occupation be short it will not affect the guarantee for the Peruvian bondholders; if it be long, we might perhaps be induced under certain circumstances to pay the interest coming due on those bonds ourselves, to be deducted from the amount Peru might claim of us out of the proceeds of the guano sold by us, for which we must account on the day of settlement, or to make some other equitable arrangement with the bondholders. This referred, of course, to the old bonds only. No new contract or stipulation made by Peru subsequent to the Spanish occupation of the islands would have any validity for Spain. I have no observation to make on the nature of this communication which will not suggest itself to you from the terms of the proposition itself. * * I have the honor to remain, with the highest respect, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. No. 135.] Mr. Perry to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: During a part of the interview I had with Mr. Llorente yesterday, the conversation was general upon the subjects of business and interest between the two governments. Among other things he told me that the reported advances made by some of the leaders of the Dominicans soliciting terms of peace were true. Those leaders had made proposals to conclude peace upon the basis that Spain should retain the protectorate of that country, but leave the Dominicans free to govern themselves. Mr. Llorente said that the reply of Spain was, in brief terms, unconditional submission by the people in arms against her, as a thing demanded by her military honor. After this submission should be made, Spain would listen to any proposition tending to satisfy the people of Santo Domingo, and relieve herself of the burden of that dependency. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, No. 140.] Secretary of State, Washington. Mr. Perry to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I hope to save the mail steamer by sending direct to Queenstown, and thus to put in your hands a press copy of Mr. Consul Dabney's letter from Teneriffe of the 29th ultimo, received one hour since. Though the voyage of the steamer between Teneriffe and Cadiz has been unusually long, perhaps the Calabar may not have reached Liverpool in time for Mr. Dabney's despatches for you to be put on board for New York. 30 D C * Nothing has been heard here of the new pirate vessel now undoubtedly under the command of Semmes, who escaped from the wreck of the Alabama, since the transfer of her armament and crew as related by Mr. Dabney. With great respect, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. HORATIO J. PERRY. Mr. Perry to Mr. Adams. MADRID, November 9, 1864. DEAR SIR: I hasten to enclose for your use a copy of a letter received half an hour since from our consul at Teneriffe, in hope it may precede the arrival of the Calabar at Liverpool. I also send a copy to Mr. Seward. Very truly, &c., &c., your obedient servant, His Excellency CHARLES F. ADAMS, &c., &c., London. HORATIO J. PERRY. Mr. Dabney to Mr. Perry. CONSULATE OF THE U. S. OF AMERICA, TENERIFFE, CANARY ISLANDS, Teneriffe, October 29, 1864. SIR: The English blockade-runner steamer Laurel, Ramney master, arrived at this port on the night of the 21st of October for the purpose of getting coals and to land forty-two men, said to have belonged to the English steamer Sea King, which foundered near the Desertas, of Madeira, and who were picked up in their boats near those islands. On landing, Captain Corbett, late master of the Sea King, declared that he should maintain the crew and send them home at his expense, as he did not wish to trouble the consul with them. He placed them at a hotel instead of a sailors' boarding-house, at double the expense of sailors usually, and all the expenses to be paid by himself with money obtained from Bruce, Hamilton & Co., to whom it is said he brought a letter of introduction. All this appeared so remarkable that my suspicions were excited at once, and failing to elicit anything definite from the different employés of this house, I imagined that these men were intended for some confederate vessel to call here for them. I therefore went to the commander de la Varina and stated my suspicions and asked him to investigate the circumstances of the loss of the Sea King. Two days elapsed before he received any answer, and it was a remarkable one which he showed to me. It was to the effect that the crew belonged, as stated, to the Sea King, which did not founder, but was sold at sea, the transfer there made and the price paid down, and that therefore the captain paid all expenses of his crew here and their passages hence to Liverpool in the steamer of the 30th proximo. The inference is that another transfer has been made in this vicinity, (similar to that of the Alabama at Terceira two years ago,) of a vessel suitable for a cruiser to the confederates; that this crew brought her from England to the place of rendezvous, and that the Laurel brought her confederate officers and crew out and transferred them at the same place, and that we shall ere long begin to hear of her depredations on our commerce. I went to the British consulate, where I was kindly shown her register, but was not allowed to make any extracts. However, I examined it well, and wrote down her description afterward from