File No. 2491/31.
The Costa Rican Minister on Special Mission to the Secretary of State.
Washington, December 9, 1907.
Sir: I have the honor to confirm herewith our conversation of the 4th instant. As I have had expressed to your excellency the Government of Costa Rica is animated by the best desires to bring to an end the boundary controversy pending with the Republic of Panama, but various circumstances have opposed themselves until the present the accomplishment of this so desirable result; and it is to be believed that the present situation will continue indefinitely if the good and impartial offices of your excellency’s Government, who has shown such marked evidences of sympathy and interest as well for Costa Rica as for Panama, do not come to the aid of both countries with the object of adjusting the difference.
As your excellency were good enough to express to me the importance to the Government of the United States of the determination of the respective jurisdiction of Costa Rica and Panama in the territory in dispute, with respect to questions arising between American citizens in regard to better title to those lands no less than the good disposition always evinced by your excellency’s Government in favor of the friendly settlement of any differences between the sister States of the American Continent, cause me to hope that this time it will also give us the benefits of its moral support to a just settlement of the question.
The minister of Costa Rica in Washington, Señor Don Joaquin Bernardo Calvo, has kept your excellency informed of the different phases which the boundary question has assumed since his excellency the President of France, M. Emile Loubet, the arbiter chosen to adjust it, pronounced his award.
Minister Calvo in a note dated November 26, 1906, transmitted to your excellency copy and translation into English of the three instruments signed in Panama, looking to the final settlement of the pending boundary question between the two countries. With these papers he also sent copy of a note addressed by the minister of Costa Rica in Paris, Señor Don Manuel Maria Peralta, to the secretary of foreign relations of the French Republic, M. Delcassé, dated September 29, 1900, and of the answer to the same, dated November 25 of the same year, concerning the interpretation given by Costa Rica of the award which his excellency President Loubet issued on the 11th of the same month of September, 1900. In the second of these notes the fact is stated that the arbiter, in the absence of precise geographic data, was able to fix the boundary line only by means of general indications, and it is also asserted that it will correspond with the two Republics to proceed to the material determination of their respective frontiers, the arbiter, deferring, moreover, to the spirit of conciliation and good understanding which have inspired the two Governments of Colombia and Costa Rica, then, as now, inspire those of Costa Rica and Panama.
[Page 773]Lately, in view of the modifications, by the way, unacceptable to Costa Rica, which under the modest title of “aclaraciones “(explanations) the assembly of Panama introduced in the second of the three instruments mentioned, modifications which brought practically about the failure of the treaty in both countries, Minister Calvo expounded to your excellency, in an interview held on the 20th of last June, the views of the Government of Costa Rica on this subject, expressing besides the objections existing against the treaty of Panama and against the French award, these objections being of such a nature that, if presented, would undoubtedly cause a complete invalidation of said sentence.
In this occasion Mr. Calvo also manifested the good will of my Government to arrive at a final and satisfactory solution of the question, if not directly, by proposing to the Government of Panama to submit to the arbitration of the Chief Justice of the United States whatever refers to the interpretation of said award.
Your excellency was kind enough to express to Mr. Calvo that the way suggested by my Government was found to be acceptable, in case no other more direct one could be found, and that, there being no objection to the nomination of the proposed arbiter the department, under your excellency’s able direction, would, with great pleasure, cooperate to obtain the acceptance of the Chief Justice of the United States, or of one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, should the former because of any circumstance not be able to accept the nomination.
Consistent with the foregoing, and again referring to the interview of the 4th instant, already mentioned, I desire to request your excellency’s good offices near the Government of Panama to the desired end. My Government, who appreciates greatly the tokens of consideration received from the illustrious Government of Washington, is confident that through its wise and disinterested cooperation the Republic of Costa Rica will be able to carry to a happy end the fixing of the dividing line with her sister Republic of Panama, thus making closer still, if possible, the friendly relations which happily unite those two countries.
Be pleased, etc.,