Mr. Ryan to Mr. Blaine.
Mexico, July 28, 1890. (Received July 29.)
Mr. Ryan reports that among the correspondence shown him by the Guatemalan minister to Mexico is a telegram of the 25th July, in relation to the seizure of the Colima, from which appears the following:
It was unsafe that Guatemala should allow those arms to be unshipped, as it was intended they should he used against her, and this can he understood in view of the circumstances following the unjustifiable attack upon us by the alleged government. Consequently and agreeably with the seventeenth article of the contract of the 23d February, 1886, between Guatemala and the steamship company, the Government, without delay, required the agent of the company to order that the arms should not be landed in any of the Salvadorian ports, and the agent concurred. This was known to the United States minister, who also knew that the agent recognized our rights. According to the seventeenth article, the company promises to refuse transportation of troops or munitions of war on any of its steamers from ports it may enter to ports adjoining Guatemala if there is sufficient reason to suspect that such articles might be intended for use against Guatemala or for a warlike purpose.