No. 216.
Mr. Peralta to Mr. Bayard.
Liege, July 25, 1887. (Received August 6.)
Dear Sir: * * * I am extremely happy to see that the boundary question between Costa Rica and Nicaragua is to be decided by the President of the United States, and I am proud to have been the first person who, since the days of President Grant, advocated submitting that question to the arbitration of your Government.
I avail myself of this opportunity to call your attention to a mistranslation of the convention between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, signed in Guatemala December 24, 1886, inserted in the Senate document, Forty-ninth Congress, second session (Ex, Doc. No. 50, page 51).
The translation says:
8. * * * From the time the treaty shall he declared null, and during the time there may be no agreement between the parties, or no decision given fixing definitely the rights of both countries, the limits established by the treaty of the 15th of April, 1858, shall be provisionally respected.
The Spanish text of the convention says literally:
Desde que el tratado se declaró nulo y mientras no hay a acuerdo entre las partes ó no recaiga sentencia que fije los derechos definitavos de ambos paises se respetarán provisionalmente los que establece el tratado de 15 de Abril de 1858.
The word limits of the translation is not to be found in the Spanish text, and instead of limits the article los refers to the word derechos— rights.
Instead of the translation above quoted, I should propose the following one:
From the time the treaty shall be declared null, and during the time there may be no agreement between the parties, or no decision given, fixing definitely the rights of both countries, the rights established by the treaty of the 15th of April, 1858, shall be provisionally respected.
* * * * * * *
I remain, etc.,