Rufino Barrios to the Liberal party, February 24, 1883
General Barrios to the Liberal party.
Under date of February 24, 1883, General Don J. Rufino Barrios, constitutional President of Guatemala, addressed a letter to his friends among the Liberal party in the Republics of Central America, of which the following is a translation:
“The number of letters which I receive daily from political friends who reside in the different states of Central America, touching my intentions with respect to the union and with regard to the attitude attributed to me, the co-operation which is offered to me, and concerning divers details of the national question, that I consider it my duty to answer them all through the press, and once for all declare what has been my object and define the line of conduct which I propose to follow in this matter.
“Not from the present time only has the thought occupied me of reconstructing the country of Central America, torn to pieces in fatal days of sorrowful memory. It is a long time since I have cherished that idea, because I believe that in it is contained the solution of the most important questions connected with our future, and that it is the only basis upon which the edifice of improvement in these Republics can be erected, as much in the material and economical order of things as in the social and political. It has always seemed to me that we should do something to impart dignity and a representative character to our country in. order to leave children spected flag, and to open a road for ourselves to participate in the splendid conquests of progress. The circumstances, notwithstanding, had never been totally favorable to work for the realization of this idea. The consolidation of internal peace, the impulse which it was necessary to give the country in branches of vital importance, the arrangement of, questions of transcendent urgency, and many other incidents, the enumeration of which would be tiresome on this occasion, absorbed my attention and impeded me from taking before now the initiative required by the situation of these Republics. If, united, they should not at once form a great nation, a people truly strong and formidable, it is useless to say that to-day, separated as they are, they find themselves exposed to continuous dangers on account of their weakness, and lacking a durable tranquillity and positive progress.
“Towards the end of the year last past it seemed to me that the circumstances had changed. The peace and order of Guatemala were perfectly cemented; the efforts addressed to the maintenance of material advancement of the country and the intellectual and social improvement of its citizens were already making their beneficial results felt; there was no international dispute and no motive for insecurity or disconfidence. At this opportune time the President of the Republic of Salvador arrived at this capital. I spoke with him about the question of nationality, which became the subject of repeated conversations. He warmly seconded my initiative, and expressed to me his belief that he also thought the union indispensable, and that it was necessary we should unite our efforts in order to accomplish it. I proposed, and he accepted with pleasure, that we should employ, by common consent, every peaceable and praiseworthy measure within our reach to attain the end proposed. We agreed then to disseminate, by means of the press, the idea of the union; to amply discuss it, and to nominate commissioners who, in a frank, friendly, and fraternal way, should propose it to the other Governments of Central America, so that, if they accepted it, they should designate representatives to a congress that would fix the bases upon which the reconstruction of our country might be effected, and, if they rejected it, we could know that at present the point should not be insisted upon. By virtue of this engagement, the Government of this Republic nominated its commissioner, and since that time has wrought always and exclusively in the domain of frankness, of loyalty, and of peace, for the purpose of preparing and of knowing public opinion, and in this way to discover if it were possible to reach the much-desired end, which is the most generous of the aspirations entertained by all good patriots of Central America.
“Publications by the press, and letters from some persons who are known and others unknown, that have been addressed to me, above all from Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, in which the writers officiously give me an account of the way in which my initiative is taken, and posting me as to the rumors in circulation and the plans attributed to me, show me that special care is being taken to disfigure my intentions, and in making the ambitious views which I am supposed to entertain serve other ends. The rumor has been spread that it is now my intention to accomplish the union by force, and to impose myself upon the states as the arbiter of their destiny as President of the future Republic of Central America. The spirit of invention has even been carried to the extreme of asserting that armies have been organized and raised here, that the territory of some states has already been invaded, and that forces are marching to support by arms my projects of conquest and domination.
