New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-12-06
sroprr,ey FRFIIYGHUYsENIS TROUBLE.

II would hardly be courteous 70 assume that
.ho cooretorv If State would lead the President
TO make missatement in his Message ana YET
the following paragraph conveys, no DOUBT un
,ntortionallv. an erroneous impression as to the
facts involved;
A wear since as you have already been advised by
correspondence transmitted TO you In January last 'hs
Government sent o special mission 10 tne oel'seie"s
Powers TO express the hope that Chm ood DC dispose"
10 accept a money Indemnity for me expenses " We
,,or and 10 relinqish her demand for portion o. me
,,,r;tory Of her antagonist. This recommendation
which Chill declined TO follow, this Government dld not
TO enforce nor be enforced without resort
to measures which would BIO In keeping neither Win inc
temper of our people with the spirit OF our nstu
tons
Mr.. Trescot was undoubtedly sent to South
America to express the hope contained In the
italicized words above. But the very day he
procured audience with Balmaseda. the CHILEAN
Minister of Foreign Affairs, he learned from
that official that his instructions referred TO
above had been Withdrawn. Mr.. Frelinghuysen
communicated their withdrawal to Martinez
the CHILEAN Minister in Washington, who
promptly cabed them to Santiago. Perhaps IL
is the first time in the history of diplomacy
thata Minister received his instructions from the
Foreign Secretary Of the country to which he
WAS accredited
Soon after this notifying event MIR. Irescot
received instructions directly from Mr.. Freling-
buysen under date of January 9th 1882, entirely
nullfylng his former instructions. We quote
Mr.. Frelin ghuysen's words;
"Tle President wishes in manner to dictate or
make anu authoritative ucranee to either Peru or Chlh
az to the merits Of the controversy existing between
those republics TO what demniiy should Dc asked OF
given as to change Of boundaries or as TO the person
mel OF the Government Of Peru"
II therefore appears that the Message is en-
tirely in error when it iLtimates that Mr.. Tres
cot was allowed to urge on behalf OF this Gov
ernment that Chilli would accept n money IN
demnity y and that She would rellnqmsh her
demand for portion of the territory oil her
antagonist All such instructions were can
celled and annulled Ivy Mr.. Freinghuysen, and
Mr.. Trescot was peremptorlly forbidden to
make any authoritative utterance to either
"Chili or Peru as TO the merits of the contro-
versy between those Republics" Mr.. Tres
cot was further forbidden to make any utter
ance as to the indemnity that should be asked
or given and still further he was FORBIDDEN " to
say ANYTHING as to change of boundaries"
These instructions were issued in January last,
IL
President is led by his Secretary of State to
represent TO Congress that Chill was urged y" to
accent a money indemnity " and to reiinquish
her demand fol territory from Peru, and that
Chill declined to follow these recOmmen-
dations. Could contradiction of language
and fact be more absolute or more humiliatlng
The simple fact is that Mr.. Trescot's mission
was destroyed before it was begun. The Chill
ian Government knew that his instructions were
cancelled and his authority withdrawn before he
landed at Valparaiso. The moral power OF the
United States was never eXerted upon Chill, ana
the result of Mr.. Frelin ghuysen's withdrawal
of Mr.. Trescots instructions, which he had
himself specially authorized, was tantamount to
advising Chill that she might do as she
pleased with Peru and that this GOvernm ent
would never say word. Truth lies at the
bottom of well, but no well is so deep but that
the truth comes to the surface at last. Every
intelligent man in South America believes that
il Mr.. TrescOt had been permitted to proceed
under his original instructions, and the Peace
Congress had been allowed to assemble, there
would have been amity and concord through
out the Continent to-day. But when Chill, al
ready flushed with victory, was told that do as
interfere, all hope of peace between the two ma
tons was abandoned until one should be utterly
PROSTATE and helpless and the other so glutted
with victory that further conquest was burden.
The woe and Indebtedness on the South Amer
lean coast for the past year are largely trace
able to the humilatiDg instructions of January
9th-and the most humiliatng feature OF all
was the pitabe cry that there was danger of
our becoming involved in war with Chill. Fifty
two millions of people this Republic afraid
of being attacked by eighteen hundred thousand
Chilians who are seven thousand miles from our
shores Such chivalrous care for our safety at
home is equal to our humane intervention
abroad.
THE END or n FARCE
Lord Duflerin has made another hit in diplo-