Penetrated by the sincere respect which the self-government of the sister and allied country merited from me, I allowed myself to solicit privately and in a friendly manner the liberty of General Don José Maria Medina, under my guarantee, without prejudice, to which, according to the laws, he might make himself responsible for his conduct as governor.

My demand being refused by the provisional chief, lately expelled, I yielded it, preserving the most profound silence in homage to his right.

But there came the undisciplined expedition of the Sherman, organized in Costa Rica, and protected by General Guardia, President of that country; but there came united the principal reactionists of the whole of Central America, giving the voice of war from the Atlantic coasts of Honduras against all of the existing liberal governments, as if in that territory should be decided the fate of two bands, which since 1821 have kept up a perpetual duel in these territories; and in this eventful hour, in the face of an adversary who appeared suddenly with very deficient power, the dictatorship of Comayagua was feeble and insufficient to conquer it unaided, as proved by the reverses of Opoteca and the triumphs of Chamelicon and La Paz.

The forces of Salvador did not enter the field until it was absolutely necessary, when the enemies of liberty were infesting even the suburbs of the capital of Honduras, and in that place was reeling the unpopular administration which has just bequeathed its name to history.

When I saw myself obliged to move the division of Espinosa, I deemed it opportune and suitable to address a private letter to the licentiate Señor Arias, supplicating him to resign to one of three honorable and impartial persons the power which he was exercising so painfully and violently. That document was written in terms respectful, but frank and faithful, and it contains friendly reflections, dictated by a sincerely republican spirit. For this reason I wish that it may see the public light in order to serve as a corroboration of my assertions and to make more patent my right intentions.

A few days after I had taken this step the conference of Chingo took place, where, with the President of Guatemala, we consulted one more time to secure the liberty and peace of Central America. There was present in confederation with that Mandatoria Señor Don Ponciano Leiva, the most popular political personage of Honduras, and after having spoken cautiously about the painful situation of his country, General Barrios and I believed that the horrors of anarchy were imminent there, with inevitable damage to our governments, unless a prudent resolution was adopted, which might combine justice with expedience.

It was agreed that Señor Leiva should inaugurate a provisional government upon his native soil, and that if the majority of the people accepted him he might rely upon the protection of the allied military forces in the theater of events.

But as a step previous to this, and wishing to avoid any collision whatever, General Barrios and I addressed Señor Arias privately and together, representing to him the peremptory necessity of resigning his power to some conspicuous citizen, in order to put an end to the difficulties which embarrassed the free and peaceful expressions of the Honduranians in the legal organization of their government.

That cordial and dispassionate appeal which we made in the name of the liberal ideas and of the equilibrians of Central America, failing, it was necessary to put at work the last resolution, dictated by necessity and patriotism, and it has answered perfectly our designs and hopes.

In every part of Honduras the new government has been spontaneously applauded. The humblest as well as the most influential classes of society, without intrigue, without pressure or threat of any kind, have recognized and saluted the genuine representative of the popular sentiment.

The patriot, who carries in one hand the olive of peace through every part, and in the other the emblem of justice, makes authority lawful without impairing the right. It is a principle generally taken for granted by public writers, that when two governments figure in one country, established as if they were independent states, the rest of the nations have the right to recognize that which they judge to be the most legal, and which most suits their convenience.

In the case in question Salvador and Guatemala have seen in the revolutionary government of Señor Leiva the expressive symbol of the sovereignty of Honduras; they have practiced well their right in recognizing it; have fulfilled a high duty to brotherhood and civilization, by giving spirit to the people, to their true allies, so that they might recover their lost liberty and repair their great damages.

All of the circumstances which I have imprinted on the memory make stronger the reasons which I have had for cutting off certain abstract formulas relating to the question of Honduras. In it is secured the existence of my government and the fate of the principles which it has proclaimed, and I do not regard politics as a poetical fiction, but as a calculation and a foresight, which ought to be directed to obtain the good of the greater number.

For this reason I have accepted with firmness a grave responsibility in the present

circumstances. For this reason when a subaltern of Señor Arias seized in Amapala a Salvadorian vessel, and the reactionary currents reached even from the Gulf of Nicoya to that of Fonseca, I did not fear to take that port by main force, in concurrence with the popular government of Señor Lieva, and as an indispensable means of safety, so as to see quickly the solution of the problem which has happily terminated in Comayagua. With the hope that all of these complications might have for an end a near triumph of right, I have wished to keep a complete reserve until the present; then I feared an unpremeditated revelation on my part might compromise the end that we proposed to pursue peacefully with the friendly and allied government of Guatemala, whose troops have labored in perfect concord with those of Salvador, the chiefs who commanded each having decisive orders not to fire a rifle until after exhausting the last efforts of conciliation.

Fellow-citizens: I have not encountered the passionate judgments and the inconsiderate censures which have been emitted to vilify my intentions, to acquire a most miserable conquest, a haud-breadth of the land of a sister people, whose misfortunes I lament with religious respect.

