File No. 817.812/27.
The Minister of Nicaragua to the Secretary of State.
Washington, June 5, 1913.
Excellency: I have the honor to inform your excellency that I have this day received a telegram from my Government in which it advises me that the answer to the protest made to it by the Government of Costa Rica against the canal convention concluded at Managua between your excellency’s Government and mine on the eighth day of February, 1913, is ready.
I have no doubt that your excellency is already fully acquainted with the said protest.
My Government’s reply tends to explain to the Government of Costa Rica that the said convention of February 8, 1913, is not a final canal treaty properly so called but only an option dealing with the rights the United States might exercise in the event of the construction of a canal through the territory of Nicaragua.
At the same time I have been instructed by my Government to obtain from your excellency the opinion you may have formed of the said protest from Costa Rica, so that the United States and [Page 1024] Nicaragua may, if possible, proceed in accord in the statements it might be necessary to make to the Government of Costa Rica, and also as to the proper time when to deliver the reply.
I therefore beg your excellency kindly to accede, if you see fit, to the wishes of my Government as above stated.
With assurances [etc.].