Ernest Dichman to Señor Rico, July 31, 1880

Mr. Dichman to Señor Rico.

Sir: In recent dispatches from my Government, I am instructed to make earnest representations to the Government of the United States of Colombia concerning the arbitrary act of the president of the State of Panama in abruptly ordering a cessation of the friendly operations of the United States war vessel Kearsarge in the waters of the Bay of Chiriqui and the immediate withdrawal of the United States war vessel Adams from the Gulf of Dulce, and to inform you that this precipitate and inconsiderate act of the Panama executive is considered at Washington as an unfriendly and discourteous act towards the United States, the gravity of which is augmented by the fact that on the 6th day of last May, only six days previous to the date of his extraordinary communication to the consuls of the United States at Panama and Aspinwall, conveying to them the orders above referred to, the president of the State of Panama had been informed by me that as soon as the orders given by the Navy Department of the United States could reach the two vessels above mentioned they would cease their operations and proceed on other duty, and that upon this assurance on my part freely given in order to allay what seemed to me groundless disquietude on his part, he expressed himself fully satisfied and agreed with me not to take any further steps in the premises.

As you are undoubtedly in possession of a copy of this singular communication of the president of the State of Panama to the consuls of the United States at the Isthmus, I shall take the liberty of observing in connection therewith that if, previous to venturing upon a step of such gravity, the Panama executive had only taken the trouble of informing himself correctly as to the status of the two ships in question, he would have learned that on the 12th day of last May—the date of his communication—the Kearsarge, having completed her errand, had ceased her friendly operations in the Bay of Chiriqui and was about to quit Las Bocas del Toro, under the orders of the Navy Department given some time previously; and that on the 8th day of last May, being four days previous to the date of his communication, the Adams was anchored at Punta Arenas, being in the waters of the friendly and neighboring Republic of Costa Rica, the government of which, in pleasant contrast to the unfriendly disposition manifested by that of Panama, not only expressed itself very much gratified at the visit of the ship, but also supplied her with coal, and extended such courtesies to her officers as were in its power.

Irrespective of many other considerations which will readily occur to you, I am sure that upon learning these facts you cannot but experience a feeling of regret that, for at least the want of ordinary prudence, not to characterize it by any more appropriate name, and governed by influences, perhaps, difficult to understand, but in which I am confident the Federal Government of Colombia has no part, the Panama executive should have hastened into the commission of an act which, in addition to constituting an affront to the United States, was entirely gratuitous, being devoid of any basis of fact which might be pleaded in explanation.

It is, of course, unnecessary to state for your information that, in conformity with international usage and courtesy, the ports and harbors of friendly nations, whether open to commerce or not, are at all times free to the national vessels of a power with which relations of peace and good-will prevail, for even if this international usage did not obtain the relations of friendship which have always been maintained between the United States of America and of Colombia, and the treaty stipulations in force between the two countries, constituting them in a certain sense allies, would rebut the presumption that the Federal Government of Colombia, which in its intercourse with that of the United States has always given expression to its considerate and amicable purposes, could allow its cool judgment to be influenced by unfounded popular clamor to such an extent as to close any of its ports to the national vessels of the United States.

In bringing this cause of complaint of the Government of the United States to your notice, I need not assure you that instead of its being conceived in a spirit of querulous indignation it is prompted by the hope that by disavowing the ill-judged and inconsiderate action of the president of the State of Panama, or by explaining the same in such a manner as to relieve it of the unfortunate aspect of unfriendliness which it now bears, the Government of Colombia will remove the variance existing between the apparently unfriendly act of one of its local officers in the State of Panama and the expressions of sincere friendship and thoughful consideration professed in its name by its minister at Washington towards the Government of the United States, and which, I am happy to state, are reciprocated to the fullest extent by that government, which cannot bring itself to entertain the thought that the Government of Colombia would give utterance to sentiments of sincere friendship and thoughtful consideration towards the United States through its ministers at Washington, and thus maintain the appearance of amicable relations while prescribing a contrary line of conduct to be observed by its local officers in Colombia.

With the assurances, &c.,