Mr. Guzman to Mr.
Gresham.
[Translation.]
Legation of
the Republic of Nicaragua,
Washington, October 26,
1894.
Sir: I have just received from my Government the
inclosed authentic copy of the sworn declaration, made on the 26th September
last, by Don Boman Mayorga Rivas before the prefect of the Department of
Granada, Nicaragua, in the investigation made with reference to the
expressions attributed to the said Señor Mayorga by the minister of the
United States in Nicaragua, as your excellency had the goodness to inform me
in your note of August 18, last.
It is gratifying to my Government, as well as to myself personally, to be
able to remove, in so conclusive a manner, the unfavorable impression which
may have been left on your excellency’s mind by the words ascribed to Señor
Mayorga, which would never in any case have had more weight than that of an
individual opinion.
The good feeling entertained by the Government and people of Nicaragua at all
times toward the Government and people of the United States is well known,
and it is to be hoped that the relations between the two countries will
continue to be in the future as cordial and sincere as they have been in the
past.
I renew to your excellency, etc.,
[Page 351]
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Declaration of Don Ramon Mayorga Rivas.
In the city of Granada, at 3.30 p.m., on the 26th September, 1894, Don
Ramon Mayorga Rivas, being present in my office, stated that his name is
as above written; that he is of age, a resident of Granada, and a
planter. I swore him in due form, notifying him of the penalties for
perjury in criminal matters, and asked him if it was true that, at the
time when preparations were being made for the last expedition to
Bluefields, the withess said to the American minister, Mr. Lewis Baker,
or to any other person, in his official capacity as under secretary of
the ministry of foreign relations, or in private as an individual, that
the Government of this Republic intended to send a thousand troops and
four guns to Mosquitia, and to kill all the Americans in that territory,
if it was necessary in order to establish and maintain the supremacy of
Nicaragua there; to all which he replied:
That it was not true that, either in his official or private capacity, he
had said anything whatever to Minister Baker with regard to the
expedition to Bluefields, and that he appealed to the testimony of Mr.
Baker himself, with whom the withess has never discussed the subject of
the last events at Bluefields, which compelled the Government to send
the expedition, because at that time the withess was not in charge of
the portfolio of foreign relations, but Dr. Madriz.
That the only person with whom he conversed about the expedition was Mr.
Chamberlain, and that only when the expedition was a matter of public
notoriety, the proclamation of General President Zelaya having been
promulgated. The withess told Mr. Chamberlain, in his private
capacity—for he had no occasion to talk to him on the subject in any
other—that the Government intended to punish the rebels and their
instigators. These views were the same as those of the said proclamation
and of the official journal.
Furthermore, the withess declares that he has not replied to a note
addressed to him by the secretariat of foreign relations on this
subject, because he is awaiting a reply to a letter which he had
addressed to Mr. Baker, asking him for a categoric answer which would
bring out the truth to wit, that the withess has never, either in his
official character, nor as a private individual, said the least thing to
Mr. Baker having reference to the Bluefields expedition. It was read to
him; he affirms and signs with me and the secretary, who attests: “Juan
J. Bodan. R. Mayorga Rivas. Before me, José Ma. Bodan, secretary.”
[
l. s.]
A true copy. Managua,
September 27,
1894.
F.
Baca.
