The communications from our State Department to the government of
Panama and the government of Costa Rica have been sent with the
full knowledge and hearty approval of the Executive. It would be
exceedingly distressing to me to believe that the Government of
Panama has cause to feel wounded or to assume, for any reason,
the government of the United States is in any way unmindful of
our peculiarly friendly relationship, with a recognized
mutuality of interest. The friendly expressions made in your
presence informally, last November, are repeated now, and there
is deep concern for full justice in the exercise of our friendly
relationship. It must be apparent, however, that the decision of
the Chief Justice of the United States, in an arbitration
submitted to him, and reached after exhaustive study and
rendered in fullest devotion to justice must be the unalterable
position of this government.
[In March 1921 the Government of Panama brought the dispute
to the attention of the League of Nations, but the League
suspended action upon learning that the good offices of the
United States had been accepted by both Costa Rica and
Panama and that a satisfactory settlement was in
prospect.]
