Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1880
No. 208.
Mr. Evarts
to Mr. Dichman.
Washington, August 7, 1880.
Sir: I transmit herewith, for your confidential information, copies of correspondence had with the Costa Rican foreign minister concerning the recent visit of the Adams to Golfo Dulce.
* * * * * * *
I am, &c.,
Señor Castro to Mr. Evarts.
National Palace, San Jose, June 10, 1880.
Most Excellent Sir: The steamer Adams, belonging to the Navy of the United States, has entered Golfo Dulce, a port of this republic which is not open to foreign commerce, and the captain of said vessel has engaged in mysterious operations which he says are performed in obedience to orders from his government. This proceeding has attracted the attention of my government.
As it is not possible for us to doubt either the cordial and sincere friendship of your great republic for our own, or its respect for the most elementary and sacred principles of international law, we have been expecting a full explanation of the matter from your excellency’s government; inasmuch, however, as the minister resident of the United States in Central America, who was in Nicaragua when the Adams entered the waters of Costa Rica, did not visit this capital, as we expected that he would do, and as no communication has as yet been received in reference to the matter in question, I [Page 327] deem it my duty to bring the foregoing facts to your excellency’s notice, as I hereby do, to the end that a duplicate may be sent of the note which your government has undoubtedly addressed to that of this republic in regard to this matter, and which has been delayed or gone astray.
I beg your excellency to accept, &c.,
To His Excellency the Secretary of Foreign Relations of the United States of North America.
Mr. Evarts to Señor Castro.
Washington, August 7, 1880.
Your Excellency: I have had the honor to receive your excellency’s note of the 10th of June last, wherein you mention the recent visit of the United States steamer Adams to the port of Golfo Dulce, and invite the explanations of this government in regard to that visit.
Your excellency is right in conjecturing that the voyage of the Adams to the waters of Gulfo Dulce, and the incidents which attended that event have already been made the occasion of instructions to the minister resident of the United States accredited to the several Central American republics. In the absence, however, of any representations made or action taken in respect of the Adams or her commanding officer by the local or federal authorities of Costa Rica during her stay in Golfo Dulce, it seemed to me premature to direct Mr. Logan to tender explanations or take other action toward the government you represent, which would imply prejudgment by the United States Government of the questions of disputed boundaries in that region which are understood to have been for some time pending between Costa Rica and the neighboring Republic of Colombia.
With regard to the operations of the Adams in those waters, it affords me great pleasure to state to your excellency, that, neither in her visit nor in the informal reconnaissances made in the vicinity during her brief stay, was there any intention of performing any act which could be regarded as affecting the just sensibilities of a power with which the United States maintain close relations of cordial friendship; and that in taking avail of the shelter afforded by the open roadstead and anchorage of a friendly state, it was not presumed that the hospitality thus sought, being of a character common in the intercourse of nations and one which the United States themselves would not question in respect of a foreign vessel of war resorting under a friendly flag to their own shores, would be qualified by mere technical or commercial considerations founded on the existence or non-existence of a port of entry and trade in the neighborhood.
It is, however, a source of sincere regret to the President that the incident should, have given rise to any misconceptions on the part of a people to whom we are allied by so many and strong ties of traditional friendship, kindred interests, and similar free institutions: and I am confident that the friendly relations which it has been always the pleasure and the duty of the Government of the United States to maintain and strengthen between this country and the republics of this continent, and especially with Costa Rica, will find in this occurrence no motive for questioning the absolute good-will and sincerity of either towards the other.
It is possible that this government may have been misinformed as to the waters visited by the Adams, in regard to the inhabited settlements in their vicinity, or the local presence of official representation on their shores. In order, therefore, that any inattention, however inadvertently, to the rights or claims of Costa Rica may not again occur, this government would desire information of the geographical boundary between the Republic of Costa Rica and the United States of Colombia, as well as some designation of the local authorities of Costa Rica exercising jurisdiction in that region.
Had the representative of Costa Rica in the United States been here at the time, I would doubtless have availed myself of an early occasion to become acquainted with the views of your excellency’s government in this relation. As it is, however, and in view of the opportunity which your excellency’s esteemed communication affords me for the proper presentation of such an inquiry, I have instructed the minister resident of the United States accredited to Costa Rica, in transmitting this reply to your excellency’s note of the 10th of June last, to seek such information as your excellency may be disposed to furnish on these points.
I avail myself, &c.,
His Excellency Señor Don José María
Castro,
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Costa Rica.