No. 532.
Mr. Christiancy to Mr. Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Lima,
Peru
,
March 9, 1881. (Received April
5.)
No. 254.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose to you the copy of
a circular, addressed by Piérola, through his chief secretary, García y
García, to all the members of the diplomatic corps here, dated Jauja, March
1, 1881, together with an English translation of the same.
[Page 879]
I need not comment upon this except to say that, with the exception of its
complaint of the mere paper blockades, it is, in my opinion, as well founded
in fact as papers of this kind can be expected to be, and not very
materially variant from the actual truth.
I understand from report (though I have not seen the decree) that Piérola has
issued a decree for the election of a congress on the first of May next, to
meet at Ayacucho on the third day of June next.
I understand also, from general public report, that the Chilian authorities
here declare, not only that they will not recognize Piérola as the
Government of Peru, nor treat with him, but that they will not recognize a
congress called together by him, or elected under his decree. I hope this is
not true, since, under present circumstances, it authorizes a more or less
strong suspicion that they are seeking to produce or continue such a state
of chaos as to afford a pretext for the general spoliation of not only all
public property of Peru, but the private property of her individual
citizens.
The attempt to form a new Peruvian Government Mere in opposition to that of
Piérola, described in my dispatch No. 245, seems from present appearances to
have utterly failed. Mr. F. G. Calderon found great difficulty in getting
proper ministers to hold offices under him; but when he finally thought he
had got this arranged, he, for the first time, as it would seem, began to
inquire how far his Chilian friends meant to allow his government to
govern.
He requested that the Chilian army should be withdrawn from the city of Lima,
that he should be allowed to occupy the government palace and raise over it
the Peruvian flag, and that he should be allowed to control the custom-house
and the collection of duties, &c., all of which was refused; whereupon,
as I understand, his proposed ministers refused to act, and he himself was
disposed to decline the task of forming a government; It is now again
reported that he has not finally given up the attempt, but as yet nothing
definite has resulted.
During the time that these efforts to form a new government were in progress,
and while they promised success, the movements previously set on foot by the
Chilian authorities for levying war contributions were allowed to rest
without any step taken for their enforcement. But as soon as the attempt to
form the new government had apparently failed, viz, on the 5th instant,
General Saavedra, at present commander-in-chief of the Chilian forces,
issued the bando (decree) of the last-named date, a copy of which, with
translation, I herewith inclose.
And on the 7th instant he issued the further decree for the collection of
$1,000,000 for the month of February, being $20,000 from each of the fifty
persons named, of which I also inclose a copy, with a translation.
I call your special attention to the penalty imposed by this decree for
non-payment at the day—the destruction of property of the delinquent to
three times the amount.
According to the information I have received, and which I think trustworthy,
many of the persons named will be able, without much suffering, to raise the
$20,000, but many of them will not, as in some cases it is all that the man
is worth, and in some much more than he is worth.
In some cases the only property the man owns consists of houses and lots in
the city of Lima or in Callao, with furniture, &c., To destroy these by
fire would eudanger the whole city, neutrals and natives suffering alike. It
may be otherwise destroyed.
But this wanton destruction of private property seems to me to verge very
closely upon a violation of that humane law of modern warfare [Page 880] which forbids making war upon unarmed,
non-resisting private citizens, or upon their individual property. And
though the laws of war seem yet to permit the levying of war contributions,
I would suggest that, according to the best and most approved practice of
the civilized nations of to-day, that right should only be exercised upon
municipalities or other governmental divisions of a country, leaving the
local authorities (who much better know the ability of their respective
citizens) to apportion the burden.
I had the honor to call your attention to this point in my dispatch of
September 17 last, No. 194, in hopes that I might receive some instructions
upon it, but as yet I have not had a word in reply.
You will permit me further to suggest, whether if an invading army can levy
its contributions directly upon private persons and destroy their property
for non-payment, that humane rule of modern warfare which forbids making war
upon, seizing, or destroying private property without any offer or idea of
compensation, cannot at any moment be set aside by merely changing the name of the operation to that of “contribution.” For instance, the commander of the invading force
going to a haciedna or sugar estate says to the owner, “1 want $100,000 out
of your property for the support of my army or the expenses of the war; the
laws of modern warfare do not permit me directly to seize it or to destroy
it, without giving you compensation or promising such compensation in
future. But I can demand it as a ‘war contribution,’ without any idea of
compensation, and destroy all your property as a penalty for non-payment of
that contribution.”
It is respectfully suggested that the distinction between these two modes of
proceeding is a very thin and not a very tangible one. (See Woolsey’s
introduction to the study of international law, section 130.)
