Note XXI-51 — Chapter XXI · RENEWED EFFORTS FOR CENTRAL AMERICAN UNITY. 1873-1885.

Zaldívar then, as well as afterward, denied having betrayed Barrios. The circular of Feb. 24, 1883, to the liberal party, was issued by the latter after a conference with the former at Asuncion Mita. In that famous manifesto, Barrios pledged his honor not to attempt effecting the unification, except by peaceful means, and with the concurrence of the five republics. His message to the Guat. assembly in 1884 indicated that violent means were out of the question. A correspondent of a Panamá paper, who seemed to have personal knowledge of the negotiations, both public and confidential, assures us that at every interview between the two rulers the Salvadoran had opposed without ambiguity all propositions, open or implied, to employ force; and that Barrios had every time admitted the weight of the reasons adduced by him. Indeed, only 20 days before his attempted assumption of supreme command over Cent. Am. Barrios assured of Salvadoran minister of foreign affairs, Gallegos, who had gone to Guat. upon a confidential mission from Zaldívar, of his conviction that never had the plan of reconstructing Cent. Am. by compulsion been so unpropitious and dangerous as at the present time; adding these words: 'Poner hoy la mano en este asunto equivaldría á meterla en un avispero.' La Estella de Pan., May 9, 1885; S. F. Chronicle, June 5, 1885.