File No. 2491/40.
The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Squiers.
Washington, December 1, 1908.
Sir: The department has received a note from the Costa Rican Legation, dated November 21, 1908, a copy of which is inclosed, asking the impartial good offices and mediation of the United States in order to bring about a satisfactory adjustment of the boundary dispute between Panama and Costa Rica. The records of your legation will show that on December 9, 1907, the Costa Rican Government requested an impartial arbitration of the controversy by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, but that no serious progress seems to have been made toward the settlement of the question either by direct negotiation or by arbitration.
You will state to the Panama minister of foreign affairs that the Government of the United States would be very happy to extend its impartial good offices and mediation to Panama and Costa Rica, in the hope that the boundary dispute, which has existed for years, may be settled to the satisfaction of each of the contending parties within the very near future.
I am, etc.,