It is right, I think, in connection with the decree of General Saavedra of
March 7, above referred to (No. 3/254), to remark that an influential
portion of the most influential portion of the
Chilian press is very bitter and abusive toward General Baquedano for not
having sacked and burned Lima; and how far the severe measures now proposed
for collection of the war contributions may have been produced by the
influence of that press (an influence which prevented any desire for peace
at Arica) I do not know, but leave you to draw your own inference.
It is right also that I should inform you that, from public rumor (which, I
think, is generally credited by the diplomatic corps, though I have seen
nothing official to warrant the belief), it is generally believed here that
the Chilian authorities here intend to carry away with them to Chili not
only all warlike material and machinery (of which no one can complain) bat
all the paintings, statuary, and libraries belonging Peru and to the
municipality of Lima. As to the last, it is sincerely to be hoped that the
Chilian Government may not dim the luster of their victory by acts so
repugnant to the sentiments of modern civilization; and for one, unless
otherwise instructed, I shall be ready to join with the diplomatic corps in
an earnest protest against such barbarism.
I have, &c.,
[Page 881]
[Inclosure 1 in No.
254.—Translation.]
Señor García to Mr.
Christiancy.
circular.
Sir: The war which the Republic of Chili has
waged against those of Peru and Bolivia during nearly two years carries
with it a complete perturbation of the principles of international law,
which, either by tacit consent or by the solemn stipulations of
treaties, regulate the action of States in their common relations.
Without dwelling for the present upon the origin, sufficiently elucidated
already, of this war, which knows no other cause than the sordid
interest of our gratuitous provokers and adversaries, it becomes my
duty, now that extraordinary occurrences have created an exceptional
situation in the capital of the republic, to call the attention of those
nations friendly to Peru to the antecedents which, during the course of
the struggle, have marked such irregularities, and the development of
which, tenaciously sought by Chili, is the only cause of the agitation
in which the South Pacific States still live.
The blockade of our port of Iquique, established by the same squadron
which brought the declaration of war against Peru, made by Chili, on the
4th of April, 1879, was the beginning of hostilities against this
country.
This act of premeditated surprise was the answer to the friendly steps
being at that moment taken in Santiago by our extraordinary mission
charged with the re-establishment of harmony between Bolivia and Chili,
which had been interrupted by the warlike occupation of the Bolivian
port of Autofogasta, consummated on the 14th of February antecedent.
In order to justify its aggressive action, much has been said on the part
of the Government of Chili in regard to the treaty of alliance entered
into years ago between the Republics of Peru and Bolivia, but it is
sufficient to read that document of mutual preservation to become
convinced that it involves no hostile intention towards any specified
nation, nor much less does it bind them to make common cause in the
complications wherein one or the other nation might find itself
entangled; each one, on the contrary, reserving to itself the right of
declaring when the causus fœderis had arrived, an
emergency in regard to which Peru had certainly advanced no opinion
whatever.
Solemnly bound as is Chili to the treaty of Paris, which abolished the
so-called paper blockades, or those of mere notification, nothing in
that undertaking has stopped her, and her vessels after many months of
useless delay in Iquique, employed themselves in cruising in various
belts of our coast, blockading, by means of simple notifications, ports
which they had not naval forces sufficient to close, and which they
consequently only visited occasionally.
Private property out of the pale of military operations, the object of
the greatest respect in the struggles of modern times, and one of the
most precious triumphs of the civilization of to-day, has been, during
the contest we sustain, that which has suffered the most frequent and
disastrous blows from the land and naval forces of Chili, wheresoever
these have presented themselves.
The useless and intentional destruction by fire of Pisagua, Tacna,
Mollendo, Chorillos, Barranco, Miraflores, Ancon, Chancay, San Nicolas,
Palo Seco, and many other towns and flourishing industrial
establishments, as well as the removal and embarkation from all of them
of merchandise and household furniture, belonging to natives and
foreigners, in full view of all who happened to be present at these
different places, bear undeniable testimony to the truth of my
assertions.
Unarmed and unprepared as was Peru to sustain a war so carried on, it is
not strange that, wanting in a navy sufficient to oppose that of the
enemy, the latter, domineering over our extended coast, should with
impunity carry his troops and ships wheresoever he might propose to
hostilize us. The natural consequence of such military movements could
not be other than the unmolested occupation of the unprotected seaboard
valleys and towns, or that occupation facilitated as a result of
battles, wherein always, and for the same reasons, we fought with
inferior forces upon our side.
