File No. 817.00/2386.
[Untitled]
[Extract.]
No. 51.]
American Legation,
San José,
December 25, 1914.
Sir: I have the honor to report as follows:* *
* On December 5 I received Department’s telegram of December 4, to which
I replied by telegraph December 7.* * * On December 19 I received
Department’s telegram of December 18. The President was out of town for
Sunday. On Monday, December 21, I called upon him and presented a letter
embodying the formal and emphatic request which Department’s telegram
instructed me to make. A copy of this letter is enclosed. On Wednesday,
December 23, I received the President’s reply (through the Foreign
Office) of December 22, a copy of which, and translation, is enclosed.
On December 24 I sent telegram to Department embodying the gist of the
President’s reply.* * *
I have [etc.]
[Inclosure 1.]
Minister Hale to
the President of Costa Rica
American Legation,
San José,
December 21, 1914.
Mr. President: I have the honor to
represent to Your Excellency that the Government of the United
States has been informed that certain Nicaraguan revolutionists are
fomenting armed revolutionary movements in provinces of Costa Rica
adjoining Nicaragua. It has received knowledge of the leading
individuals in this conspiracy now in Costa Rica.
I am instructed to approach Your Excellency and to present a formal
and emphatic request that, in order to preserve the peace of Central
America, in which the United States is deeply interested, the
following individuals be requested to leave Costa Rica to take up
their residence in any other country that may seem to them
desirable, namely General Julian Irias (living in Heredia), General
Luis Mena, General Ygnacio Chavez, and Colonel Jose Maria Zelaya—all
now in San José.
I have [etc.]
[Inclosure 2—Translation.]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Minister Hale.
Foreign Office
San Jose,
December 22, 1914.
Mr. Minister: Following instructions of
the President of the Republic, I have the honor to refer to the
important communication which yesterday your excellency was pleased
to address to that High Functionary relative to the expulsion from
the country of various Nicaraguan citizens.
In this your excellency states that your Government has been informed
that various Nicaraguan revolutionaries resident here are fomenting
subversive movements against the Government of Nicaragua and that,
with the object of preserving the peace of Central America, which so
greatly Interests the United States, it presents a formal and
emphatic insistence1 that Doctor Don Julian Irias, General Don Luis
Mena, General Don Ignacio Chavez and Colonel Don Jose Maria Zelaya
be expelled from our territory.
In reply I have the honor to express to your excellency that one of
the most constant and fundamental desires of my Government has been,
and is, to aid in the most efficient manner in the maintenance of
the peace of Central America, and that it has never and at no time
omitted any effort to that end. That,
[Page 184]
inspired by that zeal, it subscribed at
Washington, together with the other four Governments of the Isthmus,
the General Treaty of Peace and Amity of December 20, 1907; that in
the seven years of the existence of this treaty it has been able to
comply strictly with all and each one of its stipulations; and that,
accordingly, it can show with all justice a clean record, which
accredits it as a Government that knows how to comply well and
faithfully with its international obligations.
But as with legitimate pride my Government values its exact
observance of its duty toward other nations, so also it has no less
satisfaction in being able to show that its proceedings in regard to
its interior affairs are not other than those which the Constitution
aid the laws of the Republic assign to it.
In the concrete case, the claim formulated by your excellency is
found in open opposition to the constitutional articles which
guarantee the free residence of foreigners in Costa Rica, a right
which cannot be limited with the sole exception of the clear and
specific occasions provided by law. For which reason I permit myself
to state to your excellency, very respectfully, that my Government
is not able to accede to your demand.1
I have the honor [etc.]
