The Secretary of State to Minister Russell.
Washington, December 16, 1907.
Write a note to the minister of foreign affairs embodying the following language: “My Government hereby acknowledges the receipt from the Venezuelan Government of $15,719.69, the same to be applied to the payment of awards made to American cliamants by the Venezuelan-American Mixed Claims Commission of 1903 My Government observes the statement in your excellency’s note of September 21 that the sums now being set aside by your excellency’s Government are for the payment of all the awards made to the non-blockading nations by the Venezuelan-American Mixed Commission, but that the distribution of these sums among the various claimants of the creditor nations is a matter in which the Venezuelan Government is not concerned My Government, therefore, will distribute among the various American claimants, excluding the Orinoco Steamship Co., the sums already received and to be received Concerning the receipt of moneys for and the payment of the same to the Orinoco Steamship Co and the Orinoco Co (Ltd.) on account of the awards made to them by the Venezuelan-American Mixed Commission, my Government adheres to the position set forth in my note to your excellency of September 20.”