Mr. White to Mr. Hay.
London, January 3, 1903.
Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 1017 of 31st ultimo I have the honor to confirm the cablegram which I received from you on the 1st instant and the reply thereto which I sent you on the same day.
I lost no time in seeking an interview with Lord Lansdowne, to whom I handed a note which I had previously addressed to his lordship, setting forth the telegram you had received from Mr. Bowen, embodying the reply of the President of Venezuela to the proposals and reservations of this Government with respect to arbitration which you had communicated to him.
I informed Lord Lansdowne that President Castro’s suggestion that an American power be chosen to arbitrate was not supported by my Government. * * *
Lord Lansdowne said in reply that in his opinion a reference of the questions at issue to any American republic save ours is out of the question, and consequently that there appeared to him to be but two alternatives for consideration, viz, the arrangement by Mr. Bowen in behalf of Venezuela at Washington of an immediate settlement of all the claims or arbitration by The Hague tribunal. He added that these proposals would necessarily have to be referred to his colleagues in the cabinet before he could express any opinion in behalf of His Majesty’s Government relative thereto, but that he would lose no time in acquainting the prime minister of the communication which I had just made to him, and to which he hoped he might be able to give me an answer at an early date.
I have, etc.,