Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1906, (In two parts), Part I

The Colombian Minister to the Secretary of State.

[Translation.]

Legation of Colombia,
Washington, D. C., October 21, 1905.

Sir: The undersigned, representative of the weak Republic of Colombia, deems this an opportune moment to turn to you, as representative of the most powerful republic of modern times, with the request for a just, equitable, and complete diplomatic adjustment of the differences which have arisen between the two nations; or, if this should not be practicable, or if, once brought about, it should fail to produce satisfactory results for both or either of the parties, the undersigned would request that a convention be signed which should submit such differences to some form of arbitration honorable for both countries. The undersigned has all the more reason to hope for a favorable response to his proposition because the questions pending between Colombia and the United States are of exactly the same nature as those to which the numerous arbitration treaties relate which have been concluded by your Government with many other nations, both great and small, within less than a year. These said treaties, as you know very well, were submitted by the President to the Senate on December 14, 1904, and, with slight amendments which do not affect in the least the propositons of the undersigned, were all ratified almost unanimously by the Senate of the United States; so that the branches of your Government which have the authority to conclude treaties were in happy accord concerning the suitability of settling by arbitration the controversies mentioned in those treaties. The text of these treaties embraces “the differences of a legal nature which may arise, or which relate to the interpretation of the treaties existing between the contracting parties, and which it has been impossible to settle through diplomacy;” the only exceptions are those which may “affect the vital interests, the independence, or the honor of the nation, or which may compromise the rights of third parties.”

The request which the undersigned hereby makes for the conclusion of an arbitration convention between your country and his—in case the proposed diplomatic adjustment should fail—is exactly comprised within the provisions cited. The differences which have arisen, as he will have the honor to explain further on, are of a legal character; refer to the interpretation of a treaty in force between the two contracting parties; do not in anywise affect the vital interests, the independence, or the honor of the United States, and do not compromise the interests of third parties. Inasmuch as all the reclamations against the United States which the Republic of Colombia desires to have submitted to an impartial court of arbitration for settlement are differences of a legal nature between the two countries, involving, on the one hand, the correct meaning of the law of nations, and, on the other, the exact interpretation of the treaty of 1846 existing between the two countries, it can not be claimed on any grounds that they affect the vital interests, or the independence, or the honor of the United States, and much less can it be claimed that they impair the rights of third parties.

The request of the undersigned being clearly and precisely within the very course of the international policy of the United States, both as regards direct diplomatic adjustments, of which several cases could be cited, and as regards arbitration, which latter is palpably demonstrated in the various treaties presented recently by the President of the Senate (December 14, 1904), and in these respects ratified by that body, the undersigned can not bring himself to believe that it is really necessary to adduce any more arguments in asking you to accede to his proposition. If other reasons were necessary, they could be found in the long and honorable history of the United States, which has so persistently advocated and fostered the peaceful and honorable adjustment of difficulties through direct diplomacy and arbitration as the best means of deciding controversies between nations. The upholding of this great and noble cause originated, in fact, as you know, with the creation of the Government of your country and found its most recent confirmation in the treaties submitted to the Senate last year, and to which reference has already been made. The undersigned takes the liberty, nevertheless, of calling to your attention the following memorable words of President Roosevelt in his inaugural address:

Much has been conceded to us, and much, therefore, is justly expected of us. We have duties to fulfill toward others, as well as toward ourselves, and we can not neglect either. We have come to be a great nation, obliged from the very fact of our greatness to maintain relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must conduct ourselves as becomes a people with such great responsibilities. Toward all other nations, both great and small, our duty must be to cherish cordial and sincere friendship. We must prove, not only by our words but also by our actions, that we are ardently desirous of winning their good will by acting toward them with a spirit of just and generous respect for all their rights. But justice and generosity in nations, just an in individuals, have greater significance when exercised, not by the weak but by the powerful.

A just and generous respect for her right to have the questions pending between Colombia and the United States equitably adjusted by diplomatic means, or, failing the latter, submitted to the decision of an impartial court, is exactly what Colombia, the weak State, demands to-day of the United States, the powerful nation; and, cherishing the assurance that such a diplomatic arrangement or such arbitration will be granted, the undersigned takes the liberty of setting forth, as clearly and succinctly as possible, the nature of the differences between the two nations. The undersigned feels no need of stating that his words will be guided by a spirit of the greatest moderation.

