Mr. Hay to Mr. Meyer.
Washington, December 31, 1902.
(Mr. Meyer is instructed to communicate to the Italian Government the following telegram which Mr. Hay has just received from the United States minister to Venezuela:
I have received the following answer from the President of Venezuela:
“I recognize in principle the claims which the allied powers have presented to Venezuela. They would already have been settled if it had not been that the civil war required all the attention and resources of the Government. To-day the Government bows to superior force and desires to send Mr. Bowen to Washington at once to confer there with the representatives of the powers that have claims against Venezuela in order to arrange either an immediate settlement of all the claims or the preliminaries for reference to the tribunal of The Hague, or to an American republic to be selected by the allied powers and by the Government of Venezuela. Mr. Bowen would be duly authorized to settle the whole question as the representative of Venezuela.
“Cipriano Castro.”
Mr. Meyer is authorized to say to the Italian Government that the suggestion of the President of Venezuela that an American power be chosen to arbitrate is not supported by the Government of the United States.)