[Illustration: MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA TO ILLUSTRATE “THE CAPITALS OF SPANISH AMERICA.” BY WM ELEROY CURTIS] THE CAPITALS OF SPANISH AMERICA BY WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS LATE COMMISSIONER FROM THE UNITED STATES TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE Copyright, 1888, by HARPER & BROTHERS. _All rights reserved._ TO THE MEMORY OF CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES THIS BOOK IS Dedicated HIS KINDNESS MADE ITS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE; AND HIS AFFECTIONATE INTEREST ADDED PLEASURE TO ITS PREPARATION _Mr. Arthur’s Acceptance of the Dedication._ * * * * * New York, April 7, 1887. _William E. Curtis, Esquire, Washington_: DEAR SIR,--In compliance with your request, I enclose an unsigned draft of a letter dictated by Mr. Arthur last November. It was submitted to him a few days before he died, and as he desired to make no further changes in the text, I was to have a clean copy made for his signature; but he was fatally stricken before that was done. Very respectfully yours, JAMES C. REED. * * * * * November 13, 1886. MY DEAR CURTIS,--The graceful terms in which you propose to dedicate your book to me add still another obligation that I may not be able to repay. I appointed you Secretary of the South American Commission without your solicitation, because I knew your ability, energy, and industry would be felt as they have been in the effort to bring our Spanish-American neighbors into closer commercial and political relations with us. I had given much consideration to the subject, and realized what is made so clear in the Reports of the South American Commission, that the future commercial prosperity of the United States required something to be done to extend our trade with the continent southward. The Commission, of which you were Secretary and subsequently became a member, was intended as an initiatory step in that direction.