I have not turned the arms of Salvador against the dictatorial government of Señor Arias on account of hatred of his person, or because I was inspired by rivalry, fears, and distrust. No! I esteem him according to his merits, and solely for political considerations of great magnitude have I been able to put myself in the extremity whither my fervent desire to see guaranteed the future happiness of these people has carried

me.

In that grave affair, as in my home administration, I have had to employ laws of action-proceedings determined by the time and by the circumstances, in order to save the permanent interests confided to my keeping,

General Jackson saved the independence of the American Union, suspending temporarily some of the individual guarantees of the North American people. There, where liberty has an altar in the heart of each man, Lincoln saved the Union of that great people, saved their wise Constitution, and was the redeemer of five millions of men, suspending the privilege of habeas corpus and silencing periodical publications.

In imitation of these great apostles of right, and perhaps with more necessity than they, we have republican rulers here who dictate measures, for the time repressive, in order to save society from the hell of anarchy, or from the limbo of despotism.

I believe that peace will continue, quickly and definitely secured, and that the democratic institutions which I have sworn to plant and defend will open in the future a beautiful and peaceful field to all the sons of Salvador, and to all who wish to come to her hospitable shores.

With this flattering hope I believe it will be easy for me to descend from the high position where I am to-day, and leaving re-established the fruitful principle of alternation of citizens in power and the example of the fealty of a ruler who submits, without reserve, all of his actions to the sovereign judgment of public opinion.

Such are, fellow-citizens, the convictions, the sentiments, and the aims of him who submits himself to your judgment, and to that of history, and who has the honor to call himself your faithful friend and servant. L. GONZALEZ.

SAN SALVADOR, January 26, 1874.

No. 136.]

No. 103.

Mr. Williamson to Mr. Fish.

UNITED STATES LEGATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA, Guatemala, April 14, 1874. (Received May 18.) SIR: I have the honor to inclose you, for your information, the original and translated copy of an extract from the report of the secretary of foreign affairs of Salvador to the Constituent Assembly.

The extract is taken from the "Boletin Oficial," March 31.

You will observe the government of Salvador seems to attach importance to the exercise of my good offices, in December last, in behalf of peace in Central America.

I have, &c.,

GEO. WILLIAMSON.

[Inclosure.]

(Extractfrom the report of the minister of foreign affairs of Salvador.)

[Translated from the "Boletin Oficial" of March 31.]

SAN SALVADOR, January 31, 1874.

The President of Costa Rica, no doubt wrongly informed, was manifesting somewhat, in the various acts of his policy, overt hostility toward Salvador as well as toward the other Central American states. For this reason the treaty of triple alliance between Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua was negotiated, at Managua, about the close of last August.

Afterward, the condemnation by the cabinet of Costa Rica of this alliance, that the constitutional assembly of the preceding year had examined and approved, increased to the greatest excess, but Salvador, on her part, did not wish them to memorialize her arguments or official remonstrances, for she considered that once this having been commenced she could not remain in statu quo without injury to her national dignity, and would very probably arrive at the brink of a disastrous war, which ought always, as a terrible calamity, to be reserved for the last resort, from which there is positively no escape.

The President of Salvador believed that, with the lapse of a little time, the progress of events would show the folly of a fratricidal war, and of discord, between provinces that ought continually to become more closely united and identified. So it proved in the end. The President of Costa Rica abandoned that hostile policy, and has turned his thoughts to the consideration of the ideas of peace and concord that have been proposed to the Presidents of Central America through the honorable mediation of the American minister.

This honorable diplomat, without compromising his official character, has prepared, in connection with the President of Costa Rica and the British chargé d'affairés, a memorandum in which was embraced and adopted a meeting of the five Central American Presidents, in a place to be selected, to treat of a general peace. This plan has been unanimously approved, and has only been delayed to select the time and place for accomplishing it. It is probable that from this meeting will follow not only the establishment of a lasting peace, but a basis for Central American organization.

No. 139.]

No. 104.

Mr. Williamson to Mr. Fish.

UNITED STATES LEGATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA, Guatemala, April 25, 1874. (Received May 25.) SIR: I have the honor to inform you a terrible outrage was perpe trated yesterday by the commandant of San José de Guatemala upon the person of Mr. John Magee, Her Britannic Majesty's vice-consul at that place. He had Mr. Magee very severely flogged, inflicting on him, it is reported, over two hundred lashes.

The government here denounced the outrage as a disgrace to Guatemala.

The minister of war called upon me this morning to say that no effort would be left untried to arrest and punish the offender, and also that ample reparation would be made to the British government and the injured gentleman.

The British minister is absent on leave, but his chargé d'affaires is acting with promptitude and ability.

The perpetrator of the outrage, I am informed, is a renegade Spaniard from Cuba.

*

When I receive all of the facts I will communicate more fully.

*

I have, &c.,

典

著

GEO. WILLIAMSON.

No. 146 bis.] UNITED STATES LEGATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA, Guatemala, May 4, 1874. (Received June 8.)

SIR: I have now the honor to lay before you a full statement in regard to the outrage committed upon the British vice-consul, Mr. John Magee, at San José, by the commandante of that port, on the 24th ultimo, and of which I advised you in my No. 139, dated the 25th ultimo.

