Melquiades Valderrama to Asta-buruaga, November 22, 1880

No. 115 Mr. Valderrama to Mr. Asta-Buruaga.

Sir: Referring to the dispatch of this date, No. 29, I think it opportune to make mention of other facts connected with the strange attitude assumed by Mr. Christiancy during the preliminary negotiations which preceded the holding of the conference of Arica.

You know that in our country, as in Peru and Bolivia, the national sentiment is extremely susceptible, and is profoundly affected by any act or demonstration which is capable of being regarded’ as a disregard, even though involuntary, of the considerations due to the national dignity.

Knowing these sentiments, the Government of the United States endeavored with great delicacy to learn privately, and through the medium of its respective diplomatic agents, what would be the disposition of the belligerents respecting the acceptance of the mediation of the United States.

The spirit which led it to proceed in this manner was most obvious; on the one hand, a desire to be assured of the success of its conciliatory attempts, and, on the other hand, to find itself in a condition to make simultaneously to the belligerents the formal offer of its mediation. In this way it perfectly safe-guarded the natural delicacy of the three countries.

In the high character of mediator and common friend which the United States proposed to assume, it became an object of especial attention to treat the belligerents with identical consideration. It was therefore indispensable that the necessary precautions should be taken so that no one of them should appear as taking the first step toward asking or seeking for peace.

Mr. Osborn seconded most faithfully, in our judgment, the noble policy of his government. The 5th of August last, he began by inquiring privately, in an interview what would be the disposition of my government with respect to the mediation which the United States proposed to offer.

The reply given on the 10th of the same month informs Mr. Osborn that Chili would have no objection to accepting it, provided that it had the assurances of equal acceptance on the part of the allies.

Two months later, that is to say, on the 6th of October, Mr. Osborn, for the first time, offered to my government, as you may see by the accompanying copy No. 1, the formal mediation of the United States, and on the 7th, as appears in copy No. 2, he received the reply, in which the Government of Chili informed him that his offer of mediation was accepted on our part.

Meanwhile, in the time which elapsed between the conversation held with Mr. Osborn, in the early part of August, and the formal offer of mediation which was made in the beginning of October, Mr. Christiancy thought it proper to come from Lima to Santiago, where he remained several days, toward the end of August, in order to be able to return in safety to that capital. The unexpected appearance of Mr. Christiancy in Chili could not fail, however, to attract attention, causing the very general impression that the sudden voyage of the American minister was intimately related to the question of mediation.

The disquietude which was occasioned expressed itself in Congress, wherein my government was interpolated touching this matter, about the middle of September.

The government responded, stating what had theretofore occurred in the premises, that is to say, that there did not exist any formal proposal of mediation, since there had merely been exchanged with the minister of the United States, Mr. Osborn, certain views in a private form concerning the projected office of mediation.

A few days later the journals of Lima published a note from the foreign minister of Peru, dated the 14th September, and addressed to Mr. Christiancy. In this note occurred the following:

Informed by you concerning your voyage to Santiago de Chili, to which place you had gone with the object of proposing to the government of that republic the mediation of the United States of America, in order to negotiate a peace with Peru and Bolivia, a mediation which had been accepted by Chili, in virtue whereof you proposed it to my government, the latter resolved, after conferring with the minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Bolivia, to accept the offered mediation, &c.

It is seen, therefore, by the paragraph I have quoted, that at the same time that my government declared, toward the middle of September, in the chamber of deputies, that up to that time the mediation in question had not been formally accepted, nor even officially offered, Mr. Christiancy was affirming, in his turn to the Government of Peru, that he had come to our country for the purpose of offering it to my government, and that in view of the acceptance given by this government, he made a like offer to the government of that republic.

The affirmations made by my government before one of the branches of the legislative body, and the affirmations of Mr. Christiancy to the Government of Peru, are altogether irreconcilable.

It does not appertain to me to qualify herein the motives which Mr. Christiancy may have obeyed in making such a declaration. My purpose is simply limited to setting upon record that the affirmations of my government rested faithfully upon the truth.

Mr. Christiancy did not present to my government credentials authorizing him to act either in respect of the projected mediation or in respect of any negotiation whatever. He was, therefore, in our country simply as a distinguished guest, and in no wise as the authorized organ of the government. If Mr. Christiancy had made, as he affirms, the offer of mediation, my government would have found itself under the painful necessity of rejecting such offer, because it did not conform to the usual practices between two nations; neither would it have been natural for the Government of the United States, which, with such delicate tact, had put forth its conciliatory efforts to have set aside its official representative in Chili, Mr. Osborn, in order to confide the continuation of this delicate business to a simple visitor, worthy of all respect, but lacking toward us the representative character.

These well-founded considerations led my government to think that perhaps the note of the foreign minister of Peru might not faithfully express the ideas of Mr. Christiancy, and it has awaited until now, but in vain, a correction on the part of that high functionary, which would re-establish the truth of the facts.

Subsequently there came to the hands of my government a note which the same Mr. Christiancy deemed it proper to address to Mr. Lynch, chief of the Chilian expedition operating upon the north of Peru, and that note has confirmed, to a certain extent, the ideas which the minister of Peru attributes to Mr. Christiancy with respect to the form in which the mediation was offered. I inclose herewith, in copies designated as numbers 3, 4, and 5, the note of the minister of Peru to which I have made reference, and also the dispatches exchanged between Mr. Christiancy and Mr. Lynch. It is not for the present a part of my purpose to take note of the proceeding employed by the minister of the United States in addressing himself to a military employé of Chili, for the purpose of making representations to him, which, from the high source from which they emanated, might induce the chief of our forces to deviate from the instructions of his government. My purpose at this time is simply to inform you with precision of the various steps which preceded the conference of Arica.

You will take an opportunity to express these facts to the Government of the United States in confidential form.

May God guard you.