File No. 704.9318/3.

Minister Hale to the Secretary of State.

No. 34.]

Sir: I have the honor to enclose correspondence as follows: a paraphrase of my telegram to the Department of August 25; a copy of the petition (translation) of the Punta Arenas Chinamen;2 a paraphrase of Department’s reply of September 2; a copy of my note to the Foreign Office of September 3; and a copy and translation of the reply from the Foreign Office of September 9, received today.

I have [etc.]

E. J. Hale
.
[Inclosure 1.]

Minister Hale to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Excellency: The Chinese Government has requested the United States to exercise its good offices in behalf of the Chinese in Costa Rica; and I am instructed to inquire whether this will be agreeable to your excellency’s Government.

I avail [etc.]

E. J. Hale
.
[Page 177]
[Inclosure 2—Translation.]

The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Minister Hale.

Mr. Minister: I have had the honor to receive your polite note of September 3, in which your excellency is pleased to inform me that the Chinese Government has addressed that of the United States requesting it to exercise its good offices in behalf of the Chinese in Costa Rica; your excellency adds that you have instructions to inquire if such a step would be agreeable to my Government.

In reply I should state to your excellency that by Decree No. 6 of May 30, 1897, the Constitutional Congress of the Republic absolutely prohibited the entrance into the country of persons belonging to the Chinese nationality, tolerating only those who had settled here prior to that date.

It is seventeen years since then and the number of Chinese, which at that time was very small, has diminished, as is natural, in a notable manner; wherefore we can say today, with all justice, that in Costa Rica there are almost no Chinese.

Possibly some have entered surreptitiously, but these should be considered as legally non-existent, since at any moment they can be expelled.

My Government therefore believes, and I very respectfully take the liberty of so stating to your excellency, that it is not in order to accede to the desires of the Chinese Government, especially if it is taken into consideration that both those individuals of that race who have a right to remain in Costa Rica and those who have entered furtively afterward enjoy among us all the guaranties which a civilized nation grants to all human beings who, either permanently or accidentally, are found on its soil.

I avail [etc.]

Manuel Castro Quesada
.
  1. Not printed.