The general treaty of peace, amity, navigation, and commerce of 1846 between New Granada, now the Republic of Colombia, and the United States established the rights and the obligations of the two contracting parties. The undersigned will not tire you now with an analysis of the principal stipulations of the treaty, but will confine himself to saying that certain concessions which were then considered of great value to your nation were granted in exchange, for what was deemed valuable protection for Colombia. This protection, for the purposes of this note, may be said to be comprised in article 35 of the treaty, and especially in the following clause: “And in order to secure to themselves the tranquil and constant enjoyment of these advantages and as an especial compensation for the said advantages and for the favors they have acquired by the fourth, fifth, and sixth articles of this treaty, the United States guarantee positively and efficaciously to New Granada”—now the Republic of Colombia—“by the present stipulation, the perfect neutrality of the beforementioned isthmus, with a view that the free transit from the one to the other sea, may not be interrupted or embarrassed in any future time while this treaty exists; and in consequence the United States also guarantee in the same manner the rights of sovereignty and property which New Granada”—now the Republic of Colombia—“has and possesses over said territory.”

During the full vigor of this treaty between the United States and Colombia the following facts occurred, as Colombia believes, although you may refute them or view them in a different light:

1. In September and October, 1903, the Government of the United States promised certain interests located on the Isthmus of Panama, as well as persons interested in the French Canal Company, that the United States would prevent the Republic of Colombia from combating any disturbance which might arise on the Isthmus.

2. In fulfillment of these promises, war vessels of the United States were sent both to Panama and to Colon in October and during the first days of November, 1903.

3. On November 2, 1903, the commanders of said war vessels received the following telegrams, sent by the Department of State through the Navy Department, as is believed:

• (a) Keep the transit free and uninterrupted. Should there be a threat of interruption by armed force, occupy the railroad line; prevent the landing of any armed force having hostile intentions, whether of the Government or insurgent, at Colon, Portobelo, or any other point. Prevent landing if in your judgment it might precipitate a conflict.
• (b) In case of doubt regarding the intentions of any armed force, occupy A neon Hill and fortify it with artillery.

4. At 3.40 p.m. of November 3, 1903, Mr. Loomis, Assistant Secretary of State, acting, sent the following telegram to the person in charge of the United States consulate in Panama: “We are informed that there has been an uprising on the Isthmus; keep this department informed of everything without delay.” The consul of the United States answered on the same day: “The uprising has not occurred yet; it is announced that it will take place this evening. The situation is critical.”

5. At 8.45 p.m. of the same day, November 3, 1903, the following telegram, signed “Loomis, Acting,” was delivered to the person in charge of the United States consulate in Panama: “The troops which landed from Cartagena must not continue to Panama; “and by virtue of this telegram, the officer commanding the American war ship Nashville gave orders to the Panama Railroad Company not to transport troops of the Colombian Government to the city of Panama.

6. At 10.30 p.m. of the same day, November 3, 1903, another telegraphic dispatch from the State Department was sent to the American consul in Panama, reading as follows: “If the cablegram to the Nashville”—one of the said war vessels—“has not been delivered, inform her captain immediately that he must prevent the Government troops from continuing on to Panama or from assuming an attitude which might result in bloodshed, and that he must make every effort to maintain order on the Isthmus.”

7. On the same day, November 3, 1903, the following telegram was transmitted from Colon to the Secretary of the Navy by the commander of one of the aforementioned war vessels stationed there: “I acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of November 2. Before receiving it, there were landed here this morning by the Colombian Government about four hundred men from Cartagena. There is no revolution on the Isthmus, nor any disturbance. The railroad company has refused to transport these troops unless the governor of Panama requires it. The demand has not been made. It is possible that the movement to proclaim independence may take place in Panama this evening. * * *”

8. At 9.50 p.m. of the same date, November 3, 1903, the Department of State received from the vice-consul of the United States in Panama the following telegram: “The revolt took place this evening at 6; there has been no bloodshed. The officers of the army and navy have been reduced to prison. The government will be organized this evening, and will be composed of three consuls and a cabinet. The soldiers have been exchanged. It is believed that a similar movement will take place in Colon. Up to the present order has prevailed. The situation is serious. Four hundred soldiers landed in Colon to-day from Barranquilla.”

On the same day, November 3, 1903, General Tovar arrived at Colon with the battalion of sharpshooters of the Colombian army, a force more than sufficient to repress the aforementioned uprising.

