Henry Trescot to William H. Hurlbut, January 30, 1882

Mr. Trescot to Mr. Hurlbut.

Sir: I have to acknowledge your communication of January 18, in which you inform me that you have received and communicated to the Peruvian Government the invitation from the President of the United States to the proposed peace congress in Washington.

The circumstances under which I asked that you would suspend action upon this instruction until after consultation with me were these:

When I was about leaving Washington I was informed by the Secretary that such an invitation would be issued, indeed that it had already been sent to Mexico and Guatemala. I understood that the invitations to Chili, Peril, and Bolivia were to be sent through me to be delivered as the circumstances of the anticipated negotiation seemed to render opportune.

Not finding any such instructions, I telegraphed and wrote from Panama, saying in my dispatch of December 12, “I beg to inform you that the mail contains no such communication, and it will occur to you without suggestion from me that if at some later date these invitations are transmitted to the ministers at Lima, Santiago, and La Paz they should be instructed not to present them without my knowledge and approval. Their delay might, under circumstances by no means improbable, cause very serious embarrassment in the conduct of the special mission with which I have been charged. A reference to my instructions will, I think, sufficiently explain my meaning.”

The difficulty which I anticipated must, I think, have occurred to you.

I could not with any fitness extend this invitation to the Chilian Government until I had ascertained what were the relations between us. If the negotiations should terminate in failure, disturbing the amicable relations between us, the invitation would be either offensive or idle; Chili might, if irritated by the position of the United States as defined in my instruction, construe it to mean an appeal to the public opinion of the American republics against her. But still more important was it that this invitation should not be communicated to Peru and Bolivia without at the same time being communicated to Chili.

My hope therefore was that Mr. Adams and yourself would wait until the time came when the invitation could be properly extended to Chili. I thought it not improbable that you would consider the instructions sent you in reference to the special mission as sufficiently indicating that all questions bearing upon this very delicate and difficult negotiation were to be left to my discretion.

But if your instructions did not in your opinion bear this construction, I felt sure that you would, at my request, co-operate with me in such a line of conduct as, in my judgment, seemed necessary here. I can only regret therefore that my request reached you too late, and after you had carried out your instructions as you understood them.

The communication of the invitation to Peru of course now renders it absolutely necessary to extend the invitation to Chili at once, and I have so informed Mr. Blaine, to whom, as the successor of General Kilpatrick, the invitation is intrusted.

I have also written to Mr. Adams that he will consider my request of delay on his part as now withdrawn.

I am, &c.,