File No. 718.1915/227.
Chargé Cresson to the Secretary of State.
Panama, November 27, 1914.
Sir: I have the honor to report that following the Department’s cable instructions of November 25, 1914, with respect to a rumored [Page 1023] collision between the authorities of Panama and Costa Rica in the disputed territory along the frontier, I called this morning on the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and communicated to Sr. Lefevre the great desire of the United States to learn that every effort was, as a matter of course, being made by the Panaman Government to refrain from acts tending to alter the status quo in the disputed territory. I also pointed out that in order to bring the matters pending between the sister republics to a happy conclusion, such conduct was of obvious propriety and importance.
Sr. Lefevre, answering these representations in the same cordial spirit in which they were made, assured me that he had no news of any collision or any direct cause of complaint from the Costa Rican Government. The only steps taken in the territory in dispute had been to change the corregidores in two towns in order that more responsible officials might occupy these important posts during this critical period. He also said that strict orders had been issued to these officials not to assert the authority of Panama in any of the territory not previously occupied by Panamans.
He also informed me that he had communicated with respect to this matter at length with Dr. Morales in Washington, who was in possession of all the facts of the case. In order to verify the statement made by Sr. Lefevre, I had a conversation with Mr. William Bardy, a Hungarian subject who recently applied for, and is actually exploiting, some concession which extends as far as Punta Burica. As his land extends into the disputed territory I considered that he would have an early report on this matter. He assured me that nothing of the kind has occurred and did not believe it possible that any important measures could be taken without the news reaching him almost immediately.* * *
I have [etc.]