No. 202.
Mr. Dichman to Mr. Blaine.

[Extract.]
No. 263.]

Sir: In my No. 215, of the 8th of last October, I reported an amicable settlement of the differences existing between Colombia and Costa Rica, relating to a question of disputed boundaries.

As at the time that dispatch was written the terms of the settlement could not be communicated, it may not be uninteresting to you to learn now that the final determination of the ownership of the disputed territory in question is to be left to arbitration, according to a treaty concluded by plenipotentiaries of Colombia and Costa Rica, which has been submitted to the Colombian Congress for legislative action thereon, the probabilities being that the action of the Colombian Congress will be favorable.

The first arbitrator named in the treaty is the King of the Belgians, and in the event of his inability or unwillingness to act, then the matter in dispute is to be left to the decision of the King of Spain, and if he should decline the trust, then the queston is to be submitted to the judgment of the President of the Argentine Republic.

The deep interest which you have manifested in your instructions to me, that the causes of the strained relations between the Governments of Colombia and Costa Rica might be removed in a friendly manner, perhaps justifies me in adding that, although the differences between these two neighboring republics might not seem to have been of sufficient importance to have called for the elaborate machinery which has been provided for their adjustment, it cannot be otherwise than gratifying to you to learn that by the proposed treaty, now awaiting approval by the Colombian Congress, the danger of a breach of the peace in Central America has been averted, and the anxiety in the public mind connected with that subject has been allayed.

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I am, &c.,

ERNEST DICHMAN.