If, after the advantages gained by Chili, there had at any time followed
the enunciation of the motives impelling her to go to war, and of the
redress she expected to claim in order to put an end to it, it is beyond
doubt she would have evidenced a respect for the customs established
between nations who go to war to obtain the legitimate satisfaction of
grievances or reparation of wounded interests, and we, listening to her
proposals, and bringing them to the light of a calm discussion, would
have put a decorous end to the irreparable losses and disasters which
the belligerents of to-day will forever lament.
But, far from this, every military advance of Chili in our territory was
the signal for new armaments and increase in her expeditionary forces,
while in the Congress of Chili and in her press it was that of
unreserved propaganda of the annihilation and extermination of Peru.
[Page 882]
This plan, reprobated by Christianity, and which will appear to the right
minded impossible to conceive, is nevertheless to all appearances that
which presents itself to ns to-day.
Intentionally, and so as not to set forth in this tranquil document the
bitterness overflowing the heart of every patriot, I omit the
details—moreover, well known—of the manner in which Chili presented
herself in the Arica conferences, and of the intentions there revealed
by her plenipotentiaries, or to mention the pretended negotiations of
Miraflores. History, with her impartial criterion, will judge both
events.
The Chilian Government, consistent with its already manifested designs
for completing the ruin of Peru, it has been her most constant endeavor,
since the occupation of Lima and Callao on the 17th of January last, to
promote all kinds of internal dissensions. With this object it has
established in the former city a semi-official newspaper, which, issuing
from the government printing-office, has occupied itself since its
inauguration in spreading abroad all kinds of imposture, in defaming our
public men, discrediting the principles governing society, and artfully
endeavoring to prove the non-existence of a government, notwithstanding
the fact that that of his excellency the Supreme Chief has the obedience
of the entire nation, without excepting a single village.
These artful wiles, aimed against the sovereignty of Peru, did not at
first possess the gravity they have later attained, since, although the
work of well-known authors, they had until now no official
character.
After the occupation of Lima, and it being in consequence thereof
impossible to treat directly with the honorable diplomatic corps
resident in that capital, the government accredited as its confidential
agent near that body Dr. Don Manuel Yrigo-yen, whose only duty was to
continue the mediation by that corps, and accepted in Miraflores on the
14th of January last.
The interposition of the friendly powers, at the same time that it
consulted the decorum of the belligerents, was a sure guarantee of
justice and exactness in the solution of the pending conflict, but the
peremptory declaration made by the Chilian agents that they would in no
case admit that interposition, a resistance impossible of any worthy
explanation, although it clearly showed the true views of Chili in the
present war, frustrated that efficient mode of solution.
His excellency the Supreme Chief, wishing nevertheless to do away with
even the remotest pretext under which our enemies might shelter
themselves in order to carry on the war, named plenipotentiaries, fully
authorized to negotiate directly a peace with those whom the Government
of Chili might see fit to designate with like object.
The conciliatory, efforts of our ministers, Doctors D. Antonio Arenas and
D. Lino Alarco, have been entirely sterile. Messrs. Vergara and
Altamirano, who state that they possess full powers to negotiate a peace
as representatives of Chili, declared that “refusing to treat with his
excellency the Supreme Chief they considered themselves as carrying out
their instructions, which ordered them not to treat save with a
government solidly sustained by the national will.” General Baquedano
had also replied to our envoys that Colonel Don Francisco Vergara and
Don Eulogio Altamirano were the plenipotentiaries named by the Republic
of Chili to treat with those who might be designated by the government which Peru might desire to give herself. We
have here, therefore, the commander-in-chief of the Chilian army and the
plenipotentiaries of the nation constituted as deciders and arbitrators
of the legitimacy of the government of Peru. We have here the fact, new
in the annals of the political relations between peoples, of the refusal
to admit by a stranger as a national government that which the whole
country recognizes as such, and in order that the deformity may be the
more monstrous life and impulse are given, beneath the shadow of the
Chilian flag, to meetings whose strength lies there alone, establishing
thereby an odious protectorate that will always be repudiated by the
Peruvian people, whatever the depths of their misfortunes, and in spite
of the terrible martial law with which the semi-official organ at the
same time threatens public manifestations tending to defend the autonomy
and independence of the nation, however tranquil they may be.
I leave to the profound sagacity of your excellency the appreciation of
events which you yourself have witnessed, and the truth of which is
perfectly known to you.
