PERU, CHILI, AND THE UNITED STATES. 



743 



paca, and will recognize the Government which agrees 

 to its session. The Calderon Government will not 

 cede it. It remains to be seen whether that of Pie"rola 

 will prove more pliable." It might easily be sup- 

 posed, by an excited public opinion on either side, 

 that such language was intended to imply that the 

 Government of tfie 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 Govern- 

 ment of Calderon was recognized because we believed 

 it to be to the interest of ooth Chili and Pent that 

 some respectable authority should be established 

 which could restore internal order and initiate re- 

 sponsible 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 < <t' 

 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 powers to aid her in 

 doing by the use of whatever influence or considera- 

 tion wo 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 depart- 

 ment 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 diiference between Chili and the 

 Argentine Confederation, you might naturally have 

 anticipated that such a recommendation would "be con- 

 sidered by Chili as an effort to effect a political com- 

 bination 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 impar- 

 tial mediation. 



As to the convention with regard to a naval station 

 in the Bay of Chimbole, I am of opinion that, although 

 it is a desirable arrangement, the time is not oppor- 

 tune. I would be very unwilling to ask such a con- 

 cession under circumstances which would almost seem 

 to impose upon Peru the necessity of compliance with 

 pur request ; and I have no doubt that, whenever Peru 

 is relieved from present embarrassment, she would 

 cheerfully grant any facilities which our naval or com- 

 mercial interests may require. Nor, in the present ex- 

 cited condition of public opinion in Chili, would I bo 

 willing to afford evil-disposed persons the opportunity 

 to intimate that the United States contemplated the 

 establishment of a naval rendezvous in the neighbor- 

 hood of either Peru or Chili. The very natural and 

 innocent convenience which we require might be mis- 

 understood or misapprehended ; and, as our solo pur- 

 pose is to be allowed, in a spirit of the most impartial 

 friendship. to act as mediator between these two pow- 

 ers, I would prefer, at present, to ask no favors of the 

 one, and to excite no possible apprehensions 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 dutv to add tluit 

 this Government is unable to understand the abolition 

 of the Calderon Government, and the arrest of I'n-i- 

 dent Calderon himself, bv the Chilian authorities, or, 

 I suppose I ought to say, *by the Chilian Government, 

 as the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of that Govern- 

 ment has, In a formal communication to Mr. Kilpat- 

 rick, declared that the Calderon Government u was at 

 an end." As wo recognized that Government, in sup- 

 posed conformity with the wishes of Chili, and as no 

 reason for its destruction haa been given us, you will 

 still consider yourself accredited to it, if any legiti- 

 mate 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 vour lega- 

 tion may require. 



The complicated condition of affairs resulting from 

 the action of the Chilian Government, the time re- 

 quired for communication between the legations in 

 Chili and Peru and this department, and the unfor- 

 tunate 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 respon- 

 sibilities 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 u j >rotructed 

 war, and place their future relations ujHrn u foundation 

 that will prove stable, because just and honorable. 

 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



JAMES G. BLAINE. 



n. 



DEPARTMENT or STATE, | 

 WASHINGTON, Sotember 'J'J, IsSl. ( 



Judson Kilpatrick, E<}., etc., Santiago. 



SIB : Your dispatch, No. 8, convey ing a copy of your 

 reply to Senor Balmascda has been received. 'The 

 communication to which it was a reply should have 

 accompanied it, in order that the department could 

 properly judge of vour answer. Your letter is not 

 approved by the department. You had had ample 

 opportunity^ and, as you have before stated, availed 

 yourself ot it, to make known to the Government of 

 Chili the scope of your instructions, and to give it 

 abundant assurance 'of the friendly disposition of your 

 own Government. If the conduct of Mr. Hnribot in 

 Peru had given sufficient ground for complaint to 

 the Chilian "Government, that complaint should have 

 been made in Washington. Mr. Hurlbut's presen- 

 tation speech to President Calderon, his memoran- 

 dum to Admiral Lvnch, his letter to Garcia, and 

 telegraphic reports from Buenos Ayrw, were not sub- 

 jects upon which you were called to pass judgment, 

 nor upon which you should have been interrogated by 

 the Chilian Government. Nothing i your conduct 

 or language had excited its apprehen-ions. nnd no ex- 

 planation was due, or could nave been expected from 

 vou, of the lnnu'UU',i' or conduct of \onr cllcairuc in 

 Peru. I should have been dud if it had omirred to 

 you to call the attention of the Secretary of Fort-Urn 

 Affairs to the impropriety of such a communication, 

 and in referring to the fact that your instructions, 

 which vou were authorized to com'municatc t.> him, 

 gave all tlio assurance which he could cither desire or 

 nsk of the friendly feeling of tin- I'nited State*. I 

 should have much preferred that you had tunii>hiil 

 him with a copy of those' instruction*, instead of sub- 

 initting a paraphrase which doe* not fully represent 

 their spirit and meaning. Indeed. I find it difficult to 

 understand how the Chilian Government could 

 been under anv misapprehension as to the disposition 

 or puqnwe of the United States, when the instr- 

 both to yourself and to Mr. Hurlbut had, in fact, been 

 already frankly cnrmmmicnUtl the former, ace. inline 

 to your dispatch No. 3. t<> tin \dministra- 



tion ; and the latter, by this d?]rtment to Mr. Mar- 

 tinez, the reprecnttiv'c of the present Government in 

 Washington. It is still more ditlicult to understand 

 the abolition of the Calderon Government, anil the 

 arrest of the President hiinwlf, in the face of your as- 

 surance, in your dispatch No. 8, where you quote the 

 following a" having been addrwwed to you i>y 6 

 Valdenina, to wit: " Yon arc. thercfore,"authori 

 say to your Government that every effort will be given 



