File No. 7692/8.
Minister Dawson to the Secretary of State .
Bogota , December 31, 1907 .
Sir: Referring to the subject of the last two paragraphs of my No. 26,b of the 21st instant, in which I mention that a boundary and navigation treaty was concluded between Colombia and Brazil on April 24, 1907, and ratified by the Colombian Congress on May 17, I have the honor to report that word was received to-day from Rio de Janeiro that the Brazilian Senate voted to approve on the 29th. This completes ratification, as the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies had already acted favorably.
The minister of foreign affairs tells me that he expects the ratifications will be exchanged promptly at Rio and that a modus vivendi in regard to the triangle of territory at the mouths of the Yapura and Putumayo, whose sovereignty is still in dispute between the two nations, will be put into effect. Indeed, I understand that such a modus vivendi has already been formulated.
It is impossible yet to obtain here a copy of the treaty and modus vivendi, since this foreign office considers itself under obligations not to publish until ratifications have been exchanged or until it has the permission of the Brazilian foreign office.
The conclusion of this treaty settles, or puts in the way of certain settlement, a dispute that has lasted nearly a century and on several occasions seriously menaced the relations of the two countries. Besides its beneficial effects on Brazil and Colombia themselves, it may have a far-reaching international bearing as tending to bring about a disentangling of the complicated knot of boundary disputes in the upper Amazon.
I have, etc.,
- Not printed.↩