Mr. M. Garcia Mérou to Mr. Hay.
Washington, December 15, 1898.
Mr. Secretary of State: In compliance with instructions from my Government, I have the honor to officially confirm the information which I was able to give you in the conversation had with your excellency two weeks ago respecting the designation by the Governments of the Argentine Republic and of Chile of his excellency, Mr. William Buchanan, to form part of the commission which shall definitely determine the boundary line in the region called Puna de Atacama, it being his function to act as third arbitrator if the conference of the delegates of both nations, which is to meet on the 10th of March, shall not succeed in reaching an accord concerning the demarcation of the said boundary.
My Government charges me, moreover, to make known to your excellency that up to this time the two Governments have not communicated to Mr. Buchanan the designation which has been agreed upon in the protocols drawn up to that end, as the Government of the Argentine [Page 3] Republic is awaiting the reply of that of Chile in order to comply with the aforesaid stipulation in official form.
Notwithstanding that the matter concerns a personal designation, the Argentine foreign office understands that the minister of the United States will ask of your excellency’s Government the authorization necessary to accept the same upon there being communicated to him by the Argentine Republic and by Chile the honorable choice which has been made of him; the Government which I have the honor to represent has ever believed that the Government of the United States would find no obstacle to authorizing his excellency Mr. Buchanan to accept the important mission which has been confided to him, thus giving the additional proof of the esteem and sincere friendship which the Argentine Republic has always enjoyed at its hands.
It is allowable for me, in conclusion, to state to your excellency in fulfillment of express orders, that as I had the pleasure to communicate to your excellency on previous occasions, Mr. Buchanan enjoys the greatest esteem of the Argentine Government for his high intellectual endowments and the precision and uniform tact of his official and private actions, and that in this sense my Government has not hesitated for an instant to designate him as arbitrator in a matter of such importance, being assured of the impartiality of his judgment and of his high spirit of justice.
For my part, I feel a keen satisfaction in transmitting to your excellency the contents of this note, and I avail myself of this opportunity, etc.