The Secretary of State to the Chilean Minister.

No. 22.]

Sir: Referring to previous correspondence regarding the Alsop claim, and particularly to the notes specified as follows:

Your note of July 31, 1908, which transmitted one addressed by the Chilean foreign office to the American minister at Santiago, and in which you stated that you were authorized to furnish to the Department of State antecedents and information regarding the case; the department’s note of August 29, 1908, in which the department accepted this offer and requested copies of the documents and statements of the evidence on which the Government of Chile relied to justify the reduction of the amount which it proposed to pay to the Alsop claimants; the department’s note of November 24, 1908, referring to its earlier note and stating that the department would be glad to receive the information offered by the Chilean Government; and your note of November 26, 1908, stating that this Government’s request had been communicated to your Government, and that, upon the receipt of the information requested, it would be transmitted to [Page 157] the department, I have the honor to inform you that the department received a telegram last month from the American minister at Santiago stating that he had been informed by the Chilean foreign office that the antecedents requested had been sent to your legation.

The department has for many years urged upon the Chilean Government the equity of the Alsop claim, but thus far it has been unable to induce that Government to suggest any settlement which seemed at all adequate to the merits of the claim. The department is most desirous of reaching a final determination, at an early date, concerning the amount which in its judgment is properly due to the claimants in this case, and begs to express the hope that you will communicate to it, at your earliest convenience, the documents which your Government is now forwarding to you.

Accept, etc.

P. C. Knox.