Joaquín José de Osma

Joaquín José de Osma was born in Lima on 3 August 1812. Educated in law in Spain, he returned to practise in Peru before undertaking diplomatic work. In 1846 he went to Washington as Peru’s first minister there, accompanied by his younger brother Juan Ignacio. His full name was Joaquín Domingo José Esteban de Osma y Ramírez de Arellano. ¹

On 9 February 1848 he and Secretary of State James Buchanan signed a treaty of peace, friendship, commerce, and navigation. It would have regulated reciprocal trading privileges, shipping duties, and the treatment of citizens. Although the United States ratified it, Peru’s Congress rejected it in November 1849. Disputes over whether equal shipping charges offered real reciprocity to Peru’s much smaller merchant marine helped prevent agreement. ²

His next work in London included a January 1849 settlement with holders of Peru’s debt from the independence era and negotiations over the guano trade. After returning home, he represented Canta, presided over the Chamber of Deputies in 1851–1852, and became foreign minister in February 1852. He left the ministry that August. ¹

Sent back to Washington during the Lobos Islands crisis, he argued against American claims to unrestricted access to Peru’s guano deposits. Negotiators arranged for arriving American vessels to carry guano under Peruvian authorization instead of extracting it independently. On 16 November 1852 Secretary of State Edward Everett acknowledged Peru’s sovereignty. The settlement followed complementary efforts by Osma, his brother Juan Ignacio, and the US representative in Lima, John Randolph Clay. ³

In Madrid he signed a treaty with Spain in September 1853, but Peru rejected provisions concerning recognition and compensation for Spanish property. After his diplomatic service ended in 1855, he remained in Spain and chaired the Sociedad General de Crédito Mobiliario Español from 1856 to 1864. He died in Madrid on 5 February 1896. ¹