Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1882
No. 45.
Mr. Trescot
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Viña del Mar, Chili, February 3, 1882. (Received March 7.)
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 6, January 24, I have the honor to inclose copies of the confidential letter of Mr. Balmaceda, the secretary for foreign affairs, and my reply thereto.
I have, &c.,
Señor Balmaceda to Mr. Trescot.
Viña del Mar, January 27, 1882.
Sir: In the confidential conference that we had in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Santiago, on the 16th of the present month, you made known to me the text of the official communication which Mr. Kilpatrick, the minister plenipotentiary of the United States in Chili, addressed to his government under date of August 15, last year. The moment I heard it read I observed to you that it contained serious errors and grave inaccuracies, asking you for a copy of it. You had the kindness to send it to me on the 17th day of the present month of January, with a confidential letter in which you copy for me a part of another official communication addressed by Mr. Kilpatrick to his government on the 2d of December, last year.
In the confidential conference that we had on the 19th of this month, in the same Department of Foreign Affairs in Santiago, I pointed out to you the errors of fact and inaccuracies of appreciation which the said dispatches of Mr. Kilpatrick to his government of the 15th of August and the 2d of December contained.
I think proper, considering the delicate diplomatic situation of the two governments, to put into writing the verbal declarations made to you by the undersigned in the two conferences referred to.
With regard to the communication of the 15th of August, I told you that the present President of the Republic, Mr. Santa Maria, and Mr. Joseph Francis Vergara, the minister of war and navy, on the 15th of August, 1881, and now minister of the interior, had never spoken to Mr. Kilpatrick about the war on the Pacific, nor about the instructions of Mr. Blaine, nor about the conditions of peace, nor had ever made, as it is natural to understand, a promise of any kind to Mr. Kilpatrick; that my honorable predecessor, Mr. Valderrama, and Messieurs George Huneeus and Luis Aldunate, having met together in the house of Mr. Kilpatrick, to whom he wished to make known his instructions, Mr. Huneeus confined himself to reading and translating them, without either Mr. Valderrama or Mr. Huneeus or Mr. Aldunate giving or pronouncing any opinion about them; that Mr. Kilpatrick, having spoken to Mr. Aldunate, before he was secretary of the treasury, about the advantage of Chili, bearing in mind the wishes of his government with regard to the not annexing of Tarapaca by means of a legislative act only, but rather by the natural consent of a definite treaty of peace, Mr. Aldunate stated to him that it was an idea worthy of being taken into consideration, which reply Mr. Aldunate personally informed me of about the time the said conversation took place; and finally that the ideas that constitute the basis of the purposes disclosed in the instructions of Mr. Blaine had not been accepted, as is alleged, by any of the persons referred to in the dispatch of August 15, 1881.
In reference to the note of the 2d of December, 1881, I told you that Mr. Kilpatrick [Page 72] had spoken to me three times before my taking charge of the office of secretary of foreign affairs about the instructions of Mr. Blaine, and that on the three occasions I answered Mr. Kilpatrick that I had formed no opinion about them, leaving it to the government of Mr. Pinto, or that of Mr. Santa Maria, about to be inaugurated, to pronounce an opinion about any matter of exclusive jurisdiction of public power; that after the 18th day of September, 1881, the day on which I was named secretary of foreign affairs, although I saw Mr. Kilpatrick several times, then very sick and almost always in his bed, I did not speak with him about the instructions, or the wishes of his government, but in reference to the note of October 8, 1881, which I was obliged to address to him in consequence of the publication of the memorandum of Mr. Hurlbut to Mr. Lynch. In that communication the government of Santa Maria defined its future policy in the war, and the necessary conclusions of peace; and on my part there was neither then nor afterwards not even an insinuation that would authorize Mr. Kilpatrick to give to his government the assurances that he gave in the name of Chili in his dispatch of the 2d of December, 1881.
I added that Mr. Kilpatrick wrote to his government under the constant influence of a specially grave infirmity, and that he composed his dispatches falling into very serious and without doubt involuntary errors. No reason is seen, nor can any be imagined, that would induce him to act in an opposite manner to that which he always displayed for the maintenance of friendship and cordiality between the Governments of Chill and the United States; but I would fear to compromise that same good and cordial understanding if I did not put into writing the declarations substantially as I made them to you in the conferences of the 16th and 19th of the present month of January.
The note of the 22d of November, 1881, of Mr. Blaine to General Kilpatrick, made public, and in which is copied a part of the dispatch of Mr. Kilpatrick to Mr. Blaine, on the date referred to, of the 15th of August, 1881, especially obliges me to proceed in this manner.
With expressions of the highest consideration, &c.,
Mr. Trescot to Señor Balmaceda.
Viña del Mar, Chili, January 30, 1882.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th instant, marked “confidential.”
I found in it a fuller and more precise statement of the general remarks which you made at the conference between us when the dispatches of General Kilpatrick were communicated to you.
When I called your attention to these dispatches I of course recognized your right to correct any misconception of the purpose or language of the government into which General Kilpatrick may have fallen, and I have now to express my satisfaction at the courteous manner in which you have pointed out what you consider to be such misconception.
Your frank recognition at the conference that the action of the United States Government was properly based upon the confidence which it naturally reposed in its diplomatic representative in Chili, and, resting upon this information, was guided by due consideration of the rights, interests, and supposed wishes of Chili, relieved this incident of any unpleasant influence upon our discussions, and will, I hope, render any further reference to it unnecessary.
But you will readily understand that in receiving and transmitting to my government this communication, it is my duty to guard against any admission that General Kilpatrick was alone or altogether in error.
After many years of varied, brilliant, and honorable service he died in the discharge of his duty. How far the long and severe illness, to which you refer with such kindly and honorable sympathy, incapacitated him for the grave responsibility with which he was charged, I am unable to judge, especially when you call to my attention that between the dates of the dispatches of August 17 and December 2 there passed between you and himself the communications of October 8, in which were manifested the most cordial and complete understanding between you.
That there has been a very serious misunderstanding upon a very important subject between gentlemen alike honorable and responsible, there can be no doubt.
But owing to the death of General Kilpatrick it only remains for me to accept with entire good faith the statements you have made, and to express the conviction that if General Kilpatrick were alive to compare his recollections with yourself, and the distinguished gentlemen whom you represent, the apparent misunderstanding would be explained to the satisfaction of all the parties concerned.
With sentiments of the highest consideration, &c.,