No. 23.
Mr. Hall to
Mr. Frelinghuysen.
[Extract.]
Legation of
the United States,
Guatemala, April 14, 1883.
(Received May 8.)
No. 96.]Sir: The subject of the union of the Central
American states under one general government has been referred to in my
dispatches No. 56, of the 8th January, and No. 85, of the 27th of March
ultimo. In the letter I stated that there was no prospect that the present
movement would be successful. Subsequent events fully confirm that
opinion.
It would seem that the project never had any real support outside of
Guatemala, although ostensibly favored by the Governments of Salvador and
Honduras, and commended by the late President Zavala, of Nicaragua, in his
last message.
In all the states except Guatemala the popular opposition has been
demonstrative and apparently nearly unaninous.* * *
In my dispatches above referred to, I reported that commissioners of
Guatemala and Salvador had visited the other states. The result of their
mission was an agreement on the part of all the states to send delegates to
a convention which it was proposed to hold in Salvador in March last. The
convention did not meet at the time appointed, and it now appears none will
be held. Costa Rica* * * declines to send delegates. This was communicated
by the representatives of that state in Nicaragua to the Nicaraguan
Government and by the minister for foreign affairs to his colleague of
Guatemala, and inquiring into the advisability of a convention of the other
four states; in reply, the Nicaraguan minister is informed that a meeting of
the delegates of four states, with the object of forming a union of five,
could have no practical result.* * *
I transmit herewith the published correspondence and other documents relating
to the foregoing, taken from the official newspaper at this capital. They
comprise the note of the minister for foreign affairs of Costa Rica,
addressed to the two commissioners before referred to; the correspondence
between Nicaragua and Guatemala, and the circular of the Costa Rican
Government, setting forth the reasons which constrain it not to send
delegates to the proposed interstate convention.
* * * * * * *
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
96.—Translation.]
Extract from the Official Gazette of Guatemala of
April 12, 1883.
Department of
Foreign Relations of the Republic of Costa Rica,
National
Palace, San José,
February 19, 1883.
Hon. Messrs.: I have had the honor to receive
the very important note of your excellencies dated the 15th instant, and
informing me that the tranquillity and other favorable conditions in
which the Republics of Central America are to-day situated for uniting
under a common government, which is demanded by their great interests
and the promising future to which their destinies call them, have
inspired in the cabinets of Guatemala and Salvador the noble thought of
attempting the said union, for which purpose, your excellencies being
accredited to the other Central American Governments,
[Page 55]
with your present character, have obtained
from those of Honduras and Nicaragua the promise to concur, each one, by
means of five delegates, to a congress of plenipotentiaries, which is to
meet in March next, in the city of Santa Tecla or Ahuachapan, to discuss
and sign the projects of the general constitution and other organic laws
conducive to the grand end indicated; and that you invite my Government
to the same concurrence.
This communication, so pleasing from its origin, and interesting from the
magnitude of its object, being brought to the notice of the President of
this Republic, he has given me instructions to answer it in the
following terms.
The union of the Central American Republics, under a compact which shall
perfectly provide for all time the constant equilibrium necessary to
make it just, profitable, and durable, is a thing demanded by the
nature, the history, the future aggrandizement, the respectability, and
the good name of Central America.
Impartial Costa Ricans so recognize it, and immediately with the same
pleasure with which the Governments of Honduras and Nicaragua have
promised to send their delegates to the congress, whose mission is
limited to discussing and signing the projects of the general
constitution and organic laws to be proposed for the political
reorganization of Central America, that of Costa Rica responding also to
the fraternal call of those of Guatemala and Salvador, promises to send,
together with the delegates of Nicaragua, the five corresponding to
it.
It also takes pleasure in promising the Governments that your
excellencies worthily represent, that the said projects being received,
it will give account of them to the legislative power of this Republic,
to the end that it may determine by its high judgment and patriotism
what it may think best, in accordance with the legal prescriptions, and
keeping in view, as no doubt it will do, the particular convenience of
the country and the general interests of Central America.
In thus answering your excellencies I have, &c.,
Hon. Don Salvador Gallegos and
Hon. Don
Delfino Sanchez, &c.
[Telegram.]
To His Excellency the Minister of
Foreign Relations, Guatemala:
The Government of this Republic has been disposed to send to Santa Tecla
its delegates to the diet, not having been able to do so before on
account of the attention required for the change of administration, The
Government of Costa Rica has officially declared, by means of its
minister here, that it will not be represented at the diet. Nicaragua
desires to know if your excellency’s Government believes that the
reunion of the representatives of only four states can have any
practical result, since in that case she will send hers by the steamer
passing Corinto the 13th.