memory, which I believe may be relied on as correct, and which is as follows: Screw steamer Sea King; iron frame, wood planking; 1,017 tons gross, 990 net; 200 horsepower; built at Glasgow in 1863: lately owned by William Wallace, banker, in London, and others; sailed from London; cleared for Bombay; is three-masted, square rigged, round stern; has a poop and bust head. This is all the information I have been able to collect and which I hasten to communicate to you. I shall address Mr. Seward and also Mr. Adams to-morrow by the English packet, and communicate these same particulars. The crew are yet here and are to go to-morrow in the steamer to Liverpool, then due from the west coast of Africa, the Calabar. I remain, sir, &c., &c., HORATIO J. PERRY, WILLIAM N. DABNEY. U. S. Chargé d'Affaires, Madrid. Mr. Perry to Mr. Seward. [Extract.] No. 144.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Madrid, November 22, 1864. SIR: Allow me to congratulate you upon the re-election of President Lincoln to a second term of power. We have just received the telegrams which announce it. Nobly have our people responded to the principles set forth by you at Auburn. No doubt, from the extraordinary circumstances which preceded and surround this great act, it had come to signify the life and the strength or the decay and death of the American republic. We are saved; but that is not all. The effect of this event upon Europe can hardly be overestimated. Never has the political action of any people fixed to a higher degree the anxious attention of the world outside their own limits. It has been felt here that the great crisis had at length come; that after a career of unexampled prosperity, our republic, attacked in its vitals by the insurrection of a compact class strong enough to display a military and a political power and conduct such as have had no parallel in the history of insurrections, after a defence by the government incomparable also for the magnitude of the military resources displayed, now called upon by the organic law to submit to the people themselves, in the midst of this gigantic contest, the question of the renewal of the whole edifice of government from base to capital, forced to afford them an opportunity to shift a little upon their shoulders, if they pleased, the great burden of the war, of the finances, of the national fatigue; to yield a little, if they chose, only a little, of the eternal principles of justice and state polity for the hope of present ease, or to sustain those principles firmly, to carry that burden steadily-to save the republic-save the great interests of mankind-and, instead of receding and declining, to bravely push the wheel of human progress forward over every obstacle, at the cost of every sacrifice-it was felt, I say, that the people of the American republic, called upon in these circumstances to quietly and freely manifest their true will and judgment in secret ballot, where all that there is great and noble in men, as well as all that there is small and dark, alike find expression, held in their hands, in fact, the practical solution of that historic question which has troubled the world's statesmen for ages, whether the republic could rightfully be considered a permanent form of government; whether, in the great crisis of a nation's history, a democratic republic offers in itself any sufficient guarantee of its own continuance; whether it can, notwithstanding the philosophic perfection of its theory, legitimately take its place alongside the monarchies and aristocracies which have subsisted in the world as a stable form of government. The history of Athens and the little states of Greece is not favorable. Rome never was a democratic republic; and when that democracy did shake off the patrician rule, it was only to give power to Cæsar. Venice and the other oligarchic republics of the middle ages do not meet the question; Switzerland is more favorable, but does not solve it. The experience of France is fatal; the epoch of Cromwell in England was at once unsatisfactory and transitory. The practical question remained yet for our time and for our people? Can a great democratic republic stand? Can it resist the ambition of those classes which a community of occupation or of interest will create? Can it resist the ambition of its statesmen, of its generals? Can it employ great armies? Can it stand the shock of civil war? Is there really in the masses of men, practically considered, that virtue and those qualities indispensable for the prolonged continuance in adversity as well as in prosperity of a state whose onl⚫ political guarantee is the will of the whole people freely expressed? That is the momentous question which has moved Europe profoundly in respect to us, and fixed the gaze of peoples upon our people at this moment with an intensity of interest you at home may not have appreciated. In the fate of the United States went the hopes of men for a long period to come, and that fate, in the estimation of those outside our limits, hung notably upon the issue of this ballot. The people of Spain like the rest have felt the pervading interest of this moment. I have not said a word to you officially whilst the great question was pending, but I send you now with my whole heart the expression of my own relief at this solemn verdict of our people, and I send you also the first shout of joy from Spain. * * With sentiments of the highest respect, sir, your obedient servant, SIR: Your despatch of the 22d of November, No. 144, has been received. Your congratulations upon the result of the presidential election are as eloquent as your exposition of its transcendent influence is just and complete. I am, sir, your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY, Esq., &c., &c., Madrid. