Mr. Blaine to Mr. Egan.
Washington, January 21, 1892.
I am directed by the President to say to you that he has given careful attention to all that has been submitted by the Government of Chile touching the affair of the assault upon the crew of the U. S. S. Baltimore in the city of Valparaiso on the evening of the 16th of October last, and to the evidence of the officers and crew of that vessel, and of some others who witnessed the affray, and that his conclusions upon the whole case are as follows:
- First. That the assault is not relieved of the aspect which the early information of the event gave to it, viz: That of an attack upon the uniform of the U. S. Navy, having its origin and motive in a feeling of hostility to this Government, and not in any act of the sailors or of any of them.
- Second. That the public authorities of Valparaiso flagrantly failed in their duty to protect our men, and that some of the police and of the Chilean soldiers and sailors were themselves guilty of unprovoked assaults upon our sailors before and after arrest. He thinks the preponderance of the evidence and the inherent probabilities lead to the conclusion that Riggin was killed by the police or soldiers.
- Third. That he is therefore compelled to bring the case back to the position taken by this Government in the note of Mr. Wharton of October 23 last (a copy of which you will deliver with this), and to ask for a suitable apology and for some adequate reparation for the injury done to this Government.
You will assure the Government of Chile that the President has no disposition to be exacting or to ask anything which this Government would not, under the same circumstances, freely concede. He regrets that, from the beginning, the gravity of the questions involved has not apparently been appreciated by the Government of Chile, and that an affair in which two American seamen were killed and sixteen others seriously wounded, while only one Chilean was seriously hurt, should not be distinguished from an ordinary brawl between sailors in which the provocation is wholly personal and the participation limited. No self-respecting government can consent that persons in its service, whether civil or military, shall be beaten and killed in a foreign territory [Page 308] in resentment of acts done by or imputed to their government without exacting a suitable reparation. The Government of the United States has freely recognized this principle, and acted upon it, when the injury was done by its people to one holding an official relation to a friendly power, in resentment of acts done by the latter. In such case the United States has not sought for words of the smallest value or of equivocal meaning in which to convey its apology, but has condemned such acts in vigorous terms and has not refused to make other adequate reparation.
But it was not my purpose here to discuss the incidents of this affair, but only to state the conclusions which this Government has reached. We have given every opportunity to the Government of Chile to present any explanatory or mitigating facts and have had due regard to the fact that the Government of Chile was, for a considerable part of the time that has elapsed since October 16, upon a provisional basis.
I am further directed by the President to say that his attention has been called to the note of instructions sent by Mr. Matta, secretary of foreign affairs, to Mr. Montt, under date of the 11th ultimo. Mr. Montt very prudently, and, I must suppose, from a just sense of the offensive nature of the dispatch, refrained from communicating it officially to this Government.
But, in view of the fact that Mr. Montt was directed to give it to the press of this country, and that it was given the widest possible publicity throughout the world, this Government must take notice of it. You are therefore directed to say to the Chilean Government that the expressions therein imputing untruth and insincerity to the President and to the Secretary of the Navy in their official communications to the Congress of the United States are in the highest degree offensive to this Government.
Recognizing the usual rules of diplomatic intercourse and of the respect and courtesy which should characterize international relations (which he can not assume are wholly unfamiliar to the Chilean foreign office), the President was disposed to regard the dispatch referred to as indicating a purpose to bring about a suspension of diplomatic relations; but, in view of the fact that Mr. Matta was acting provisionally and that a reorganization of the Chilean cabinet was about to take place, and afterwards in further view of the expectation that was held out of a withdrawal and of a suitable apology, notice of this grave offense has been delayed. I am now, however, directed by the President to say that if the offensive parts of the dispatch of the 11th of December are not at once withdrawn, and a suitable apology offered, with the same publicity that was given to the offensive expressions, he will have no other course open to him except to terminate diplomatic relations with the Government of Chile.
Mr. Montt, in a note of January 20, has advised me that he has been directed by his Government to inform the Government of the United States that you are not persona grata to the Government of Chile, and to request your recall. This has been laid before the President, and he directs you to say that, in view of the foregoing, he does not deem it necessary to make any present response thereto. It will be quite time to consider this suggestion after a reply to this note is received, as we shall then know whether any correspondence can be maintained with the Government of Chile upon terms of mutual respect.
You will furnish to the minister of foreign affairs a full copy of this note.