Mr. Meyer to Mr. Hay.
Rome, January 7, 1903.
(Mr. Meyer reports that he has been notified by the minister for foreign affairs that the Italian Government is gratified that Venezuela should have recognized the justness of the claims presented by the three powers, and has no objection to the controversy being made the object of direct negotiations at Washington between the three ambassadors and Mr. Bowen, the latter to be given sufficient power to that end by the Government of Venezuela, and in case a prompt understanding can not be reached to limit the work of the meeting to a settlement of the preliminaries for referring the controversy to the permanent court of The Hague.
Referring to their previous declarations, the Government of Italy submit their consent on the condition that the claims of Italian subjects receive the same treatment as analogous claims of the other powers in interest.)