.
In stating to your excellency the foregoing, which is all that my Government can say in reply, it is a pleasure to reiterate to your excellency, etc.