Mr. Olney to Mr. Baker.
Washington , December 16, 1896 .
Sir: Since the 1st of November there have been received from your legation dispatches No. 711 of October 3, No. 713 of October 8, No. 714 of October 14, No. 715 of October 16, No. 716 of October 17, No. 719 of October 23, No. 727 of November 12, and No. 731 of November 16, all bearing upon the question of the change in the external relations of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador attending the union of those States under the title of the Greater Republic of Central America.
Action upon these dispatches has necessarily awaited the understanding which I have sought to conclude with the appointed envoy of the representative Diet touching the interpretation and effect of the articles of association between the three Republics.
As the result of frequent conferences with Señor Rodriguez, who in turn has communicated on the subject with his Governments, the President will shortly recognize the Greater Republic of Central America, constituted pursuant to the stipulations of the treaty of Amapala of June 20, 1895, between the Republics of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador, and will enter into diplomatic relations therewith, giving such recognition and entering upon such relations upon the distinct understanding that the responsibility of each of those republics to the United States of America remains wholly unaffected.
What changes in the diplomatic representation of the United States in Central America this new association of the three Republics may entail has not yet been determined and is receiving careful consideration. You will, however, in due time be instructed on this point. Meanwhile you will be governed in your relations with Nicaragua and Salvador and with the Diet by the general tenor of the understanding above recited, namely, that the responsibility of each of those Republics to the United States of America remains wholly unaffected by the new association.
[Page 465]In this connection I should advert to Mr. John F. Baker’s No. 719, of October 23, communicating the official decree of the Government of Nicaragua concerning the abolition of the office of foreign relations of that Republic. The import of article 3 of that decree is not fully understood, inasmuch as the dividing line between the relations which are to be cultivated with the Government of Nicaragua through the medium of the newly created office of interior relations and those to be conducted with the general representative Diet is not obvious. No similar notification has been received from either of the other two States of the new union, and a uniform rule in this regard remains to be ascertained.
I observe, moreover, that Mr. John F. Baker, in his No. 731, of November 16, reports a note addressed by him to Señor Matus as “ex-minister of foreign relations” of Nicaragua, in which he says:
My Government will, no doubt, at an early date indicate its recognition of the new political body and its desire to maintain with the Diet the same cordial and close relations that have extisted with the Government of Nicaragua through the office of your excellency.
In this Mr. Baker has anticipated the necessary instructions of the Department and lost sight of the important principle which it is the aim of my understanding with the minister, Señor Rodriguez, to establish.
The translation of the articles of association whereby the Greater Republic of Central America is constituted, which accompanied Mr. John F. Baker’s dispatch No. 714, has been found upon examination to depart in some important respects from the true phraseology and apparent intent of the original. My attention having been called to certain inaccuracies therein by Señor Rodriguez, a new translation1 has been prepared in this Department, to the substantial correctness of which the minister assents. A copy of this revised version is herewith sent to you for preservation and reference.
I am, etc.,
- Revised translation of articles of association between Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador, printed on page 390 ante. ↩