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Perry to Mr. Seward. No. 147.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: At a conference between the Spanish minister of State and myself, which took place to-day at my house, the subject of your instruction No. 45, of November 15, was fully discussed. Every conceivable argument was employed to obtain the result proposed by me in view of your instruction, as stated in my last, of December 2d; but I am sorry not to be able to report success. Mr. Llorente said that, with all deference to the opinion of Mr. Seward, and with a most grateful appreciation of the kind offices of the President, he could not himself feel any confidence in the result of negotiations to be commenced here at this time. The government of Peru seemed to be in a very unsettled condition. A new cabinet appeared on the scene every few weeks. From the state of public opinion and of political parties in Peru, as represented to him, it was evident that any settlement arranged with a Peruvian negotiator at Madrid would be greatly exposed to a rejection at Lima. The treaty of peace and recognition negotiated here by Mr. Asma some years since had met that fate. They would not abide by it. I said that the case now was very different, as any settlement arrived at here in pursuance of the President's advice would undoubtedly be supported by the influence of the United States for its acceptance at Lima. Mr. Llorente was afraid it would be useless. The military preparations of Peru were being urged forward with all the haste their resources permitted. They might oblige the Spanish admiral to take hostile action at any moment. We did not even know whether hostilities had not already commenced. We did know that Peru was making every effort to prepare an expedition to attack the Spanish ships at anchor at the Chincha islands before their consorts should arrive. Mr. Llorente mentioned the names and descriptions of the Peruvian vessels, and appeared to be well informed. That attack might be made, or the Spanish commander might find himself placed in such circumstances as to feel obliged to make an attempt to destroy those preparations before they should be completed. Mr. Llorente had no doubt of the result in either case, but this state of things was not favorable to any negotiation here. Even if the Spanish government were to countermand its instructions to Admiral Pareja, or suspend their execution in view of President Lincoln's advice to Peru, the time necessary for communication between Washington and Lima, and afterwards for the arrival at Madrid of a negotiator with instructions prepared in accordance with the President's advice, would carry forward the day for beginning such negotiations into the month of February, at least, and it was impossible to calculate how much time would be consumed before a definite result could be arrived at and made known in the Pacific states. Meantime the present indefinite state of things was giving rise to troublesome complications with the other Spanish-American states. Spain was already almost at war with Chili, without object or profit of any description. Everything counselled her Majesty's government to bring this state of things to a close promptly one way or the other, and know, at least, precisely where they stood. On the other hand, said Mr. Llorente, there was really nothing more for us to say or do here than what had been done already. I had already been informed that the Spanish admiral would not move in this business of his own accord before January, and that, then his first steps would not be hostile, but the reverse. This would certainly give time for the good counsel of the United States to be heard at Lima. He regretted that the President had not thought it better to advise the government of Peru to negotiate on the spot with the plenipotentiary sent out by Spain for that purpose. Perhaps that might yet be the result, if Mr. Seward, as was quite probable, should have again reflected upon the actual situation of this business. Admiral Pareja had been furnished with full powers to negotiate with the government of Peru and bring this business to a settlement. In reply to a remark of my own, tending to draw from him the precise character of the instructions finally given to Admiral Pareja, Mr. Llorente said, (and this statement, you will notice, amounts to a considerable modification of the communication made to me on the 13th of October,) that I might write to my government that the instructions of the Spanish admiral and plenipotentiary gave him discretionary power, and were exceedingly moderate and conciliatory, so much so that they could not fail to recommend themselves to Mr. Seward's approbation. With sentiments of the highest respect, sir, I remain your obedient servant, HORATIO J. PERRY. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington. |