Señor Mitre y Vedia to Mr. Seward
Mr. Secretary: By virtue of instructions recently received, and by agreement with you in our interview of the 6th instant, I propose in this note to give you some explanations in relation to the conduct observed by the Argentine government, on occasion of the offer made by the government of the United States, of mediation in the war with Paraguay, and at the same time calling your attention to certain acts of the American agents in the Plata, which not only diverge from the uses and practices regulating diplomacy, but might have injured the impartial character that certainly moved the President of this republic in his reply to the proposed mediation.
This is not the time to enter into an examination of the causes of the present war with Paraguay, but, for the better understanding of the facts, it may be well to remind you that in the midst of perfect peace, and without a previous declaration of war, the nations now allied were invaded by Paraguayan armies, their vessels were seized, and their independence and sovereignty seriously threatened by acts of conquest, of which I must presume you are not ignorant.
United, in fact by these offences and dangers that were common to them, those nations concluded an offensive and defensive treaty of alliance for more effective action, and to devise means to prevent future aggression, which experience had taught was very difficult to foresee. Keeping this primordial object in view, they bound themselves to enter into no agreements with the enemy, except on terms expressed in the treaty, as the only way, in their judgment, to secure a solid and lasting peace.
During the two years that have elapsed since the beginning of the war various efforts have been made for an amicable arrangement between the belligerents, but always unfortunately without satisfactory results. The last of these was made by his Excellency the President of the United States of America, at the request of the House of Representatives.
The offer of American mediation which you made to the Argentine government, in terms communicated to this legation in your note of the 4th of January of this year, having been discussed by our government with the allies, the government, with expressions of gratitude for the offer, informed Mr. A. Asboth, minister resident of the United States in Buenos Ayres, that it regretted to be forced, for powerful reasons, to refuse the good offices of his government.
But Mr. Asboth, actuated perhaps by a lively desire to see the hopes of his government satisfied, did not think the single declaration of the government of the Argentine Republic sufficiently conclusive, and so renewed his offers, in a note bearing the date of the 10th of April.
This step, under other circumstances, might have been taken for a praise-worthy [Page 243] excess of zeal to see the end of a contest that had already cost so many and painful sacrifices; but it was construed in such a strange manner that the Argentine government has thought best not to pass it in silence.
In the despatch referred to, the American minister does not confine himself to insisting on the acceptance of the good offices of his government, as he should have done, and to the demonstration of the benefits of peace; but he thought proper to enter into a discussion of the war, our home policy, the state of public opinion and the finances of the country, which, it is presumed, were duly weighed and considered previously by the Argentine government..
In the fulfilment of his laudable duty, the Argentine government does not think the United States minister had any right to discuss the situation of the country, pictured by him in such gloomy colors, in his aforementioned note.
To pass this act in silence would be to admit that Mr. Asboth, despite his brief sojourn among us, was a better judge of our condition and wants than a government chosen by the people, whose duty was to be acquainted with that condition and provide for those wants. Even admitting the government was in error, it was not the duty of a foreign diplomatic agent to point it out; the most ardent desire to promote the happiness and comfort of a country to whose government he is accredited does not justify such a proceeding.
Another fact to which I must call your particular attention is a letter addressed by Mr. C. A. Washburn, United States minister resident in Asuncion, to the Marquis de Caxias, present general-in-chief of the allied army, on the same subject of mediation.
The general-in-chief of the allied army is not authorized to interfere in diplomatic affairs, nor has the American minister in Paraguay any official right to address a military agent of another nation. Moreover, this note, and other documents that have been published, confirm some prejudices in Mr. Washburn, not calculated to inspire the allies with entire confidence in his impartiality.
The Argentine government, in instructing me to submit these observations to your careful consideration, is sure they will be received as a proof of its wish to preserve the strict bonds of friendship by which the two countries are united in an unaltered and permanent condition. It is to be confidently hoped, therefore, that your government, which has given such eminent proofs of its intention not to permit its agents to exceed the limits of their faculties, will know how to appreciate the justice of these observations.
I will not close this note without saying to you for the information of the President of your republic, that the Argentine government is very grateful for the noble efforts the United States has made to put an end to the war that has afflicted for two years the country watered by the Rio de la Plata. Convinced that the pending question can only be settled by arms, the Argentine government considers its painful but unavoidable duty to be to decline the good offices of your republic, while acknowledging these additional inducements to its friendship and gratitude.
In thus accomplishing the instructions of my government, it is pleasing to me to subscribe myself, with sentiments of particular esteem, the honorable Secretary’s most respectful and obedient servant,
Hon William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.