“Seeing clearly, then, that there are those who, with ungrateful malignity, try to incite against me the opinion of the people of the stated, and to make me appear as the author of senseless projects of ambition, I have to explain my conduct and my policy, so that at no time can the charge be made against me of desiring to disturb the peace to satisfy mean personal ambitions, covered with the veil of a patriotic sentiment. I have not desired to attribute these doings to the Governments of other states, notwithstanding that in many of the letters which I preserve their writers endeavor to persuade me that they are not entirely unknown to them. I have not wished to give those letters credit in this direction, because I Have with these Governments and their chiefs the best relations; because I have always been on my part consistent and loyal; because I have lent them, when occasion required, every service in my power, and have not caused them any injury; because, until now, what appears to be, is that, far from manifesting opposition or displeasure, they have received the commissioners with special demonstrations of sympathy, have promptly adhered to the plan of the union proposed to them, and they have manifested a desire to forget themselves in presence of the idea and the aspirations to reconstruct as soon as possible the disrupted nationality. But the enemies of those Governments and of their chiefs, and my enemies, scatter among the masses, without power to prevent this, those calumnious and absurd imputations; and in taking notice of them in these solemn moments, which ought to be devoted to the country, I cannot do less than to give the lie to such calumnies in the face of everybody.
“I do not flatter myself about it, nor do I desire, nor would I accept by any means, the presidency of Central America, and thus solemnly make this declaration under my word. I am tired of public life, and desirous to retire even from the Presidency of Guatemala, and I have not thought even for an instant to take upon my shoulders the serious engagements and responsibilities of the Government of Central America. I now wished for the union; I initiated and agitated and worked for it, but with the indispensable understanding and precise condition of not presiding over the Government which might be created. Seeing that my initiative has been construed into a thirst for command and a wish to subjugate the other states, my participation in the future in the enterprise presently projected shall be limited to sustaining, favoring, and seconding the idea of nationality and the labors that may be undertaken to realize it, in so far as the people may judge my co-operation indispensable.
“I did not think that there should be attributed to me an importance that would render proper the declaration that, in taking the initiative, I do not aspire to exercise power in the Government of the united Republic, but from the time that it is thought, or appears to be thought, that I might like it, and from the time when, to mask those interests and passions which are the true motives for running down nationality, my name and influence are brought in, the occasion is mine to protest with pleasure that I completely eliminate the latter and blot out the former completely, and I only give in favor of the cause my services in whatever way may be necessary.
“By means of the union I sought the establishment of a regimen truly liberal without any of those occasional wanderings from the inflexible rectitude of principles that are sometimes obliged to be incurred on account of the smallness and the exceptional condition of those countries, and which on account of that exception are not understood, nor easily perceived among great peoples in which society is very differently organized and educated, and in which there is not presented those contradictions that are here to be struggled with at each step. I know, as so also my political friends, what is meant, and the obligations that are imposed upon a governor by the adoption of liberal institutions in all their purity and amplitude. I know how far the respect for individual guarantees must go, and how far tolerance ought to be carried, and consent given to the exercise of the press, and of action. In spite of the illusions that I might wish to form, I have to acknowledge that the institutions and the regimen here planted are far distant from being what. I and from answering to the conception which I have formed as to what an administration purely liberal and always subject in everything to the rule of principle should be. And what happens here happens to the same or a great extent in the other states into which Central America is to-day divided. He who with the light and guide of strict principles analyzes and judges of everything that is done in them, will find that in reality it is far from being what it should be, and from preserving the purity and the severity of republican theories.
“It is not that the wan to decision nor the height of power makes any difference in the ideas of liberty and the absolute respect for the rights of individuals. In so far as refers to myself, I ardently wish to see implanted in my country a more genuine manifestation of the liberal regimen, limiting the action of the Government as far as it can be limited; extending all the individual guarantees, without exception, as far as they ought to be extended—and I think: myself capable of governing, and of thus governing with much satisfaction, without any other guide than the law, when there would not be those obstacles in the way which until now have made it impracticable to this extent.
“Here in Guatemala where prejudice and taken deepest root; here, where ignorance had pitched its camp; here, where intolerance and routine reigned, where there were conspiracies all places, and everywhere a struggle with created interests, a struggle with superstition, a struggle with the old tendencies that always looked to the past; a struggle with the inactivity and indifference of the n digines, almost totally brutalized, and a struggle with everything and everybody, it was in reality impossible to keep invariably within the circle of principles without ever departing from it, and without laying of saving those principles, means that would be efficient in overcoming such formidable obstacles. I have not done, therefore, what I would have wished to do in flowing my own inspirations and the ideas of my political faith, but only what I have been able to do so that the country should not sink into, anarchy; to temper myself to the circumstances and measure by their force the force and method of action of the Government to dominate them. The contrary would have been to precipitate the Republic into the abyss of revolution, from which, fortunately, I have been able to save it till to-day.
