File No. 817.812/111.
[Inclosure 1—Translation.]
The Secretary for Foreign
Affairs to Minister Hale.
Foreign Office,
San José,
February 6, 1915.
My dear Sir and Friend: I have the
pleasure to refer to the communication which, under date of the 3d
instant, your excellency addressed to me requesting that informally
but frankly I should tell you what my Government thinks about the
canal concession granted by Nicaragua to the United States.
I have not the slightest hesitancy in complying with your wish; on
the contrary, I feel especial satisfaction in so doing, because I
can thus dispel from your excellency’s mind certain erroneous
constructions which for some days I have been noting in the cable
despatches sent by the United Press.
Costa Rica’s attitude in regard to this matter cannot at the present
time be other than that stated by our Minister in Washington, Mr.
Joaquin Calvo, in the note which he presented to the Department of
State on April 17, 1913.2
In this document, which appears in the Report published the same year
by this Ministry, Mr. Calvo, in the name of my Government, presents
a formal protest to the American Government against the conclusion
of the Chamorro-Weitzel treaty on the ground that the said treaty
had been agreed upon without one of the parties, Nicaragua, having
the power so to do, and that the other, the United States, was
cognizant of this incapacity.
In fact, Article 8 of the treaty celebrated between Costa Rica and
Nicaragua on April 15, 1858—a treaty the validity of which was
declared by President Cleveland—stipulates clearly and definitely
that the Republic of Nicaragua cannot conclude any convention in
regard to canalization or transit without hearing previously the
opinion of Costa Rica, and that this opinion would cease to be
merely consultative if such a convention should directly affect the
natural rights of the latter.
The conclusion, therefore, of a treaty of this nature can not be
brought about without Costa Rica saying first what it thinks in
regard to the question, and as long as this indispensable requisite
has not been complied with, my Government can only maintain the same
attitude of protest which it adopted in 1913.
The foregoing does not mean that my Government is on principle
opposed to the idea of the construction of a canal through part of
its territory. No; my Government understands perfectly the
responsibility toward civilization that it would contract if it
prohibited the opening of a new oceanic route to the service of the
world’s commerce.
My Government, on the other hand, is only too well aware of the
impossibility it encounters of undertaking with its own resources an
enterprise of such magnitude, and consequently is entirely willing
that it should be another and more powerful nation which engages in
accomplishing it.
My Government also takes full account of the interest which, for the
United States much more than for any other Power, the building of a
new route parallel to the Panama route possesses.
Now, granted the extremely cordial relations which at all times have
existed between this and the powerful American Government, the
thousand reasons whereby that great nation has won our gratitude,
sympathy and esteem, my Government could look only with marked
pleasure upon that nation being the proprietor of the work.
My Government, therefore, would never be opposed to negotiating a
canal concession with that of the United States; indeed not. Only,
what my Government desires is that this negotiation should be
conducted in accordance with the stipulations of valid treaties and
with what the very nature of the matter imposes.
[Page 1109]
That is to say: The treaty, if one is to be concluded, must be with
the concurrence of Costa Rica and Nicaragua; its conditions will
have to be discussed and approved by both countries; in this way,
and only in this way, would the United States be able to acquire a
canal concession clear from all blot.
Such, Mr. Minister, is the point of view from which my Government
regards the question. I have set it forth with the frankness your
excellency desired, congratulating myself very sincerely that the
informal character of this communication, suggested by your
excellency, should have permitted me to show you, with all clearness
and without euphemisms of any sort, what, exactly, is our way of
feeling in this matter.
This opportunity affords me [etc.]
[Inclosure 2.]
Minister Hale to
the Secretary for Foreign
Affairs.
American Legation,
San José,
February 12, 1915.
My dear Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s courteous note of the
6th instant in reply to mine of the 3d.
Your excellency refers to the rights and obligations of the Republic
of Costa Rica in relation to the Nicaragua canal route; but in view
of the message which I brought to your excellency’s Government when
I presented my credentials in August 1913, namely that my Government
desired that the relations between the two countries should be based
on mutual advantage only, I have been at a loss to understand the
friction which the subject under consideration has provoked.
It seems, however, from recent conversations at Washington between
the Secretary of State and the Minister of your excellency’s
Government there, that the friction noticeable here was due to a
misunderstanding. When my Government assured Costa Rica of its
willingness to make a treaty with Costa Rica similar to that with
Nicaragua, it had in view only the purchase of an option; but it
appears that Costa Rica understood that such a treaty would include
what is known as the “Platt Amendment.” I am able to assure your
excellency that my Government had no thought of including the “Platt
Amendment” in its proposition, and no desire to do so.
My information is that all misunderstanding has been removed at
Washington and that the only question remains as to the price and
the terms of the option in question.
It is also understood that your excellency’s Government might be
willing to sell the island of Cocos, which lies some two hundred
miles west from Costa Rica in the Pacific Ocean, in view of its
uselessness to the Republic of Costa Rica. My Government is willing
to buy the island at a reasonable price and to include it in the
treaty conveying the canal option.
I will thank your excellency if you shall find it convenient, in
accordance with the informal character of this correspondence, to
make known to me the views of your excellency’s Government on the
subjects just mentioned.
I avail [etc.]
