Mr. Calvo to Mr. Olney.

[Translation.]

Sir: I had the honor to inform you, in the interview with which you were pleased to favor me yesterday, of a convention for the tracing and demarcation of the dividing line between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua having been signed the 27th of March last, in the capital of Salvador, with the honorable and fraternal mediation of the President of that State, conformably to the determination of the treaty of April 15, 1858, and the award of the President of the United States of America, Mr. Grover Cleveland; and of putting you in possession of the fact that, according to one of the stipulations of that convention, the two contracting Governments will proceed, by common consent, in regular course to request of the President of the United States of America that he consent to name an engineer who, representing the respective commissions of both countries and with the ample powers which will be conferred upon him by that convention, may decide any kind of difficulties which may arise in the indicated operation of fixing the boundary line.

It has been a source of the most pleasing satisfaction for me to note the good disposition shown by you in this matter, which could not have been settled in any other way, in treating by a final and amicable rule an important and vexatious question, finally decided in Washington, so far as the principle was concerned, for the good of the two nations interested; and, in conformity with your wish, I have the pleasure to send, inclosed, copy and translation of the convention in question, for your better information.

Be pleased, etc.,

J. B. Calvo.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Convention for the demarkation of the boundary line between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, signed in the city of San Salvador on the twenty-seventh day of the month of March, of eighteen hundred and ninety-six.

The mediation of the Government of Salvador having been accepted by the Most Excellent the Presidents of Costa Rica and Nicaragua to settle the demarkation of the boundary line between the two Republics, they have named, respectively, as envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, their excellencies Señors Don Leonidas Pacheco and Don Manuel C. Matus, who, after several interviews held in the presence of the minister of foreign relations, Señor Don Jacinto Castellanos, especially authorized to represent the Government of Salvador, their full powers being [Page 101] found to be in good and due form, with the attendance of the Most Excellent the President of the Republic, General Don Rafael A. Gutierrez, who has condescended to be present to lend greater solemnity to the act, have concluded the convention following:

Article I.

The contracting Governments bind themselves to each name a commission composed of two engineers or surveyors for the purpose of properly tracing and marking the boundary line between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, pursuant to the provisions of the treaty of April 15, 1858, and the arbitration award of the President of the United States of America, Mr. Grover Cleveland.

Article II.

The commissions created by the foregoing article shall be completed by an engineer whose appointment shall be requested by both parties of the President of the United States of America, and whose duties shall be limited to the following:

Whenever in the carrying out of the operations the commissions of Costa Rica and Nicaragua shall disagree, the disputed point or points shall be submitted to the judgment of the engineer named by the President of the United States of America. The engineer shall have ample authority to decide any kind of dispute that may arise, and his decision shall be final as to the operations in question.

Article III.

Within three months after the exchange of the present convention when once duly ratified by the respective Congresses, the representatives in Washington of both contracting Governments shall proceed, jointly, to request the President of the United States of America to agree to the appointment of the engineer heretofore referred to and to select the same. If, owing to the absence of a representative in Washington of either of the two Governments, or for any other reason whatsoever, the request shall not be made jointly within the time specified, after the expiration thereof the representative in Washington of either Costa Rica or Nicaragua may make the said request separately, which request shall have the same effect as though made by both parties.

Article IV.

The appointment of the United States engineer once made, and within three months after such appointment, the demarkation of the boundary line shall be entered upon, and shall be concluded within twenty months after the inauguration of the work. The commissions of the contracting parties shall meet in San Juan del Norte within the term designated for the purpose, and shall begin their work at the end of the boundary line, which, according to the treaty and award above mentioned, starts from the Atlantic Coast.

Article V.

The contracting parties stipulate that if from any cause either the commission of the Republic of Costa Rica or that of Nicaragua should fail to appear at the place designated, on the day named for the beginning of the work, this shall be begun by the commission that may be on hand, the engineer of the United States Government being present, and whatever may be so done shall be valid and final in so far as regards the Republic failing to send its commissioners. The same course shall be pursued should any or all of the commissioners of either of the contracting Republics absent themselves after the beginning of the work, or should they refuse to carry out the same in the manner laid down in the award and treaty herein referred to, or in accordance with the decision of the engineer appointed by the President of the United States.

Article VI.

The contracting parties stipulate that the time established for the conclusion of the demarkation is not absolute, and, therefore, whatever may be done subsequent to the expiration thereof shall be valid, either because the said term is insufficient for the carrying out of all the operations, or by reason of the commissioners of Costa Rica and Nicaragua agreeing among themselves, with the consent of the United States engineer, to temporarily suspend the work, the remaining time of that primarily designated being insufficient for finishing the same.

Article VII.

In case of the temporary suspension of the work of demarkation whatever may be done up to the time of suspension shall be held as final and conclusive, and the boundaries in the respective parts shall be deemed as materially established, even though owing to unexpected and insuperable circumstances such suspension should continue indefinitely.

[Page 102]

Article VIII.

The minutes of the work, which shall be kept in triplicate and which the commissioners shall duly sign and seal, shall constitute, without the necessity of approval or any other formality on the parts of the signatory Republics, the proof of the final demarkation of their boundaries.

Article IX.

The minutes to which the preceding article refers shall be spread in the form following: Every day, upon finishing the work, there shall be minutely and detailedly set forth everything done, giving the starting point of the operations of the day, the kind of monument constructed or adopted, the distance between each, the direction of the line determining the true boundary, etc. In case any question should arise between the commissioners of Costa Rica and Nicaragua regarding any point the point or points in dispute and the decision of the United States engineer shall be recorded in the respective minutes. The minutes shall be kept in triplicate, the commission of Costa Rica retaining one copy, that of Nicaragua another, and the third being retained by the United States engineer, to be deposited after the conclusion of the work in the Department of State at Washington.

Article X.

The expense occasioned by the sending and stay of the United States engineer, as well as his salary during all the time he may perform his duties, shall be paid in equal moities by the two signatory Republics.

Article XI.

The contracting parties bind themselves to secure the ratification of this convention from their respective Congresses within six months, reckoned from this date, even though it should be necessary for the purpose to call an extraordinary session of those high bodies, and the subsequent exchange shall be effected within the month following the date of the last of the said ratifications, in San José de Costa Rica and in Managua.

Article XII.

The expiration of the terms hereinbefore mentioned without the execution of the acts for which they were designated will not vitiate the present convention, and it will be endeavored by the Republic at fault to remedy the same within the briefest time possible.

In testimony whereof they sign and seal the present convention in duplicate in the city of San Salvador on the twenty-seventh day of the month of March of eighteen hundred and ninety-six.

[l. s.] R. A. Gutierrez.
[l. s.] Jacinto Castellanos.
[l. s.] Leonidas Pacheco.
[l. s.] M. C. Matus.

National Palace, San José, April eighth of eighteen hundred and ninety-six.

The President of the Republic resolves to approve the foregoing convention and submit it to the deliberations of the Congress for the purposes of the fourth section of art. 73 of the Constitution of the Republic.

  • Rafael Iglesias.
  • Ricardo Pacheco,
    Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Relations.