No. 579.
Mr. Blaine
to Mr. Hurlbut.
Washington, November 22, 1881.
Sir: Your dispatches to No. 23, inclusive, have been received, and I learn with regret that a construction has been put upon your language and conduct indicating a policy of active intervention on the part of this government, beyond the scope of your instructions. As those instructions were clear and explicit, and as this Department is in the possession of no information which would seem to require the withdrawal of the confidence reposed in you, I must consider this interpretation of your words and acts as the result of some strange and perhaps prejudiced misconception.
[Page 949]My only material for forming an opinion consists of your memorandum to Admiral Lynch, your letter to Señor Garcia, the secretary of General Piérola, and the convention with President Calderon, ceding a naval station to the United States. I would have preferred that you should hold no communication with Admiral Lynch on questions of a diplomatic character. He was present as a military commander of Chilian forces, and you were accredited to Peru. Nor do I conceive that Admiral Lynch, as the commander of the Chilian army of occupation, had any right to ask or receive any formal assurance from you as to the opinions of your government. The United States was represented in Chili by a properly accredited minister, and from his own government the admiral could and ought to have received any information which it was important for him to have. It was to be expected, and even desired, that frank and friendly relations should exist between you, but I cannot consider such confidential communication as justifying a formal appeal to your colleague in Chili, for the correction or criticism of your conduct. If there was anything in your proceedings in Peru to which the Government of Chili could properly take exception, a direct representation to this Government, through the Chilian minister here, was due, both to the government and to yourself.
Having said this, I must add that the language of the memorandum was capable of not unnatural construction. While you said nothing that may not fairly be considered warranted by your instructions, you omitted to say with equal emphasis some things which your instructions supplied, and which would perhaps have relieved the sensitive apprehensions of the Chilian authorities. For, while the United States would unquestionably “regard with disfavor” the imperious annexation of Peruvian territory as the right of conquest, you were distinctly informed that this government could not refuse to recognize that such annexation might become a necessary condition in a final treaty of peace. And the main purpose of your effort was expected to be, not so much a protest against any possible annexation, as an attempt by friendly but unofficial communications with the Chilian authorities (with whom you were daily associated), to induce them to support the policy of giving to Peru, without the imposition of harsh and absolute conditions precedent, the opportunity to show that the rights and interests of Chili could be satisfied without such annexation. There is enough in your memorandum, if carefully considered, to indicate this purpose, and I only regret that you did not state it with a distinctness, and if necessary with a repetition, which would have made impossible anything but the most willful misconception.
As at present advised I must express disapproval of your letter to Señor Garcia, the secretary of General Piérola. I think that your proper course in reference to Garcia’s communication would have been either entirely to ignore it as claiming an official character which you could not recognize, or, if you deemed that courtesy required a reply, to state that you were accredited to the Calderon government, and could, therefore, know no other, and that any communication which General Piérola thought it his duty or interest to make, must be made directly to the government at Washington, You had no responsibility in the matter, and it was injudicious to assume any. The recognition of the Calderon government had been duly considered and decided by your own government, and you were neither instructed nor expected to furnish General Piérola or the Peruvian public with the reasons for that action. The following language in your letter to Señor Garcia might well be misunderstood:
Chili desires, and asks for Tarapacá and will recognize the government which [Page 950] agrees to its cession. The Calderon government will not cede it. It remains to be seen whether that of Piérola will prove more pliable.
It might easily be supposed, by an excited public opinion on either side, that such language was intended to imply that the Government of the United States had recognized the government of Calderon because of its resolution not to cede Peruvian territory. No such motive has ever been declared by this government. The government of Calderon was recognized because we believed it to the interest of both Chili and Peru that some respectable authority should be established which could restore internal order, and initiate responsible negotiations for peace. We desired that the Peruvian Government should have a fair opportunity to obtain the best terms it could, and hoped that it would be able to satisfy the just demands of Chili without the painful sacrifice of the national territory. But we did not make, and never intended to make, any special result of the peace negotiations the basis of our recognition of the Calderon government. What was best, and what was possible for Peru to do, we were anxious to the extent of our power to aid her in doing, by the use of whatever influence or consideration we enjoyed with Chili. Further than that, the Government of the United States has, as yet, expressed neither opinion nor intention.
I must also express the dissatisfaction of the Department at your telegram to the minister of the United States near the Argentine Confederation, suggesting that a minister be sent by that government to Peru.
This would have been clearly without the sphere of your proper official action at any time, but as there then existed a serious difference between Chili and the Argentine Confederation, you might naturally have anticipated that such a recommendation would be considered by Chili as an effort to effect a political combination against her. The United States was not in search of alliances to support a hostile demonstration against Chili, and such an anxiety might well be deemed inconsistent with the professions of an impartial mediation.
As to the convention with regard to a naval station in the bay of Chimbote, I am of the opinion that although it is a desirable arrangement the time is not opportune. I would be very unwilling to ask such a concession under circumstances which would almost seem to impose upon Peru the necessity of compliance with our request, and I have no doubt that whenever Peru is relieved from present embarrassments she would cheerfully grant any facilities which our naval or commercial interests might require. Nor in the present excited condition of public opinion in Chili would I be willing to afford to evil-disposed persons the opportunity to intimate that the United States contemplated the establishment of a naval rendezvous in the neighborhood of either Peru or Chili. The very natural and innocent convenience which we require might be misunderstood or misrepresented, and as our sole purpose is to be allowed, in a spirit of the most impartial friendship, to act as mediator between these two powers, I would prefer at present to ask no favors of the one and to excite no possible apprehension in the other.
Having thus stated with frankness the impression made upon the Department by such information as you have furnished it, it becomes my duty to add that this government is unable to understand the abolition of the Calderon government and the arrest of President Calderon himself by the Chilian authorities, or I suppose I ought to say by the Chilian Government, as the secretary for foreign affairs of that government has in a formal communication to Mr. Kilpatrick declared that the Calderon government “was at an end.” As we recognized that government in supposed conformity with the wishes of Chili, and as no reason [Page 951] for its destruction has been given us, you will still consider yourself accredited to it, if any legitimate representative exists in the place of President Calderon. If none such exists you will remain in Lima until you receive further instructions, confining your communications with the Chilian authorities to such limits as your personal convenience and the maintenance of the rights and privileges of your legation may require.
The complicated condition of affairs resulting from the action of the Chilian Government, the time required for communication between the legations in Chili and Peru and this Department, and the unfortunate notoriety which the serious differences between yourself and your colleague in Chili have attracted, have, in the opinion of the President, imposed upon him the necessity of a special mission. This mission will be charged with the duty of expressing the views of the President upon the grave condition of affairs which your dispatches describe, and if possible with due consideration of the rights, interests, and susceptibilities of both nations to promote a settlement which shall restore to the suffering people of Peru the benefits of a well-ordered government, deliver both countries from the miseries and burdens of a protracted war, and place their future relations upon a foundation that will prove stable, because just and honorable.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,