[Telegram.]
Guatemala, March 29,
1883.
Hon. Minister of Foreign Relations of
Nicaragua, Managua:
Last night I had the honor to receive your excellency’s telegraphic
dispatch, in which you inform me of Costa Rica’s having declared,
officially, that she will not be represented at the diet on Central
American union, and express the desire to know if my Government believes
that the reunion of the representatives of only four states can have any
practical result, to send your delegates in the affirmative case.
The object of the diet being the union of the five states into a single
nation, if the Government of Costa Rica does not join it, as your
excellency affirms, the meeting of the representatives of only four
states could net, in the opinion of my Government, I have any practical
result.
I am, &c.,
Department of Foreign Relations of Nicaragua,
Managua, April 3, 1883.
Sir: I have the honor to confirm to you my
telegram of the 28th of the last month, which is as follows: [See
above.]
At the same time, I inclose in this note a certified copy of the
communication which, on the 26th of the same, the minister of Costa Rica
addressed to this department,
[Page 56]
making the declaration referred to in the preinserted telegram.
Notwithstanding that up to the present time no answer has been received
from Honduras and Salvador, in view, of that which your excellency was
pleased to give by telegraph the 30th of the said month, the Government
of Nicaragua has resolved to suspend for the present the sending of its
delegates to the projected diet.
I reiterate, &c.,
His Excellency the Minister of
Foreign Relations
of the Republic of
Guatemala.
Sir: The supreme Government of the Republic of
Costa Rica, in view of the marked opposition with which has been
received in that country the project of sending delegates to a diet to
meet during the latter part of the current month in Santa Tecla or
Ahuachapan to treat of the national reconstruction of Central America,
convoked an? assembly of prominent persons, to whose study it submitted
the idea. In accordance with its resolution, Costa Rican delegates will
not go to the diet treated of. I have the honor to communicate this to
his excellency, the President of this Republic, by the distinguished
medium of your excellency, in obedience to special instructions which I
have received.
I reiterate, &c.,
Hon. Francis J. Medina,
Sub-Secretary of State, in charge of the
Department of Foreign Relations.
A true copy.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
96.—Translation.]
Circular to the other Governments of Central
America.
National Palace,
San
José, March 26, 1883.
The Minister of Foreign Relations
of ———:
Sir: Discussion having been provoked concerning
the invitation of the Governments of Guatemala and Salvador for the
reorganization of the union of the five Republics into which Central
America is at present divided, that of Costa Rica has been convinced
that it was a faithful interpreter of public opinion in assuring them,
by the dispatch of this department, dated the 19th of February ultimo,
of its vehement desire for the re-establishment of an institution which,
without any doubt whatever, is called to change the destinies of these
peoples, offering them a life to which, disorganized as they are, they
cannot aspire.
But at the same time it has been convinced also that any step directed
toward the satisfaction of those aspirations, even the least significant
of them as that of sending delegates to discuss the bases of
reorganization, requires to be meditated on with the calmness and
prudence demanded by affairs of such consideration and of such grave
consequences.
On this account, without modifying the terms of the dispatch before
alluded to, nor absolutely revoking the promise to send delegates to the
place which has been designated, my Government esteems it prudent, and
hopes that that of your excellency will not take it amiss to defer the
execution of its proposal until the opinion of the people over whose
destinies it rules, having been better informed, shall be pronounced
with greater vigor, not on the matter of the initiative, concerning
which it is not possible to entertain any doubt whatever, but rather
concerning the opportunity of the carrying it into effect, considering
the serious fears and disconfidence manifested by the press in several
of the states, which discover an antagonism, a struggle being prepared,
into which it is not disposed to enter, since it only accepts means
peaceful and recognized by all for the realization of such an important
work.
For the same reason that my Government wishes to arrive at practical and
secure results it desires to avoid all haste, all collision which might
be caused by lamentable reminiscences left by the extinguished
federalism in the spirit of the Central Americans, and not to act except
in perfect agreement with well-pronounced public opinion.
These are the sentiments of the Costa Rican people and Government, which
I hasten to communicate to that of your excellency through your
honorable means; and on fulfilling my charge, I improve, &c.
[From the inability of the secretary of the department, that of
government],