“With sorrow I entertain the opinion that while these Republics are divided much time much pass before it will be possible to found in them a regimen that will be liberal in the proper acceptation of the word. Peoples who, on account of their smallness and peculiar conditions, do not recognize as a dogma respect for law and for authority, who do not stop at the means of opposition which they employ, who do not deliberate nor represent, but who conspire and attack, cannot, in an improvised manner, be exclusively governed by laws and principles. Union would afford all sorts elements to the government, and greater representation. From this would result more liberty and guarantees for the people; a field would be opened for deliberation; there would be a powerful influence to have the triumph always accomplished by opinion and not by force; and, therefore, it is almost certain that liberal institutions could be implanted in all their splendor and purity. This is what I sought after, and I was encouraged by the hope that in the long run Central America would be able to boast of having accomplished it. By means of the union I also sought to secure peace, aggrandizement, and felicity; but if an initiative in this sense, in place of being a band of fraternal labor, should become the seed of discord and give place to sterile upsettings and disturbances, I shall not take For the maintenance of peace, I have thus far preserved the most open and friendly relations with the sister Republics, and have kept up an alliance, loyal and profitable for all, with the Governments of Salvador and Honduras. If those relations and that alliance which have given as a result order, work, prosperity and confidence, to devote oneself to the giving of an impulse to the advancement of public and private wealth are to be considered by the enemies of those Governments and by my enemies as a recourse to which they might appeal to belittle them, and to make me appear as imposing a law upon them, and as taking away their liberty of action, I believe that it belongs to me to take away, as far as depends upon me, that motive.
“It is some time now since I have been informed of the proceedings which have been resorted to for the purpose of discrediting the functionaries of the allied Republics, and of throwing into discredit some measures which, without my intervention, and even without my knowledge, emanated from them. The belief was created by some evil-intentioned that those measures which had produced discontent and animadversion were inspired, advised, or ordered by me; and in this way they were able to throw the chiefs of those Governments into discredit, supposing them imprudently subject to strange influences and undue suggestions, and the measures were discredited by making them appear as the effect of a compromise or of an exaction on the part of the Government of Guatemala. My enemies, ant those of this Republic, have known how to work at their own time this point, and thus, in proportion to the manner in which I have been made to figure as an author or instigator of all those measures which in any way wounded the opinion or caused disgust in the other Republics, they refused to concede me any participation in the ones which were well received and of recognized utility.
“This proceeding, which has not been unknown to me, has not prevented me, until the present, from continuing a faithful ally and decided friend of those Governments. From that alliance and that friendship peace was born; peace, not only for Guatemala, but also for those Republics among themselves, and for all Central America; and that was well worth the sacrifice I made in seeing myself converted into a target for backbiting. This system of slander has persecuted me sufficiently for me to understand what I ought to do about it, and I think I have sufficiently demonstrated that it does not signify to me, and that every sacrifice seems little when compared with the fulfilling of those engagements that are imposed by friendship and decency and the obligations prescribed by patriotism. In my political career I have met with cruel deceptions which have sown in my heart the thorn of doubt. I have tasted all the bitterness of deception and of abused confidence; I have seen that for many there is no weight so enormous nor a load more annoying than gratitude, and more than once has the correspondence been monstrous of some of those from whom I had reason to expect acknowledgment and adhesion, because they awed me everything.
“Those deceptions, notwithstanding, have not sufficed to freeze my blood with indifference and disconfidence, nor to break my faith and to persuade me that all is a lie and a speculation, nor to make me look with horror on humanity, and to curse the expansion of mind, with which I delivered myself without reserve to my friends, nor to ever inspire me with the thought of faltering in my loyalty, or of dispensing with strict confidence with my promises and my word. I have the satisfaction that my life has no stain of inconsistency or of deception. Never have I abandoned or deceived my friends; never have I left compromised those who followed my ideas and embraced my cause; and never have I promised in vain; because I have never promised what I could not, or had no intention to fulfill. When I am an enemy of a person, or of a Government, or of an idea, I declare it openly because I would think it a lowering of myself, any recurring to falseness or artifice, to combat them. The Governments of Salvador and of Honduras know with how much solicitude I have endeavored to maintain with them that friendship, and with how much highmindedness and decision I have cultivated it until now.
