File No. 718.1915/242.
The Minister of Costa Rica to the Secretary of State.
Washington , September 27, 1915 .
Mr. Secretary: The courtesy with which the Department over which your excellency presides has always received the communications of my Government prompts me to encroach upon your valuable time with a matter of the greatest importance to my country, of such grave import, indeed, that it might well force a people of even such intense devotion as mine to the ways of peace to exchange their life of order and industry for the lamentable and hazardous condition of war.
I allude, Mr. Secretary, to the offensive and unjustifiable attitude assumed by the Government of the Republic of Panama in establishing their authorities on territory which has been recognized by that very Government in the most formal and positive manner as indisputable property of Costa Rica, namely the territory extending from Cerro Pando in the Central Cordillera to Punta Burica on the Pacific Ocean.
By the Convention of March 17, 1910, between the Governments of Costa Rica and Panama, entered into under the generous and fraternal mediation of the Government of the United States, both [Page 1153] parties declared the frontier line fixed by His Excellency the President of the French Republic in the arbitral award rendered at Rambouillet on September 11, 1900, to be wholly free from doubt to be clear and unquestionable, with respect to the region on the Pacific; that is, the line that runs “from Punta Burica to a point beyond Cerro Pando in the Central Cordillera near the ninth degree of north latitude.”
This formal agreement, this perfect and definitive boundary treaty was duly ratified, and from that moment Costa Rica stood inhibited from extending her sovereignty a single inch to the south of Punta Burica, and Panama, on her side, was equally inhibited from extending herself to the north. So clear, so clean-cut is that legal status that I am at a loss to understand, in spite of the closest study, how anyone can reach a different conception of the situation.
Nevertheless, the Government of Panama, not content with the White award, formally notified my Government of its positive and final determination to withhold its acceptance thereof; to hold, therefore, the Treaty of March 17, 1910, which was the basis of the said award, as null and of no value; and to continue to hold as the frontier with Costa Rica the line of the status quo claimed by Colombia prior to the rendition of the Loubet Award of September 11, 1900.
Proceeding at once from words to deeds, Panama dispatched one of her high functionaries—the Subsecretary of the Treasury—to locate various administrative authorities in different places situated to the north of Punta Burica; that is, in the zone which, under the guaranties of her good faith and her given word, she had declared in 1910 to be the indisputable property of Costa Rica.
I should here note that the Government of Panama took this step at the very moment when Dr. Ricardo J. Alfaro was in Costa Rica as Special Envoy of her Government under instructions to notify my Government of her refusal to accept the White Award, and at the same time to assure us, in the most emphatic manner, that his Government would take no measures that would in the slightest degree depart from legality.
Imagine, therefore, how great our surprise when informed of the illegal step which the Government of Panama had just taken; so profound was the impression made upon us thereby that for the moment we could not give credence to the report. While awaiting the report of a commission sent to ascertain the facts, the United States Minister, apprehending that hostilities were imminent, generously offered his friendly mediation, under instructions from his Government, to the end that no violent measures might be taken, but, rather, that an effort might be made to ascertain whether, an amicable adjustment might be brought about. That distinguished diplomat at the same time announced that similar instructions had been dispatched to His Excellency the American Minister at Panama, since the Government of the United States desired to do everything in its power to prevent a rupture between the two neighboring countries growing out of the boundary dispute that had existed for so many years between them.
It was with great satisfaction that my Government hastened to accept the generous offer of his excellency Minister Hale. So many and so oft-repeated have been the occasions in which the American [Page 1154] Government has come to the assistance of our menaced rights, through its fraternal interest; so well-justified, so absolute and complete, has been the confidence of the people and Government of Costa Rica in the high sense of equity of the American statesmen, that the very opportune initiative’ on the part of Mr. Hale came as a charm to quiet the fears incited by the action of Panama.
Unfortunately, many and exceedingly delicate problems have arisen during these last few months to absorb completely the attention of your excellency’s Government and have naturally prevented attention to our matter. For this reason, and also with the desire clearly to establish the facts, my Government addressed itself directly to that of Panama protesting against the unlawful occupation and asking for the immediate retirement of the authorities so illegally established.
The reply, as might have been expected in view of the attitude that had been assumed, was adverse, and from that moment my Government spared no efforts, of whatever nature, to vindicate our legitimate rights so deeply and gratuitously injured.
That, then, is the question, Mr. Secretary. As a final effort to arrive at a solution of that question without having recourse to the lamentable excesses of violence, my Government has instructed me to request your excellency to be so good as to interpose your valued influence with the Government of Panama to the end that it may be induced to accept fully and without reserve the award rendered by The Honorable Chief Justice White and to retire immediately the authorities illegally established as above stated, and to proceed to appoint a commission to mark out our frontiers.
If your excellency will consult the details of the steps initiated by this Legation in its note addressed to your Department on the 9th of March of the present year, you will find that the Government of the United States—the guarantor of the integrity of Panama’s territory—in replying to that note on the 8th of May, over the signature of the Secretary of State, recognized the validity of the White Award and at the same time offered to exert all its influence to bring about its acceptance.
The kind reception accorded on a former occasion by your excellency to the suggestion of this Legation respecting the payment of the emoluments due the honorable Arbitrator, Mr. Chief Justice White, the exquisite tact and discretion with which your excellency brought that transaction to a conclusion, give me a sure ground for the hope that in this instance your excellency will take the same friendly interest that was demonstrated in the other, and that thus, at an early date, my country may add to its debt of gratitude to the noble American nation this further service which, perhaps, may prove to be the greatest of all.
In order that your excellency may form a clear idea of the question, permit me to send you herewith, under separate cover, a copy of the last Memoria presented by our Department of Foreign Relations to the Constitutional Congress, and a translation into English of several of the most important documents7 appearing therein * * *.
I am [etc.]
- Already printed ante.↩