9. At 11.18 p.m. of the same day, November 3, 1903, Mr. Loomis, Assistant Secretary of State, acting, telegraphed to the vice-consul of the United States in Panama: “The telegraphic dispatch sent to the Nashville at Colon may not have been delivered. See, therefore, that the following dispatch is transmitted to the Nashville immediately: ‘Nashville, Colon: In the interests of peace make every effort in order to prevent the troops of the Government at Colon from continuing to Panama. Transit on the Isthmus must be kept open and order maintained. Acknowledge receipt. (Signed) Darling, Acting.’ Obtain a special train if it should be necessary. Act with speed.”

10. On the following day, November 4, 1903, Hubbard, commander of one of the war vessels stationed at the time at Colon, addressed the Secretary of the Navy as follows: “Government troops now at Colon. I have prohibited the movement of troops in either direction. There has been no interruption of transit yet. I shall make every effort to preserve peace and order.”

11. On the same day, November 4, 1903, the American consul in Panama received the following communication: “We have the honor to inform you, for your own knowledge and that of the government which you represent, that on this very date there has taken place a movement by which the old Department of Panama has separated from the Republic of Colombia, with the object of constituting a new State by the name of ‘Republic of Panama;’ and that the undersigned have had the honor of being designated to form the committee of the provisional government of the Republic.”

12. Two days later—that is, November 6, 1903—the Secretary of State telegraphed to the vice-consul in Panama in the following terms: “The people of Panama by an apparently unanimous movement, have severed their political bonds with the Republic of Colombia and have resumed their independence. As soon as you are convinced that a de facto government, republican in form and without substantial opposition on the part of its own people, has been established on the Isthmus of Panama, you will enter into relations with it as the responsible government of the territory, and you will address to it a request that it take the measures necessary for the protection of the persons and the property of citizens of the United States, and that it keep open the transit on the Isthmus in accordance with the obligations of the existing treaties which govern the relations of the United States with that territory.”

13. On the same date, November 6, 1903, the commander of one of the war vessels communicated as follows to the Secretary of the Navy: “I arrived yesterday afternoon; I landed forces. The situation is as follows: A little before landing, the Colombian troops had departed on the steamer Orinoco for Cartagena. The independent party is in possession of Colon, of Panama, and of the railroad line. The Nashville withdrew her forces.”

14. On the following day, November 7, 1903, the vice-consul of the United States sent the following note to the so-called committee which represented the would-be revolution: “Inasmuch as the people of Panama, by a unanimous movement, have broken their political bonds with the Republic of Colombia and resumed their independence, and as there is no opposition to the provisional government in the State of Panama, I hereby inform you that the provisional government will be held responsible for the protection of the persons and property of the citizens of the United States, as well as for the maintenance of free transit on the Isthmus, in accordance with the stipulations of the treaties in force regarding the territory of the said Isthmus.”

15. On the following day, November 8, 1903, a telegram was sent to the Secretary of the Navy by the commander of one of the American war vessels, as follows: “Everything quiet; traffic uninterrupted; the telegram in which I was ordered to interfere was received.” On that same day the vice-consul of the United States in Panama stated, in a telegram to the Secretary of State, as follows: “The Colombian troops were reembarked for Cartagena by the Royal Mail. It is believed that the Bogáto is at Buenaventura. Peace reigns.”

16. Four days later, on November 11, 1903, the minister of the United States in Bogotá informed the Colombian Republic that the Government of the United States had entered into relations with the so-called new Republic of Panama.

17. Two days afterwards, on November 13, 1903, the Government of the United States officially received Mr. Bunau-Varilla, a French citizen interested in the French Canal Company, as minister plenipotentiary of Panama.

18. On the following day, November 14, 1903, the minister of the United States in Bogotá notified the Colombian Republic as follows: “I have just received instructions from my Government by cable to notify you that it does not deem it suitable to permit Colombian troops to land on the Isthmus, because this would precipitate civil war and would indefinitely interrupt the free transit which my Government is obligated to protect.”

19. General Reyes, commander at that time of the Colombian forces sent to repress the so-called rebellion on the Isthmus—which troops were more than sufficient for the purpose—had announced to Vice-Admiral Coghlan, commander of one of the United States war vessels, his intention to embark his troops and to proceed to Panama in order to restore order there; and the vice-admiral, in reply, notified him that his orders were to prevent the landing of troops with hostile designs within the limits of the State of Panama.

