No. 207.
Mr. Dichman to Mr. Evarts.
Bogotá, July 19, 1880. (Received August 31.)
Sir: Referring to the subject of the differences existing between Costa Rica and Colombia on account of disputed boundaries, which has been brought to your notice in previous dispatches, as well as the warlike attitude assumed by Colombia in relation to the same matter, I now have the honor to inform you that more prudential counsels having found acceptance with this government, it has been determined to send a special minister to Costa Rica for the purpose of arriving at an amicable understanding on the subject of these differences before resorting to the alternative of war.
* * * * * * *
[Page 326]The newly appointed Colombian minister to Great Britain has been directed to proceed, to Costa Rica on his way to England, and as he is a gentleman of common sense and ability he may be able to arrive at a satisfactory settlement of this vexing boundary question with the Government of Colombia’s northern neighbor.
In connection with the subject of this dispatch, it is, perhaps, opportune to bring to your notice that in accordance with a resolution of the Colombian senate, besides claiming, as Colombian, the territory south of a line following the course of the river Golfito from its mouth on the Pacific to its source in the mountains of Las Cruces, and from thence along the crest of said mountains to the source of the river Culebra, and thence along the course of that river to the Atlantic, Colombia also claims the sovereignty over, and ownership of, the territory on the Atlantic coast now comprised within the boundaries and forming the Atlantic littoral of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, extending from the mouth of the river Culebra to Cape Gracias á Dios (in about 15° N. and 83° W.).
* * * * * * *
As several of the articles of the resolution of the Colombian senate, above referred to, are kept secret, I shall be unable to forward an account thereof until I shall have acquired a knowledge of the whole of it. I am, &c.,