718.1915/378

The Secretary to President Harding (Christian) to the Secretary of State

My Dear Mr. Secretary: By the direction of the President, I am sending you the enclosed copy of a cablegram from President Porras, of Panama, together with a copy of the President’s reply.

Sincerely yours,

Geo. B. Christian, Jr.
[Page 189]
[Enclosure 1]

President Porras to President Harding

Demand from State Department that my government would accept White’s decision is painful and humiliating. More so when two successive legislatures and all the municipalities in the Republic have petitioned for the rejection of that decision on the ground that the arbitrator notoriously exceeded its [his] jurisdiction, giving to Costa Rica more than what her representative Peralta asked from President Loubet and also because it is against the provisions of Panama’s constitution. I appeal therefore directly to you, Mr. President, recalling your kind words with which you expressed your friendship and good wishes towards my country when you honored us with your visit in November. I address myself to the magistrate who loves justice and equity so that my country’s cause be better appreciated and that we may be classified amongst the nations with self consciousness and dignity that feels herself deeply wounded with the State Department’s demand.

I beg of you, Mr. President, to use your personal, political and administrative influence so that the boundary dispute between Panama and Costa Rica may have a solution more in accord with justice and dignity than the one which we are being asked to accept. We Panamanians are confident in your righteousness and we hope that that confidence will not be rewarded with disappointment.

President
Porras
[Enclosure 2]

President Harding to President Porras

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.

Warren G. Harding

[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.]