File No. 419.11 D 29/26.
The American Chargé d’Affaires to the Secretary of State .
Panama , September 30, 1912 .
The Foreign Office has sent a note in reply to your September 24, stated to be based on instructions from the President. It is wordy, argumentative, with much high-flown sentiment, of twelve pages, six of which are excerpts from testimony. The substance of it is:
The Panaman Government is unable to accept the proposed bases of adjustment because (1) the judicial inquiry is not yet ended and [Page 1258] the executive can not admit responsibility in the meantime; (2) the Government of the United States has been erroneously informed, since the incident was due to excesses of American soldiers; (3) the American Government really concurs in point 1, since it admits possibility of showing a substantial change in the character of the incident. The note concludes with a suggestion of arbitration.
This reply, it’ should be remembered, is from an administration that expires to-day. I request instructions, as I wish to take up the matter with the new administration within a few days.
Accompanying the note is a book of testimony in Spanish; it contains 134 pages and it will take ten days to translate them. Shall I send it to the Department without translation?.