20. On November 18, 1903, the Secretary of State of the United States and the said Bunau-Varilla signed a treaty the purpose of which was to arrange a compact between the United States and the so-called Republic of Panama. By article 1 of this treaty the United States expressly and positively guarantee and obligate themselves to xiphoid the independence of the so-called Republic of Panama.

The foregoing recital, taken principally from the official records as they were transmitted by the President to the Senate when the treaty between the United States and the so-called Republic of Panama was being discussed in that body, amply justifies, in the opinion of the undersigned, the following conclusions, in which you may not perhaps agree with him:

(a) The well-known favorable attitude of the United States toward a rebellious uprising in the Department of Panama was the determining cause of the revolt, and to this extent it was a violation of the express stipulations of the treaty of 1846.

(b) The United States, by means of their armed forces, prevented the Republic of Colombia from repressing the aforesaid rebellion and so preserving the integrity of her national territory, this being also in violation of the positive stipulations of the treaty.

(c) The United States recognized with undue haste the so-called Republic of Panama, to the detriment of the rights and interests of the Republic of Colombia, and this recognition annulled the express stipulations of the treaty of 1846 and disregarded the principles established by the law of nations.

(d) The United States guaranteed to maintain by force the separation of Panama from the Republic of Colombia, not only against the explicit stipulations of the treaty of 1846, but also, and in view of the time at which this obligation was contracted, in violation of the duties of neutrals under the law of nations.

I therefore take the liberty of again calling your attention to the fact that each of these injuries which Colombia maintains was inflicted on her by the United States assumes the character of a controversy of a legal nature, or of a difference regarding the correct interpretation of the treaty existing between the two contracting parties. In the opinion of the Government of the undersigned, these acts of the United States were the sole and only cause of the dismemberment of the Republic of Colombia, of the loss to her of the valuable and important department of Panama, and of the loss of her rights in contracts, one referring to the Isthmian Canal, in course of construction, and the other to the Panama Railroad, already constructed across that department.

The undersigned does not flatter himself that you will be disposed to admit the justice of these reclamations. On the contrary, he supposes that they will be denied by you. If this should be the case, it appears to be clear that the only practicable means of adjustment, honorable for both countries, would be to submit them to the decision of an impartial court of arbitration. On the other hand, if your Government were disposed to admit the justice of Colombia’s reclamations [complaints], a path would be happily opened toward a prompt and satisfactory adjustment by direct diplomacy.

The undersigned is aware that it is not his place to point out the manner in which this court should be, constituted before knowing your views on the matter; however, as a mere hint at the facility with which it might be formed, he ventures to respectfully suggest that each country should without delay appoint a distinguished jurist of its own nationality to represent it, and that the selection of the umpire be made by the chief magistrate of an absolutely disinterested nation.

It does not appear necessary to remind you that if such a court is constituted and the United States have committed no injury against the Republic of Colombia, their conduct will be fully vindicated. At all events, the worst that could happen to the United States would be a decision that they had inflicted an injury on a weak sister Republic while seeking what they thought to be of universal benefit and the exaction from the United States of the appropriate indemnity. In either case the result would be a settlement of all controversies between the two Republics and a resumption of the cordial and friendly relations which always existed between them before the occurrences on the Isthmus above enumerated.

To conclude, the refusal of so great and powerful a nation as the United States to consent to enter into negotiations, of one nature or another, with a weak nation unable to obtain reparation by arms would, as its only result, convince the weaker nation that the United States do not wish to give her the justice due her or to submit their conduct to a judicial investigation and to arbitration. This refusal would certainly have only the most unfortunate influence on the citizens of the weak nation, denied justice because too weak to have any hope of sustaining its claim by force; and, inversely, if your Government maintains its uninterrupted tradition of doing justice to others, regardless of their lack of strength, as your Chief Magistrate so emphatically expressed it recently in the following terms: “We must be scrupulous in our respect for the rights of the weak,” then the consequences will undoubtedly be highly salutary, not only as an efficacious means of allaying all resentment in the Colombian mind, but of removing all apprehension in the minds of the weak peoples who inhabit the Western Hemisphere.

For all of the reasons hereinbefore set forth, the undersigned earnestly entreats you to consider favorably the petition he makes to you for a direct adjustment or for the constitution of a court of arbitration to decide the differences between the two countries, and in either manner you will add one more to the illustrious cases in which your great nation has favored the cause of justice and of international arbitration.

The undersigned embraces this opportunity to express to the Honorable Mr. Elihu Root, Secretary of State, the assurances of his highest consideration.

Diego Mendoza.