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  4. Document 395

Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay.

Embassy of the United States,
Berlin, December 29, 1902.
No. 11.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt on the 19th of December last of your dispatch relating to the nomination of Mr. Bowen by the Government of Venezuela, with full powers to enter into negotiations on the part of Venezuela to settle the difficulties with Germany, Great Britain, and Italy.

Upon my communication to the Baron von Richthofen, Imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs, of the proposal made by Venezuela in regard to Mr. Bowen, he informed me that he should consider the subject and return an answer within a day or two. Accordingly, on the 23d of December the Imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs handed me a memorandum, of which I have the honor to inclose to you herewith a copy and a translation into English. He announces in this [Page 432] memorandum that, as the Imperial Government has accepted the proposition of submitting its claims to arbitration, and has invited the President of the United States to accept the duties of arbitrator, this invitation must take precedence of the course proposed by the Government of Venezuela.

I have, etc.,

Charlemagne Tower.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Memorandum.

The Imperial Government has accepted the proposition of submitting its claims against the Venezuelan Government to arbitration under certain conditions, which are communicated at the same time herewith to the American ambassador, and has therein expressed the wish that the President of the United States should accept the duties of arbitrator.

In common with the British Government, the Imperial Government believes that it has found in this way every guaranty for a satisfactory solution of the difficulty, so that this course deserves to have precedence accorded to it over the course recently proposed by the Venezuelan Government, namely, that the two powers should negotiate through the American minister, Mr. Bowen, as intermediary.