Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 7, 1915
File No. 718.1915/234.
Minister Hale to the Secretary of State.2
San José, January 23, 1915.
Sir: I have the honor to report that I have received an important communication from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated January 14, concerning the boundary dispute between Costa Rica and Panama, a copy of which and its enclosures, together with translations of all, I enclose, marked Enclosure No. 1.
A copy of my reply, dated January 21, is also enclosed, marked Enclosure No. 2.
In this connection I respectfully ask for instructions as to my further procedure.
I have [etc.]
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Minister Hale.
San José, January 14, 1915.
Mr. Minister: As I had the honor to express to your excellency in days past, my Government was surprised at the news that the Government of Panama, making light of the unappealable judgment handed down by the Chief Justice of the United States in the boundary litigation between Costa Rica and its neighbor on the south, had arranged to locate various administrative authorities in places which, since the promulgation of the Loubet Award, undoubtedly belong to Costa Rica, as the parties solemnly recognized when they signed the Anderson-Porras Convention of March 17, 1910; which recognition was amply corroborated by the Executive Power of Panama in the Resolution (Document A), a copy of which I have the honor to transmit to you hereto annexed.
In view of this proceeding, my Government was arranging to take the necessary measures of repulsion, when the generous offer came which your excellency was pleased to make of mediating amicably in order that no attitude should be adopted which might break off the good relations existing between the two nations.
My Government gladly accepted the proposition, made as it was by the representative of the greatest nation on earth not only in its extent and power but also because of the perfect devotion with which in every epoch it has reverenced justice.
The matter, therefore, could not remain in better hands, especially as it was a question of a difference arising out of the promulgation of an award rendered by no less a personage than the Chief Justice of the United States, an award which, because of the undeniable equity which inspires it and coming from whom it comes, it is not logical to suppose does not merit all respect on the part of the Minister who so brilliantly represents among us the powerful Government of the United States.
But as the manifold occupations which daily claim the attention of your excellency and of your very illustrious Government have so far impeded the taking of the steps necessary for causing the anomalous state of affairs provoked by the Government of Panama to cease, I have considered it fitting to [Page 1132] take some action directly on my own part, and to that end is designed the note, a copy of which your excellency will please find annexed (Document B).
It seems to me superfluous to state to your excellency that it has not entered my mind, even for a moment, to lay aside the invaluable mediation of your excellency; far from that, my Government trusts that your excellency will be pleased to continue using your good offices, certain as it is that they will contribute powerfully toward the disappearance of the difficulties which have arisen against the carrying out of the judgment handed down by Chief Justice White.
I renew [etc.]
Executive Resolution No. 96.
Panama, November 23, 1912.
The executive administration which expired September 30, 1912, made various contracts for the establishment of agricultural colonies, and among them is one signed on August 12, in which there appears as concessionary, Mr. José Antonio Lara von Chamier, a Costa Rican citizen.
According to the terms of that concession Mr. Lara has the right, to acquire possession, for the purposes of the contract, of a tract of 5,000 hectares of waste” land, situated thus: on the north, the River Coto and waste lands; on the south, Punta Burica; on the east, waste lands; and on the west, the sea coast. The Nation binds itself to reserve for adjudication an equal lot of land which shall be given to the concessionary when the obligations which he contracts shall have been fulfilled.
This contract was submitted by the Executive Power to the National Assembly together with the other similar contracts which refer to agricultural colonies; but, it being now observed that the lands included in the concession granted to Mr. Lara lie outside the frontier line established in the Loubet Award and accepted, as regards the Pacific region, by the boundary convention agreed to in Washington between Panama and Costa Rica on March 17, 1910, it is clear that the Government, perhaps through inadvertence, fell into error in making the said contract.
The Republic, by means of its Foreign Office and its diplomatic representatives has maintained the principle that in territories over which a boundary dispute with a friendly nation is pending, rights of dominion, which emanate only from sovereignty, must not be granted by either of the parties, since it is evident that while litigation is pending sovereignty is in suspense, together with the powers inherent in it.
The Government of the Republic has adhered strictly to that principle, and in the present case it is imperative that it be observed, since by the boundary convention Panama has accepted as clear and undoubted the frontier line from Punta Burica to a point in the Central Cordillera above Cerro Pando, and this acceptance precludes the possibility of the decision of the arbitrator awarding to it the zone where the concession granted to Mr. Lara is situated.
The said contract, on the other hand, involves a contravention of national public law, since from the date on which the Porras-Anderson Convention was approved by the National Assembly there was implicitly accepted by the nation as a legal mandate the duty, which until then it had voluntarily fulfilled, of not giving concessions of dominion over any part of the lands in dispute.
For that reason the contract made with Mr. Lara should be considered as non-existent, and the National Assembly could in no case give its approval, since by doing so it would exercise an act of sovereignty contrary to a solemn pact approved by itself.
Consequently it is resolved: That the contract made by this Department with Mr. José Antonio Lara von Chamier, on August 19, 1912, with reference to the granting of a tract of land for the establishment of agricultural colonies, be declared of no effect.
- Belisario Porras.
-
R. F. Acevedo.
Minister of Fomento.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Panama to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica.
Panama, January 15, 1913.
