John Carrié to Commandant Autran, December 18, 1877
Mr. Carrié to Commandant Autran.
Monsieur le Commandant: I have received through the medium of the Chargé of the Consulate-General of Spain your two dispatches of the 17th instant, the first one remitting an extract of the instructions which have been transmitted to you by the admiral of the Spanish squadron of the Antilles, the second containing a recapitulation of the grievances of His Catholic Majesty against the Government of Hayti, and presenting the reparations which, without previous discussion, you demand of it in a space of time which must not exceed seventy-two hours.
I have hastened to communicate your dispatches to the President of the republic, in his council of secretaries of state, and I must not let you remain ignorant of the fact that my government, without wishing to discuss at present all the facts advanced in the last, reserving for itself this discussion for a more seasonable period, has been painfully affected by its expressions, which neither spare its just susceptibilities nor those of the nation whose destinies it directs. Whatsoever the motives which may have dictated a dispatch of such importance, the international right assuredly imposed upon it the obligation of abstaining from all offensive and unmerited expressions, inasmuch as the most constant preoccupation of my government has ever been to conserve always in its intercourse with the foreign agents accredited to us that respect of diplomatic usage which establishes so much better the justice of a cause, inasmuch as it only makes use of the force of real and decisive arguments, completely void of all injurious expressions.
Right and justice commanded, under the circumstances, a kindly reciprocity. In proof of my assertion, I take to witness the high impartiality of all the diplomatic agents constantly in relation with us; and I even doubt that the Consul-General of Spain in Hayti could dispute the evidence and the veracity of it in presence of the long correspondence which my government has had the honor to exchange with him on the different questions which occupy us still until this day.
The opinion which I have just expressed in regard to diplomatic forms and proprieties does not seem to me to be foundationless. It is approved, you will admit, by the authority of the greatest publicists and lawyers, and it is sustained by these masters, whose precepts are followed by all civilized nations of the globe, that my government shall examine, in due time, with your own, if it will allow it, the communications which you make and the grievances which you have accumulated against it.
With a Consulate-General of Spain acting in Hayti, your government has thought that it was necessary to confide to its navy the care of settling the difficulties pending between our two governments, and the first dispatch which you have had forwarded to me sets forth in a lengthy manner your grievances. You do not submit them, as I have already stated, to previous discussion, and, without waiting for any reply from us, you dictate the reparations which you demand.
It has seemed to my government that such a course of proceeding was little in conformity with the usages of contemporaneous international right, audit has always believed, not without some reason, perhaps, that the signification of an ultimatum which gives a mandatory a considerable power, namely, that of placing in peril the greatest national and foreign interests, should only be done after exhausting entirely all measures of conciliation of the nature of preventing a violent rupture.
To listen to the grievances of your government, placing under the eyes of commissioners, provided with full powers, all the correspondence exchanged to that effect by our respective agents, all the papers pertaining to it, enlightening the questions by means of the torch of truth, supported by the opinion of the great masters of the science of law, exposing the causes of the loyal conduct which we have constantly held, placing the commissioners of Spain in position so as to judge in an impartial manner to recognize the grievances, if any are really found, to discuss and establish definitely the just claims which they might occasion—such was Mr. le Commandant, the duty of my government, and it pertained to you to put it in a way to be able of fulfilling it in a manner worthy as well as loyal.
You have thought differently and preferred the resource of the ultimatum.
Our right, our duty, our dignity, demand that we protest against such a proceeding, to repel with energy, but with the circumspection due in such circumstance the intentions and the stand taken which you attribute to us, to have desired to give insult to a nation, whose sovereign has received from President Boisrond Canal, from the very accession of the new government, as proof of his desire of maintaining and of binding more closely our good understanding, a letter which until this day has remained unanswered!
Nothing, however, has been able to alter our sentiments in regard to Spain.
We have attributed to you having more pressing occupations the delay which the President of our Republic has personally experienced. The annoyances of all kinds which we have had to endure, we have attributed them not to resolutions settled on beforehand by Spain, but to interested suggestions, to a concourse of circumstances, the effects of which have been felt as growing out of such a state of affairs, and we concluded that the moment would arrive when all these difficulties would be settled.
After your dispatch, after the signification of your ultimatum, remains there yet place for propositions of conciliation and good understanding? We believe so. For my government, in presenting to you its painful emotions in protesting against your ultimatum, has kept itself within the law, and has respected all the usages enjoined in like circumstances. It is here that the principle of reciprocity would prove blamable, for it is not allowed to do that which is blamable. Hence, if Spain desires it as we do, the moment has arrived for Haytian and Spanish commissioners, clothed with full powers by their respective governments, in order to open conferences in relation to our pending difficulties, that we may settle them, allotting to each the part of responsibility which ought to rest on him; thus we will arrive at establishing for the future real relations of peace and good unity. This is what I have the honor to propose to you in the name of my government. A question of law and justice can only be settled in accordance with immutable principles, wherein lies the force and greatness of nations.
I shall not conclude, Monsieur le Commandant, without informing you of two resolutions of my government. One will already have been accomplished when you shall receive this dispatch.
The members of the diplomatic corps have been called together at the national palace, and we have given them cognizance of your dispatch and of my answer, which I transmit to you through the medium of your Consulate-General. We have deemed it our duty to act thus under the circumstances, for the foreign interests which will find themselves involved (in case of a rupture), from which may God protect us, are so extended, that we must take all the measures which are necessary to release us from responsibility, and to let those bear the weight on whom it belongs—that of the gauntlet which is thrown to us out of motives which the entire world may be able to appreciate. This last consideration has dictated us the second one of our resolutions.
We will hasten to give publicity to a memorial which shall relate all the facts of our difference of opinion with all the pieces of the demands annexed.
The opinion of my government, I do not hide it from you, Monsieur le Commandant, is that the Government of His Catholic Majesty will feel how necessary it is to enlighten itself before having recourse to extreme measures, which assuredly it would regret later; if it would discover too late that unfortunate promptings had caused it to deviate from the path of right and truth; a path which it has always followed when called upon to settle differences with nations which sustain relations of peace and good friendship with it.
It is in the firm hope, Monsieur le Commandant, that the propositions of my government will be accepted by that of His Catholic Majesty, for whom I have the honor to beg you to be pleased to receive the assurances of my highest consideration.