“But to-day something more delicate than vulgar attacks and unsubstantial calumny is treated of, because it concerns not only my name, but it might broadly compromise the rest and tranquility of Central America. The voice is spread that the intimate and cordial alliance on the part of Guatemala is the cause of calamity for those Republics. It is said that I command and desire to command tyrannically in them and that my will governs there. It is said that I am going to avail myself of that alliance to satisfy my ambition and domineer over Central America. All those imputations, which have already caused excitement and alarm, might well become, if they were allowed to run on, the origin of evil, and produce confusion and commotions whose unravellings it would not be easy to foretell.
“In the presence of consequences of this nature and magnitude it is my strict duty to make known that everything which I have done until to-day has been to respect the independence of the other Republics and the dignity of their Governments; that I have never given them orders nor imposed my will, and that I have limited myself always to aiding them and to Marching ever in accord with them out of deference to the peace and the benefit of all. In the future my conduct, counseled by what I learn from passing events, will follow a stricter mode, if it fits the occasion, entertaining larger views with regard to their independence.
“I repeat that I do not wish, nor would I accept, the presidency of Central America, and, as a proof that ambition does not guide me, the part which I shall take in the matter of the proposed nationality will be to attend to any worthy call to obtain it, that of co-operating in its realization, to send representatives to a congress if the other Governments attend, with the commissioners accredited by them, and to presently take such measures in agreement with them as they may desire. I do not separate myself from the idea, nor from the friends who proclaim it in good faith. I shall serve it in everything required of me, but I shall never consent to anything which may be done to discredit or to kill it. Neither the idea nor I have anything to fear from a clean discussion opposition, or from a worthy resistance; but we have to fear from ambuscades that are prepared in the dark, and under the appearance of friendship, because neither the idea nor my character can consent to use arms of this sort, which are the only ones with which such measures can with advantage be opposed.
“As for the interior politics of the other states, and especially of Salvador and of Honduras, I decline from this hour all responsibility and regret all intervention that may be attributed to me in any of the acts of their administration. I protest that I will not intervene in them in any way. Theirs be exclusively the merit and the glory of what they do the Benefit of the country, and theirs exclusive the obligation of responding for the measures which they adopt, and the decrees which they issue, and for the plan of conduct which they follow. I shall not consent that the injury shall be done them of having it believed that they are trampled by me, and dependent upon me; and shall endeavor by all means to justify more and more by my conduct that I respect the independence of those Republics and the positions which their supreme rulers have assumed. They have proved that they can, and know how to sustain themselves, and govern by themselves, and any indication on my part, far from being of advantage to them, might be injurious. From to-day, then, I give the lie beforehand to any one who might suppose that I meddle in any way with the polities of other states, or to any one who might attribute to me this or that step which may be taken in them, or who may suppose that I sustain this, that, or the other ruler, or combat this, that, or the other party. There is no necessity of saying this, nor, perhaps, does it belong to me to say it; Salvador and Honduras are as independent of Guatemala as Guatemala is of them.
“My friends know, then, what to expect with regard to what concerns me. I do not desert the ranks of those who defend the union, and they will always find me ready to contribute towards its realization; but I do not wish that my personality should serve as a pretext to combat or discredit it, nor to combat or discredit the chiefs of the other Republics. If it is not time to make the union, if the Government do not think it convenient to make it, I cannot change the circumstances nor the opinion; and to remain satisfied with myself, it is sufficient that I have worked in favor of the idea and with being disposed to second it.
“The persons who have favored me with their letters respecting the union will excuse me if I have not answered them in particulars; but they are very numerous and the answer which I ought to give them is the same for all, wherefore I have availed myself of the press. They will also at the same time excuse me when I tell them that my word is solemnly pledged, that I shall never under any circumstances commit the fault of discovering to any person any of their names nor the confidences which they have reposed in me. I beg them not to continue writing me by private conveyances, in a private way, but only by the ordinary post offices, because in everything I like frankness, and I do not wish that the mystery with which I am written to, and the precautions with which the letters are conveyed to me, should leave room to suppose that the writers have my consent to treat with me in that manner (the interior politics of other states), or that I have agreed to the purposes expressed by them, or am disposed to favor the indications which their letters contain, or the projects revealed by them.
“Publicly I reply to all, and request those who may see fit to continue honoring me with their correspondence, that they should abstain from doing this in a way which gives margin to unfavorable conjectures and to suspicions which might cause them some injury.
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