Mr. Minister: Referring to Your Excellency’s courteous communication, marked No. 84, dated October 10th of last year, I have the honor to enclose to Your Excellency, with the present note, a copy, duly authenticated, of Resolution No. 96, of the 23rd of November, 1912, whereby contract No. 53, made with the Costa Rican citizen, Mr. José Antonio Lara von Chamier, is declared of no effect.
I have [etc.]
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Panama.
San José, January 14, 1915.
Mr. Minister: Some two months ago there came to the knowledge of my Government news so grave in its nature that at the outset it was impossible to give credit to it. But later and repeated investigations obliged us to accept, with profound and well-justified surprise, the truth of the report.
This consists in the act, committed by the Government whose Chancellery your excellency so worthily conducts, of placing various administrative authorities at points situated north of Punta Burica.
This zone, as your excellency well knows, was definitely adjudged to Costa Rica since the promulgation of the award rendered by the President of the French Republic on September 11, 1900. Its adjudication was ratified by the Anderson-Porras Convention March 17, 1910, and considered as absolutely foreign to the jurisdiction of Panama, among other things, by Resolution No. 96 of November 23, 1912, dictated by President Porras and countersigned by his Minister of Fomento.
With your excellency’s leave, I here transcribe some of the paragraphs contained in the afore-cited resolution, convinced as I am that they will controvert in a much abler manner than I am able to do the measure to which I am referring.
This contract was submitted by the Executive Power to the National Assembly together with the other similar contracts which refer to agricultural colonies; but, it being now observed that the lands included in the concession granted to Mr. Lara lie outside the frontier line established in the Loubet Award and accepted, as regards the Pacific region, by the boundary convention agreed to in Washington between Panama and Costa Rica on March 17, 1910, it is clear that the Government, perhaps through inadvertence, fell into error in making the said contract.
The Republic, by means of its Foreign Office and its diplomatic representatives has maintained the principle that in those territories over which boundary litigation with a friendly country is pending, rights of domain, which emanate only from sovereignty, must not be granted by either of the parties, since it is evident that while litigation is pending sovereignty is in suspense, together with the powers inherent in it.
The Government of the Republic has adhered strictly to that principle, and in the present case it is imperative that it be observed, since by the boundary convention Panama has accepted as clear and undoubted the frontier line from Punta Burica to a point in the Central Cordillera above the Cerro Pando, and this acceptance precludes the possibility of the decision of the arbitrator awarding to it the zone where the concession granted to Mr. Lara is situated.
The said contract, on the other hand, involves a contravention of national public law, since from the date on which the Porras-Anderson Convention was approved by the National Assembly there was implicitly accepted by the nation as a legal mandate the duty, which until then it had voluntarily fulfilled, of not giving concessions of dominion over any part of the lands in dispute.
For that reason the contract made with Mr. Lara should be considered as non-existent, and the National Assembly could in no case give its approval, since by doing so it would exercise an act of sovereignty contrary to a solemn pact approved by itself.
After the above transcription I believe nothing can be said that more openly impugns the proceeding of the Government of Panama in exercising an act of sovereignty contrary to a solemn pact agreed to by it, thus contravening national public law and using powers of sovereignty in a zone in which the possibility has been excluded of its ever being adjudged to Panama.
[Page 1134]The circumstance that so far the material delimitation of our frontiers has not been accomplished in no way changes the nature of the question. The Government of Panama, after the ratification of the Anderson-Porras Convention, ceased to exercise the precarious jurisdiction which by virtue of the status quo it had for a time north of Punta Burica. From the reading of the Resolution of November 23, 1912, I believe that your excellency will entertain no doubt in that respect.
Furthermore, even admitting by way of pure conjecture such an assertion to be not strictly correct, the action of the Government of Panama would still be indefensible; it would then have violated the status quo by performing acts without precedent, acts which would necessarily have changed the nature of existing things, and which consequently it was inhibited from doing.
For the reasons set forth, and appreciating at its full value the declaration made by your excellency in the important communication which under date of October 17 last you were pleased to address to me,3 that “the desire and invariable purpose of Panama is not to seek for the solution of its international questions any other means than those indicated by law,” in the name of my Government I present a formal protest before the Government of your excellency against the appointing of various authorities north of Punta Burica.
I trust that the noble and lofty sentiments of confraternity and justice of which at all times your Government has given striking proofs will impel it to proceed now in accordance with its traditional equity, revoking the appointments which I have mentioned.
I do not wish to close without stating to your excellency in the most solemn manner that the sentiments of high appreciation and cordial and sincere friendship which have always prevailed among the people and Government of Costa Rica for the people and Government of Panama have not diminished in the least with the arising of this incident, and that, sharing the opinion of your excellency, it is their most earnest desire not to use for the solution of their international questions any means other than those indicated by law.
I avail [etc.]
Minister Hale to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
San José, January 21, 1915.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of January 14 and enclosures, and to say that the subject of the boundary dispute between the Republic of Costa Rica and the Republic of Panama, of which your excellency treats with such ability, is receiving the most careful attention at my hands and at those of my Government.
I have read with great interest the documents enclosed by your excellency, and have noted the action taken in your excellency’s communication of January 14 to his excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama.
I shall at once inform your excellency of any definite development in the matter of mediation.
I avail [etc.]
- Receipt acknowledged October 7, 1915.↩
- For. Rel. 1914, p. 1016.↩