The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-10 00:00:00

~_l~2

~~~~.~~

THri§PANISHAMERICAN BOND.

HOLDERS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—I am authorised by his Excellency the Peruvian
Minister to publish the enclosed copies of a letter from
his Excellency to the Chairman of the Committee of
Spanish American Bondholders, and that gentleman's
reply; and with that view I have the honour to transmit
them to you, requesting you to give them a place in your
columns.

His Excellency hoped that Mr. Robinson or Mr.
Powles, whom he only knows in their quality of chair-
man and deputy-chairman, would have repeated can-
didly, and without reserve, at the meeting of the pew.
vian Bondholders, all that passed at their interviews, as
stated in his letter to the former, and he feels sensibly
his disappointment on observing that a contrary course
was pursued, and :that even now, at this moment, cir-
cumstances of a grave character are endeavoured to be
kept secret, and a direct reply to his letter withheld.—
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
FRANCISCO DE RIVERO,
Consul-General for Peru.

Consulate General of Peru,
29, We'beck-street, Jan. 8, 1849.
P.S. A lo:tor of a similar nature was addressed to the
deput) -chairman at the same time, but up to this date
no reply has been received.

'OPY OF H. E. MR. OSMA'S LETTER TO
MR. ROBINSON.
No. 15, Portland-place, Jan. 5, 1849.
Sir,—lu your opening address to the Bondholders
yesterday, as reported in the Morning Chronicle, ex-
plaining to the meeting what had taken place between
us since my arrival to the day I sent you my proposals
officially, there are several circumstances mis-stated
which I beg you will have the candour to rectify.
I arrived in London on the 13th of November, some
days after you had received advices from Mr. M'Lean,
of Lima, informing you that, by the packet of October,
my Government would transmit me instructions to
enter into an arrangement of the debt of a more ample
character than those which I received on leaving Lima
for England, as at the period of my departure it was not
yet known to my Government that the proposals made
previously, in May, had been rejected. A few days after
my arrival here you had the goodness to call upon
me, and I returned your visit immediately, although
I had not the pleasure of meeting you upon
either of those occasions, The 4th of December I
received the fresh instructions for which I waited; and
on the following day I wrote you a note begging you
would be so good as to give me an interview; you re-
plied reverting to the object, and saying you would call
upon me on the morning of the 7th, with the deputy-
chairman of the committee (Mr. Powles). Upon that
occasion, the 7th, the first conference passed between us,
which you have stated to the meeting to have taken
place on the 20th December. At that conference I told
you that the proposals made in May would be further
improved, and that for my own part I felt much disposed
to do away with every difficulty in the way of a satisfac-
tory settlement. It was also understood that my pro-
posals were not to be sent you until after the 17th, that
being the day of departure for the Pacific mails, and
because I had to receive from the consignees of the guano
various data necessary to prepare them. On the 9th I
had an interview with Lord Palmerston, and when his
Lordship spoke to me on the subject of the Peruvian
Bondholders, I told his Lordship that I had reason to
hope, from the tenor, of the fresh instructions which I
had just received from my Government, as well as from
a conversation I had had with you and Mr. Powles, that
a satisfactory arrangement would be made.
On Saturday, the 16th, I received a letter from Mr.
Fowles, reminding me of the interview appointed for
a day after the 17th, and saying that he would see me
on the 13th or 19th, either at my residence, or at No. 1,
New Bank-buildings, between one and two o'clock. I
accordingly saw Mr. Fowles on the 19th, at one o'clock.
As you, at our first interview, told me that I might con-
fer frankly and confidentially with Mr. Fowles as with
yourself, I did not hesitate to converse freely with him
about the proposals I was about to make. I told him
consequently that on the following day, the 20th,
I would write out a draft of them, and that I
would have them ready the next day to hand to
you at two o'clock, Mr. Powles saying that he would
request you to accompany him for that object, and that
in the event of your being unable to accompany him, he
would let me know, and defer:the interview until the 21st,
Notwithstanding, Mr. Fowles called upon me, alone, on
the 20th at that hour, and read to me a letter he had re-
ceived from you, in which you stated that other business
would prevent your attending and that I was to treat
with Mr. Powles freely about the proposals in question.
I therefore read them to Mr. Powles, and we discussed
them together, after which I handed him the rough
draft of them, as he said he wished to show them to you.
I told him at the same time to consider the proposals as
officially communicated, and that if you approved of
them to publish them without delay, as my signature
to them was ready the moment they were approved of,
praying ;him at the same moment to do so
without loss of time. Mr. Powles brought them back to
me with your approval, on Thursday, the 21st, at half-
past four o'clock, P.M, assuring me that :both you and
he would support them in the committee, and that there
could be no doubt about their being aocepted. I then
told Mr. Powles that I would have a clean copy of theca
drawn out, and that I would send them to your resi-
dence officially that same day (21st). Mr. Fowles told
me not to send them to your house, but to the office of
the committee in the City, and that as it was then too
late, they could not be sent:till the following day. I re-
plied that, notwithstanding, the proposals should be
dated the 21st, although they were made known to you
and Mr. Powles on the 20th.
On the 29th, the second time I had the honour of
seeing you, when you came with the commission to re-
quest, in the name of the committee, some modifications
of the proposals, I expressed my surprise that you should
solicit a modification of proposals of which you had
already approved, and I was particular in calling to your
mind ,every circumstance which occurred between us
during the negotiation, in order that you might have
them fresh in your memory for the day of the general
meeting, when you addressed the Bondholders.

From the foregoing it is clear that, o❑ the 4th of De-
cember, I received my definitive instructions to treat with
the Bondholders. That on the 7th I personally assured
you that the proposals made to you in May would be
improved. That two days subsequently, on the 9th,
when Lord Palmerston spoke to me on the subject, I
told his Lordship that, from a conversation I had had
with you and Mr. Powles, I had reason to believe that a
satisfactory settlement would speedily take place. That on
the 20th I sent you the proposals by Mr. Powles, which,
when brought back to me by that gentleman with your
approval, on the 21st, I signed, and that if they were de-
livered on the 22d, at half-past ten, A.M., it was at the
instance of Mr. Powles, who said they should be sent to
the office of the committee next day, it being then closed.
I feel considerable anxiety that my proceedings in
this business should be truly represented. I have
stated with scrupulous exactitude in this letter every-
thing that has passed between us in relation to the pre-
sent arrangement with the Bondholders, and which is
well known to yourself. I have, therefore, to beg you
will have the goodness to recal to your mind: what
passed at the interviews to which I refer, and to say, in
reply, at your earliest convenience, if my statement of
what has taken place as it appears in this letter be cor-
rect.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient
servant. (Signed)
JOAQUIN J. DE OSMA.
COPY OF MR. ROBINSON'S REPLY TO SENOR