File No. 2491/95.]
The Minister of Panama to the Secretary of State.
Washington, December 6, 1909.
My Dear Mr. Secretary: It affords me pleasure to acknowledge receipt of your nice long letter of the 4th instant, in which you are so good as to suggest the advisability of an interview at the Department of State on the 15th of January next, or thereabouts, between you, the minister of Costa Rica on special mission, and myself for the laudable purpose of conferring about the boundary dispute between the Republics of Costa Rica and Panama, in order to arrive at an early and satisfactory settlement of that long-standing question and discuss the bases of a protocol containing the points which the said Republics wish to refer to the learned arbitrator for his final award.
[Page 801]As I said in the note which I had the honor to send to the Department of State under No. 29, on the 29th of October last, this office is without instructions from our department of foreign relations to deal with the question referred to in your note, and, although I would be be most glad to meet your wishes, I realize how little satisfaction you and the minister of Costa Rica would derive from the discussion of a matter upon which I should, of necessity, maintain unbroken silence.
I have, however, hastened to acquaint my Government with the contents of your letter and trust that the conference you were so good as to propose may be held even at the time mentioned in your note.
I once more take the liberty of expressing to you the sentiments of the Panaman Government’s profound gratitude for the marked interest with which the Government of the United States and the department you so worthily represent have viewed the question and the pleasure with which my Government receives it and is ready to accept your wise advice for a prompt and satisfactory settlement of the matter.
Accept, etc.,