Mr. Gresham to Mr. Baker.
Washington, August 18, 1893.
Sir: I have received your dispatch No. 38, of the 6th ultimo, in reply to my instruction to you, No. 12 of the 13th of June last, in relation to the reported action of the military authorities at Corinto in training a loaded Krupp gun upon the Pacific Mail steamships San José and City of New York on the 10th and 11th of May last.
The consular agent at Corinto made no report of the incident directly to this Department, and the only statement under his signature which has come to my knowledge is his letter of May 11 to Capt. F. H. Johnston, of which a copy accompanied my instruction, No. 12, and which appears to be the report to which you refer.
No actual injury seems to have been inflicted upon the steamers, but the readiness with which the military authorities prepared to fire upon and injure or destroy a passenger steamer sailing under a friendly flag and filled with noncombatants, can hardly fail to cause disquietude for the future, especially in seasons of abrupt political vicissitudes like that through which Nicaragua is passing. It is noteworthy that the City of New York was thus recklessly and wantonly menaced after the commanding authority at Corinto had been officially advised by the consular agent that you, the newly-appointed envoy of the United States, were a passenger on board.
It may be well for you to intimate to the secretary of foreign relations that demonstrations of this character are contrary to the precepts of international law and humanity, and to express the confident hope that they will not be permitted to recur in a Nicaraguan port. I am, etc.,