The authority of his excellency the Supreme Chief having been derived
from the confidence which the people of Peru have deposited in him, and
which they still maintain, strengthening it daily by new proofs of
adhesion, he will maintain unshaken that authority until he can deposit
it in the hands of the national representatives, laying it down before
the assembly elected by the people, which will soon meet, in accordance
with the supreme decree of this date, so that it may also freely
deliberate upon the future destinies of the country, in view of the
situation created by the causes to which I have referred.
Be pleased, your excellency, to place these facts before the Government
of the United States of North America, so worthily represented by your
excellency near the Government of Peru.
With sentiments of the highest consideration and esteem, I am,
&c.,
[Page 883]
[Inclosure 2 in No.
254.—Translation.]
Decree or bando of General Saavedra (at present commander-in-chief) of the 5th of March, 1881.
No. 496.
Having seen the foregoing note of the minister of war in the field,
I decree:
- 1st.
- There shall be established in the city of Lima an office of
“Collector of the contributions of war,” whose functions and
obligations are as follows:
- 1st.
- To take under its charge and inventory the property
and things of every kind which the public buildings and
establishments (of which the army has taken possession)
may contain, as well as all articles of a warlike
character.
- 2d.
- To point out and take note of all that pertains to the
public administration and which may not yet be in
possession of the army, for the purpose of providing the
proper measures in reference thereto.
- 3d.
- To ascertain and take accurate note of all things
which have been remitted to Chili, its destination, and
the party sending the same.
- 4th.
- To inquire what remittances may be properly made to
Chili, and to effectuate those that shall be determined
upon, specifying the kinds, with all the details and a
proper valuation, directing them to the proper parties,
as shall be determined upon.
- 5th.
- To propose the contributions which are to be collected
for the maintenance of the army, and in general for all
the expenses which the miltary occupation
occasions.
- 6th.
- To collect the contributions which shall be decreed,
and to deposit them in the commissariat of the
army.
- 7th.
- To represent the supervision which may be decreed in
any of the public establishments or institutions, in the
administration of funds.
- 2d.
- This office may establish branch offices outside of Lima, with
the same object, at other points occupied by the army, previous
approval being obtained.
- 3d.
- The chief of the office shall propose the rest of the employés
and their salaries and a regulation which comprehends the
proceedings to be had to fulfill the objects of this
office.
- 4th.
- Don Alvaro Francisco Alvarado is named chief of the office for
the collection of contributions of war, with the salary and
compensation which he now has as an officer of the general
intendencia of the army and navy in active service.
Let it be recorded and published, and let an account be given to the
supreme government for its approbation.
[Inclosure 3 in No. 254.—Translation from
Actualidad, March 7, 1881.]
the contribution of war, one million
monthly.—list of those who must pay for month of
february.
Cornelio Saavedra, general of
brigade and in chief of the army of operations of the republic of
Chili.
Whereas, having in view the execution of article 3 of the decree of the
9th of February last, and the note of the minister of war of the 5th of
the present month,
I decree:
- 1st.
- That the department of Lima and Callao shall pay monthly the
sum of one million of pesos in silver, or its equivalent in
current money, according to the exchange of the time, to meet
the expenses of the army of occupation.
- 2d.
- The million for the month of February last shall be paid by
the persons mentioned below, each of whom shall contribute
twenty thousand pesos in coin for his quota.
- [Here follow fifty names for 20,000 pesos each.]
- 3d.
- The space of eight days is conceded from this date for the
persons designated in the foregoing article to present
themselves to complete the payment of the quota, fixed at twenty
thousand pesos, in coin, assigned to each, into the office
charged with the collection of the war contributions ordered by
the decree of the 5th of the present month.
- 4th.
- If any of the persons named shall not pay his quota within the
time fixed, proceedings shall be taken to destroy, for the
present, of the property of the delinquent at least three times
the value, without prejudice to the right of personal
compulsion.
- 5th.
- The chief of the general staff, Col. Don Pedro Lagos, is
charged with the execution [Page 884] of this decree, and to this end the chief of
the office of collection shall give an account on the same day
of the term fixed by article 3 of the persons who have failed to
make such payment.
- 6th.
- From this date no person of Peruvian nationality can absent
himself from Lima or Callao without a passport previously issued
from the general staff, under the penalty to the infractors of
being tried before a military tribunal. This article does not
apply to those who travel only between said two cities.
Let it be recorded and published. To the end that this decree shall be
brought to the knowledge of all, it shall be published by proclaiming
the same in public and fixing it up in hand-bills in the most public
places of this city and Callao, it being the intention that this
publication shall have the effect of a personal notice.
Given at the palace of government in
Lima on the 7th of March, 1881.
CORNELIO SAAVEDRA.