Rafael Carrera, Presidente de la Republica de Guatemala... Tratado de Amistad, Comercio y Navegacion entre la Republica de Guatemala y las Ciudades Libres de Lubeck, Bremen y Hamburgo [caption title]

[Guatemala, 1850. Very good plus.. 12pp. Folio, stitched as issued. A couple of very minor chips along lower edge. Light dust soiling and minor foxing. A scarce treaty of friendship and trade between Guatemala and the free, northern German cities of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck, former leading members of the medieval Hanseatic League, and in the mid-19th century, members of the loose German Confederation. The agreement, dated June 7, 1850, is quite extensive, and printed in two columns in both Spanish and German. Although Rafael Carranza is here hailed as the President of the Guatemalan Republic, he had only returned from exile the previous year, and was in the midst of fighting not only the liberal Guatemalan faction that had deposed him, but also the forces of Honduras and El Salvador, in order to re-establish his power. The treaty names Karl Rudolph Klee as the representative of the republican German cities; Klee was one of the first German immigrants to Guatemala, arriving in 1828 and becoming a successful plantation owner before being named Consul General for the Hanseatic cities as well as for the Kingdom of Prussia. Klee died the same year as the present agreement was printed, and some limited research reveals little mention of any such treaty between the republics -- as a result, it is unclear that this compact ever became official, or that its negotiation was even sanctioned in the first place. A fascinating and unusual product of the international conflict and diplomatic machinations that characterized Central America at this time; we locate only three copies, at Berkeley, Kansas, and Tulane.