No. 82.
Mr. Hall to
Mr. Bayard.
Guatemala , December 15, 1887. (Received January 4, 1888.)
Sir: I had the honor to transmit to you on the 9th instant a telegram to the effect that the President of Costa Rica had notified the Nicaraguan Executive that the engineers now on the way to Nicaragua for the purpose of surveying and locating the projected canal route would not be permitted to operate on Costa Rican territory without express permission from its Government.
I now inclose a translation of a telegram received on the 8th instant from President Carazo, of Nicaragua, containing a transcript of another telegram, which he had just received from the President of Costa Rica, informing him with reference to the corps of engineers which recently left New York for Nicaragua with the object of definitely locating the canal, that the Costa Rican Government would interdict all studies or [Page 101] surveys within its territory until its express authorization shall have been obtained. At the same time the President of Costa. Rica declares that his Government is enthusiastic for a work of such importance, and that it has manifested a disposition to grant the necessary concessions on equitable terms. Unfortunately, the Nicaraguan Government is not of the same opinion.
This opposition of the Costa Rican Government to the Nicaraguan Canal is of recent origin. It found no fault with the former concession, known as the Menocal concession of 1880, nor was it a party to the contract. In a communication addressed to Mr. Frelinghuysen, which I transmitted to the Department with my dispatch No. 203, of the 29th February, 1884, the then minister for foreign affairs of Costa Rica, in behalf of his Government, appealed to that of the United States in favor of the Nicaraguan Canal, on the ground of American fraternity and interests.
I have, etc.,