File No. 2491/31.
The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Squiers.
Washington, December 24, 1907.
Sir: I inclose copies of a note, dated in this city December 9, 1907, from the Costa Rican minister of foreign affairs, and of the department’s reply of the 19th instant, in regard to the boundary controversy between Costa Rica and Panama.
You will note the request of the Costa Rican minister of foreign affairs and the department’s cordial acquiescence in the desire of Costa Rica to submit to arbitration the boundary dispute between Costa Rica and Panama, which was thought to have been adjusted by the terms of the Loubet award of September 4, 1900. As the records of your legation will show, and as you are no doubt aware, the award was unsatisfactory to Costa Rica and Panama, as successor of Colombia to the disputed territory, and has been subject of prolonged diplomatic negotiations between the two countries looking to an effective delimitation of boundaries.
You are instructed to state to the Panama minister of foreign affairs the interest that the United States takes in the adjustment of the boundary dispute between Costa Rica, and you will present to him the substance of the note of the Costa Rican minister of foreign affairs and urge Panama to accept the proposal contained therein—namely, that the entire controversy be submitted to the impartial arbitration of the Chief Justice of the United States or to an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
At the same time you may intimate that if for any reason it is not deemed desirable to have as arbitrator either the Chief Justice or an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court some other high judicial officer of this Government can be selected.
I am, etc.