I also inclose you with this dispatch copies of all the papers that have come into my possession concerning it. Among them you will notice particularly the statement of Mr. Edwin James, consular agent at San José, No. 8, which I have reason to believe, although defective by the omission of some details, is substantially correct.

I hope his conduct in using every exertion to prevent the infliction of a barbarous outrage upon an innocent official of a friendly power, and to preserve the life of a fellow-creature, will meet your approbation. He evidently ran great personal risk in throwing any obstacle in the way of such a madman as the commandante of San José seems to have been. Your attention is respectfully called to inclosure No. 7, in which the victim, Mr. John Magee, officially acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr. James for saving his life.

Among the inclosures you will find several telegrams from this. legation. The one marked No. 1 was sent at the urgent solicitation of President Barrios, whose prime minister called on me about 8 o'clock on the morning of the 25th, and stated that the conduct of Gonzalez was a disgrace to Guatemala; that his government was extremely anxious to make every reparation in its power to the British government, not only by trial and punishment of the commandante, but in other satisfactory ways.

He also said that General Solares had arrived, or would arrive, at San José within a very short time, and that the commandante was a deserter from the army and a fugitive on board of an American ship lying at the port of San José. He urged me to order the delivery of Gonzalez to General Solares. I replied that I had no right to order his delivery, but would request it, which I thought would be quite as effectual, as the ship was lying in Guatemalan waters.

The telegram was then written and presented to him to read. He said it was perfectly satisfactory, and that he would take it himself to the telegraph-office to have it dispatched forthwith.

Gonzalez had already been shot, it seems, before my telegram was written. At all events, Mr. James and the agent of the ship tell me it was not received on board. At the time of the prime minister's visit, he seemed to be as ignorant as I really was of the fact that Mr. James had taken the commandante on the ship. Had I known that Mr. James had agreed to take the commandante on board of the ship, under the protection of the American flag, (although his only warrant in so using the flag was a generous impulse to save Mr. Magee's life, by placing his persecutor and intended murderer in safety,) I should not have thought of making a request that implied a disposition to violate the agreement. The statement made in the telegram, that Mr. Gonzalez "has committed a grave outrage upon the persons of American citizens" was based upon the minister's declaration to me. He said the commandante, in his fit of madness, had struck in the face an officer of an American

ship, and afterward imprisoned him for an hour or two; furthermore, that he had grossly insulted the consular agent at San José.

To this declaration I simply replied my countrymen would probably receive ample redress after their case was duly investigated. The oral and verbal report of the consular agent shows the minister was mistaken.

About 11 o'clock on the 25th the prime minister, Mr. Samayoa, again called upon me, and stated that Commandante Gonzalez had been mortally wounded while attempting to go on board the Pacific mail steamship Arizona, by a Colombian, resident in Guatemala, named Don Pedro Vazquez, and that his government wished me to telegraph to the captain of the ship to deliver that gentleman to the military authority at San José, General Solares. I declined either to order or request his delivery, but stated I would telegraph to the consular agent for full particulars, and after getting his report, would decide whether to make a request. He said that would be entirely satisfactory to his govern

ment.

The ship sailed, as you will see by inclosure No. 5, before my telegram was received.

The commandante, Gonzalez, was not mortally wounded, as was supposed. He is now in this city in the hospital, and is said to be recovering. His alleged aiders and abettors, a Mr. Bulnes, Viteré, and Corso, all officials at San José, are now here in prison.

Mr. John Magee, the vice-consul, is also in this city, and, though confined to his bed, is "doing well."

The outrage gave rise to quite an active correspondence between the British chargé d'affaires, Mr. Henry Scholfield, and the government, which resulted, on the 1st instant, in the protocol No. 10 which accompanies this dispatch.*

The minister of foreign affairs and the prime minister, Mr. Samayoa, express much satisfaction with the result, and seem to feel a decided assurance that the British government will not claim any indemnity or demand any further satisfaction than that which is agreed upon in the protocol.

They called to see me, and in an interview invited my opinion.

I had none to express, except that, in my judgment, they might well congratulate themselves on their diplomatic tact in the management of the affair.

Mr. Scholfield also frequently called upon me, and explained his proceedings, which, assuming he had the authority, met my approbation up to the time of the protocol and his letter No. 11.

In the unreserved confidence of official correspondence, I beg leave to say again, assuming he had authority to arrange so important an international question without definite instructions from the foreign office, that he has been somewhat behind the Guatemalan officials in his diplo macy. It is true, Mr. Magee's rather singular renunciation in advance of any claim to indemnity presented a serious and perplexing embarrassment. It is equally true the promptness of the government in arresting the guilty parties, as well as its elaborate professions of a determination to make every reparation in its power for the outrage, made it more delicate to deal with the question. I might have done much worse. It is probable the parties charged with the outrage will be held in prison until a favorable answer is received from the British government. After that their friends will probably find no serious obstacle in the

* See inclosure 2 in No. 153.