Mr. Romero to Mr. Olney.
Washington, January 27, 1897.
Mr. Secretary: I have had the honor to receive your note No. 204, dated yesterday, with which you are pleased to send me a draft of a ‘protocol containing the basis proposed in the note which I addressed [Page 372] to you on the 26th of December last for the submission to arbitration of the claim of Charles Oberlander against Mexico.
I find that this protocol is not in accord with the instructions I have received from the Government of Mexico, and which I communicated to you in my aforesaid note, and it would not, therefore, be possible for me to sign it without submitting it to my Government and receiving its instructions.
The points of difference which I find are as follows:
- (1)
- The Government of Mexico is prepared to submit to arbitration the claim of Charles Oberlander, but not that of Barbara M. Messenger, because in the correspondence which took place in regard to this matter I understand that the Government of the United States desisted from the latter claim.
- (2)
- Inasmuch as, in the correspondence exchanged between the two Governments, the nature of the Oberlander claim and the manner in which it is regarded by the respective Governments are clearly set forth, the recital of the facts made in the preamble of the draft protocol appears to me to be unnecessary, and in order to accept it it would be needful to modify it in terms which would leave no doubt as to the position each Government has taken in this affair.
- (3)
- It would be advisable to supplement article 5 by stating in terms that both Governments will pay in equal moieties, not only the compensation of the arbitrator, but also the remaining expenses occasioned by the arbitration.
I will at once consult my Government as to the dates of payment (plazos) proposed in the draft protocol.
If you are willing to modify the draft as above suggested, I will consider myself authorized to sign it in conformity to the instructions which my Government has given me; but in the contrary case I will have to await its new instructions.
For the rest, it appears to me appropriate that, when the two Governments shall have agreed upon the terms of the protocol, they should, through their respective diplomatic agents at Madrid, inquire of Señor Don Vicente G. Quesada, minister of the Argentine Republic, if he is prepared to accept the charge, at what place he wishes to have the respective documents laid before him.
If, after taking cognizance of these observations, you desire that we should have a conference upon this matter, I shall attend at the Department whenever you shall summon me.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,