No. 662.
Mr. Baker
to Mr. Evarts.
Caracas, April 20, 1880. (Received May 6.)
Sir: Referring to my No. 164, of date September 28, 1879, and to my No. 167, of date October 28, 1879, and its inclosure of copy and translation [Page 1037] of the preliminary contract, referred to in my No. 164, between Mr. J. M. de Rojas, minister plenipotentiary of Venezuela at Paris, and Mr. Eug. Pereire; and, quoting the statement in my said No. 167, that “My present impression is that the contract will not be effectuated,” &c., I have now to add in relation to the same matter that I have completely reliable intelligence to the effect that a rupture has taken place between General Guzman Blanco and Mr. Delort, chief, as I understand, of the Erench commission which has been here in the premises, and that Mr. Delort and the other members of the commission—five in all, I am told—left here on the 7th instant for France.
It would appear that part at least of the cause of the rupture turned, on Mr. C. J. Bandman having got a contract for a railway between Puerto Cabello and Valencia, this being one of the two contracts referred to in my No. 219.
I find in the Opinion Nacional of the 9th instant a communication of date 6th instant, from General Guzman Blanco to Eugene Pereire, concerning the matter, in which the blame of the miscarriage is put upon Delort. In this communication General Guzman speaks of Delort as a man “who may be a very good mariner and a very good engineer, but a fatal negotiator,” and in the conclusion of the communication he says:
I shall much regret that you should not improve the occasion—having on such good footing the progressing negotiation—to send a competent man who may finish planning an affair which will give you money, hut which will accelerate the progress of Venezuela in a manner as surprising as satisfactory.
So the affair in question appears to be broken off or suspended, for the present at least.
I am, &c.,