No. 315.
Mr. Pedro Perez
Z. to Mr. Bayard.
Washington, March 26, 1888. (Received March 27.)
Sir: On Saturday, the 24th instant, at 12 o’clock noon, in pursuance of the intimation conveyed in your excellency’s highly esteemed note of the 22d of the same month, I had the honor to present myself in person in the Department of State and to receive the copy intended for my Government of the decision pronounced by the President of the United States of America, which definitively settles the questions raised by Nicaragua with respect to the validity of the boundary treaty of April 15, 1858, between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and the interpretation to be given to its several clauses.
On previous occasions the honor had devolved upon me of stating to your excellency and to the President through you the profound sentiment of gratitude which my Government felt, and which I personally shared in the largest possible degree, because of the goodness wherewith the Chief Magistrate of this great Republic accepted the extremely burdensome task which two Central American Republics, anxious for the avoidance of disputes, had begged him to take upon himself.
Only, in truth, a strongly accentuated sentiment of personal benevolence, arid a full consciousness of the importance to the interests of [Page 469] civilization of causing the system of international arbitration to become firmly rooted in the world, and especially in America, could have induced the President to add, as he did so wisely and so well, to the great and grave cares which constantly occupy his mind.
Now that the question has been disposed of, and from the horizon of the two Republics has been forever dispelled every cloud which could affect their relations, and obstruct [obstaculizar] their progress, the sentiment of gratitude to which I have referred increases in its intensity, and calls for renewed expression.
In the name of my country and of my Government, Mr. Secretary, I pray your excellency to be pleased to convey to the President of the United States the assurance that the benefit he has graciously conferred upon them in accepting the arbitral office which was intrusted to him by the treaty of Guatemala of the 24th o” December, 1886, between Costa Rica and Nicaragua is so great and positive that neither Costa Rica nor any other of the peoples of Central America can ever forget it; and that this sentiment of profound respect and thankfulness toward his elevated personality includes your excellency as Secretary of State, the distinguished officer who as delegate of the arbitrator assisted by his luminous report upon the matter in question, and the whole nation whereof your excellencies are worthy representatives, which by its greatness, its prudence, and the wisdom of its laws and institutions influences in a manner as efficient as it is beneficial the progress of the other peoples of America.
Be pleased, etc.,