Mr. Perez to Mr. Fish
Mr. Secretary: On the last occasions when I had the honor to confer with you, you were pleased to state to me that the treaty ratified in 1848, between Colombia and the United States, may now be considered as no longer in force, according to the third part of its thirty-fifth article, because Colombia declared its intention of reforming it, as is seen in the notes which its minister sent to the Department of State on the 23d of January and 23d of April, 1867. You will permit me to repeat, in the present communication, my remarks in relation to this declaration, to the end that this point may be definitely settled, and that I may then inform my government thereof.
In the first of said notes the Colombian minister gave notice that he was authorized to negotiate the renewal of the treaty before the expiration of the term fixed in its thirty-fifth article. It appears, therefore, that the main object was to renew the treaty, and to renew it in time. The modifications referred to only tended, in case of their acceptance, to perfect the relations between the two countries, the strengthening of which the Colombian minister said was the desire which actuated him.
Such documents cannot, therefore, be considered as a notification of the cessation of the treaty, and, in fact, they have hitherto not been so considered. In both countries the treaty has been and still is considered as being in force, and as the basis of their mutual friendly relations. It would be possible, if necessary, to find antecedents of both governments in which the treaty has been, since those notes, recognized as being in force. The government of Colombia has recognized it as being in force by founding on it all the proceedings which it has initiated with the Department of State, and the American Government has recognized it as being in force under your esteemed signature, and that at a very recent date.
In your communication of the 8th of February last, after stating the contents of the notes of the Colombian minister, in 1867, and quoting [Page 247] the provisions of the treaty relative to its remaining in force, and to the manner in which it was to terminate, you said as follows:
It does not appear that any reply was made to the last-mentioned note, or that the discussion proposed by General Salzar took place. There is also nothing on record or on file here to show that the notes of General Salzar, referred to, were regarded and received as such a termination of the treaty as that for which the instrument itself provides. Nor does it appear that the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States has been informed that the treaty is at an end, and, therefore, that the privileges previously enjoyed under it by Colombia, in the ports of the United States, must be discontinued.
In your note of the 16th of the same month you deigned to notify me that, in the matter which I had submitted to your consideration as connected with the treaty and depending upon it, the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury had been asked.
Up to those dates, therefore, the American Government entertained no doubts of the treaty’s being in force.
Subsequently, in relation to this matter, my reply has only been sent to your note of February 8, in which reply I stated that the instructions of my government are, to proceed in accordance with the treaty; and when my government may think proper to introduce any modifications in said treaty, it will propose them in due form. I therefore think that the American Government will have no objections to recognizing and declaring, now, that the treaty of 1848, between Colombia and the United States is, and has not ceased to be, in force according to its own provisions.
Meanwhile I avail myself of the occasion, &c.,