File No. 710.11/266a
The Secretary of State to the Colombian Minister 4
Washington, April 1, 1916.
Sir: You are doubtless aware, from the statement of the President of the United States in his address to the Second Pan American Scientific Congress, on January 6, 1916, that this Government indulges in the hope that there may be embodied in a general convention to be subscribed to by all American Republics, a provision in which the signatory Governments will mutually agree as follows:—
- 1.
- That their political independence and territorial integrity be guaranteed.
- 2.
- That all disputes regarding boundary questions be settled by amicable arrangement, or by arbitration.
- 3.
- That all differences between any two of them, with the exception of questions affecting the honor, independence and interests of third parties, be submitted to a permanent international commission, whose decisions thereon will be rendered within one year; and that such differences be submitted to arbitration, if the decision prove unsatisfactory.
- 4.
- That the departure of arms, ammunition or military forces from their territory to revolutionists in other Republics be prohibited.
In order that your Government may be apprised of the proposal which it is believed is acceptable in principle to a majority of the Republics represented at the Second Pan American Scientific Congress, the American Legation at Bogota has been recently informed of the matter which I have the honor herein to bring to your attention.
Accept [etc.]
- The same, mutatis mutandis, to the Ministers of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua.↩