The Russian Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Washington, March 21, 1906.
My dear Mr. Secretary: In reply to your letter of this date, I beg to state that besides the United States the following are the countries of the American hemisphere to which preliminary invitations from my Government were sent through the imperial embassy at Washington to the Second Peace Conference at The Hague: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, and Venezuela.
Of these Republics only the Republic of Panama has declined to accept the invitation. Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Ecuador have, so [Page 1626] far given no answer to our proposition. The remaining twelve countries have declared their willingness to attend the conference as soon as a formal invitation is received by them.
The invitations to Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay were to have been conveyed to the Governments of these countries through the Eussian legation, Eio de Janeiro. I have reason to believe, though I have no official information on the subject, that Brazil and Uruguay have accepted our invitation, but I know nothing about Argentina’s answer.
I am, etc.,