[Inclosure.]
Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States of
America, to all to whom these presents may come, greeting:
Whereas, pursuant to the fourth article of the treaty of limits between
the Argentine Republic and the Republic of Paraguay, of the 3d of
February, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, it was stipulated
that ownership in or right to the territory between the river Verde and
the principal arm of the Pilcomayo River, including the city of Villa
Occidental, should be submitted to the definite decision of an
arbitration;
And whereas, by the fifth article of the same instrument, the two high
contracting parties agreed to elect the President of the United States
of America as umpire to decide as to the right to possess the said
above-described territory;
And whereas the high contracting parties have, within the stipulated
time, presented their invitation to the proposed umpire, which was
accepted by him, and have, also, duly presented their respective
memoirs, and the documents, titles, maps, quotations, references, and
all the antecedents which they judge favorable to their rights, as
provided in the sixth and eighth articles of said treaty:
Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of
the United States of America, having duly considered the said statements
and the said exhibits, do hereby determine that the said Republic of
Paraguay is legally and justly entitled to the said territory between
the Pilcomayo and the Verde Rivers, and to the Villa Occidental,
situated therein, and I, therefore, do hereby award to the said Republic
of Paraguay the territory on the western bank of the river of that name,
between the Rio Verde and the main branch of the Pilcomayo, including
Villa Occidental.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
Done, in triplicate, in the city of
Washington
the twelfth day of
November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the one hundred and third.
R. B. HAYES.
By the President:
[seal.] Wm. M. Evarts,
Secretary of State.
