Mr. M. Garcia Mérou to Mr. Hay.
Mr. Secretary of State: I have the honor to inform your excellency that I am just in receipt of a telegram from my Government advising me that the boundary question pending between the Argentine Republic and Chile, by mutual agreement of both Governments, is to be submitted to the arbitral decision of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, in conformity with the stipulations in existing treaties, and particularly with the agreement of 1896, which I had the pleasure of communicating to your excellency with one of my earlier notes. According to said compacts the line whose fixation is given into the hands of an arbitrator is that which runs from the twenty-sixth parallel to the fifty-second—the definitive tracing of the frontier in the region known as “Puna de Atacama” being yet to be determined by means of direct negotiations which are now proceeding without hindrance.
This solution, which removes, happily, all fear of conflict between the two countries while satisfying the wishes of both, in no way diminishes the gratitude which my Government feels for the interest shown by that of your excellency for a pacific settlement of the long standing and complicated difficulty.
[Page 2]In begging your excellency to transmit these sentiments to His Excellency the President of the United States 1 reiterate to your excellency the assurance of my highest and most distinguished consideration.