Tomas Ayon to The foregoing are true copies and translation, February 5, 1870

Hon. Tomas Ayon to Mr. C. N. Riotte.

Sir: * * * I received the note with which you addressed me under date of 29th ultimo, communicating to me that toward end of last August, (here follows a literal repetition of the contents of my note.) I laid your dispatch before the President of the republic, and was ordered to thank you for your good offices in the matter. The conduct of Captain Douglas, who, from the fact that he entered into independent contracts on new steamer lines, was considered to have left the company’s service, had indeed caused surprise, not alone in Nicaragua, but also in the neighboring republics, for his open participation, by carrying elements of war to the rebels, who were devastating the country. The government was engaged in collecting all proofs in the case, with a view to remonstrate against the conduct of the employés of the company, but the measure it has taken in order to prove its neutrality dispenses the government from taking further steps.

If, during the revolutionary movements in other republics, the good faith and strict neutrality of the Panama Railroad Company has been doubted, the government is ignorant of the causes. So far as regards Nicaragua, the conduct of Captain Douglas furnishes cause for just incriminations, which the company, by dismissing him from service, has dispensed.