Luis Cárlos Rico to Ernest Dichman, August 11, 1880

Señor Rico to Mr. Dichman.

Mr. Minister: I have been duly impressed with the note of your honor dated the 31st of July last.

In it your honor informs me that in compliance with recent dispatches from your government you are instructed to make earnest representation to the Government 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 man-of-war Kearsarge, of the Navy of the United States, in the waters of the Bay of Chiriqui, and the withdrawal of the Adams of the same Navy from the Gulf of Dulce, and to inform me that this precipitate and inconsiderate action or the Panama executive is considered at Washington as wanting in friendship and even discourteous towards the United States, and that the gravity of this act is augmented by the fact that on the 6th of May last, only six days prior to the date of the communication of the president of the State of Panama to the United States consuls at Panama and Colon, in which said orders were conveyed to them, that functionary had been informed by your honor that so soon as the orders from the Navy Department of the United States could reach them, said vessels, they would cease their operations and proceed upon other duty, and that upon receiving these assurances on the part of your honor, assurances freely given for the purpose of calming what seemed to your honor unfounded disquietude, he expressed himself fully satisfied, and agreed with your honor that he would not take any further steps in the matter.

In this incident lamentable mistakes have occurred. In the first place, the order of the national executive, concerning the vessels Kearsarge and Adams, to the Government of Panama was altered in the course of transmission by the telegraph, which will not surprise your honor, as you are well acquainted with the difficulties to which telegraphic communication in this country is subjected, this being due to the inexperience of the operators, to the fact that the line from this capital to the Pacific runs in part through an uninhabited country, and to the difficulties caused by nature. The order referred to above said that in the Gulf of Dulce were not even ports open to commerce. Suppressing, as was the case, the words “not even,” the entire sense of the phrase is changed.

As your honor will readily understand, it was not intended to be understood that the vessels of war of friendly nations had no right to visit, for innocent purposes, ports not open to commerce. The words “not even,” omitted in the telegram, as it was received at Panama, referred to the fact that in the Gulf of Dulce were not even national or State officers to observe and aid, if necessary, the operations which it was said the Adams was carrying on; operations, the importance of which had been increased by the force of circumstances, placed the State of Panama and the whole republic in alarm.

Moreover, the orders given to the Government of Panama were entirely conditional that is to say, they were only to be complied with under the supposition that the information was correct, which reached the Federal Government from different quarters, concerning the objects which had brought said vessels of the United States Navy to Chiriqui and the Gulf of Dulce, and if the Government of Panama gave the orders another interpretation it was solely owing to the excitement caused by the presence of said vessels in the waters just mentioned, an excitement carried to the highest pitch by the news telegraphed to Panama from New York concerning the purposes of said expedition. To which may be added that the note which the Colombian representative at Washington addressed to the Hon. Mr. Evarts, under date of February 13, was not answered for a month afterwards; and, as in this note explanations were solicited touching the news published by the daily journals of New York about the sending of the vessels mentioned above to the State of Panama, it was natural that this silence should induce the thought that the objects attributed to them were correct.

Although the circumstances giving rise to the facts which have caused such a bad impression with the government at Washington, and which have pained the Government of Colombia, might be sufficient to excuse them, and to diminish the qualifications which the government at Washington has given to thorn, as appears from the note of your honor, the Executive, for the purpose of fully satisfying the Government of the United States, has ordered me to say to your honor that the steps taken by the Government of Panama, by reason of the latitude given to the above-mentioned orders, have not been approved by him, and that the necessary measures have been taken in order that in future the relations between this government and that of the United States will meet with particular care in the entire republic, and more especially in the State of Panama, for such is the wish and the convenience of the Government and people of Colombia.

With this object there has just been stationed there a considerable veteran force, commanded by distinguished officers, and the federal offices in the same State have been filled with citizens of high character, charged particularly to preserve peace, maintain the free transit across the Isthmus, and protect foreign interests.

I do not entertain the least doubt but what the aforegoing free explanations and the measures adopted by the Executive, in order to prevent a recurrence of cases similar to the one which has given rise to this answer on the part of high officials of the State of Panama, will satisfy completely the government of your honor. Nor do I hesitate in assuring your honor that my government desires nothing so much as to maintain the relations of sincere and profitable friendship which have always existed between the two countries, relations which are destined to increase in importance day by day, and which it would be lamentable to see interrupted even for a short time.

In closing, I beg to express my appreciation of the fact that, through the friendly and kind solicitude of the government of your honor, the cause of these trifling questions has been dissipated, and my desire that even the last vestige thereof will disappear promptly, in order that the field will be clear for discussions of much more utility, upon subjects of common interest, which will attract both the govemment which your honor represents and that of Colombia.

With sentiments, &c.,