Please inform Minister for Foreign Affairs that enormous pressure of other vitally important matters has prevented the President from receiving this question. It is hoped reply may be sent next week. BRYAN. File No. 821.6363/25. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. [Telegram--Extract.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogota, December 1, 1913. The President has extended extra session of Congress to the 5th instant. Message in your November 29, 10 a. m.. delivered to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who expresses great satisfaction and hopes reply may arrive if possible before the 5th. HARRISON, File No. 711.21/199. The Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affairs. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 19, 1913-6 p. m. You may present the following as a proposition for settlement of all disputes and controversies between the United States and Colombia. The United States is willing to make the following treaty: ARTICLE I. The Government of the United States of America, wishing to put at rest all controversies and differences with the Republic of Colombia arising out of the events from which the present situation on the Isthmus of Panama resulted, expresses, in its own name and in the name of the people of the United States, sincere regret that anything should have occurred to interrupt or to mar the relations of cordial friendship that had so long subsisted between the two nations. The Government of the Republic of Colombia, in its own name and in the name of the Colombian people, accepts this declaration in the full assurance that every obstacle to the restoration of complete harmony between the two countries will thus disappear. ASTICLE II. The United States grants to Colombia the following rights in respect to the interoceanic canal and the Panama Railway: 1. The Republic of Colombia shall be at liberty at all times to transport through the interoceanic canal its troops, materials of war and ships of war, even in case of war between Colombia and another country, without paying any charges to the United States. 2. The products of the soil and industry of Colombia passing through the canal, as well as the Colombian mails, shall be exempt from any charges or duties other than such as may be payable on the products or mails of the United States. The products of the soil and industry of Colombia, such as cattle and provisions, shall be admitted to entry in the Canal Zone without paying other duties than those paid upon similar products of the United States. 3. Colombian citizens crossing the Canal Zone shall, upon production of proper proof of their nationality, be exempt from every toll, tax, or duty to which citizens of the United States are not subject. 4. During the construction of the interoceanic canal and afterwards, whenever traffic by the canal is interrupted, the troops, materials of war, products and mails of the Republic of Colombia, as above mentioned, shall, even in case of war between Colombia and another country, be transported on the railway between Ancón and Cristóbal or on any other railway substituted therefor, paying only the same charges and duties as are imposed upon the troops, materials of war, products and mails of the United States. The officers, agents and employees of the Government of Colombia shall, upon production of proper proof of their official character or their employment, also be entitled to passage on the said railway on the same terms as officers, agents and employees of the Government of the United States. The provisions of this paragraph shall not, however, apply in case of war between Colombia and Panama. 5. Coal and sea-salt, being the products of Colombia, passing from the Atlantic coast of Colombia to any Colombian port on the Pacific coast and vice versa, shall be transported over the aforesaid railway free of any charge except the actual cost of handling and transportation, which shall not in any case exceed one-half of the ordinary freight charges levied upon products of the United States passing over the railway and in transit from one port to another of the United States. ARTICLE III. The United States of America agrees to pay to the Republic of Colombia, within six months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, the sum of Twenty Million Dollars, gold, United States money. ARTICLE IV. The independence of the Republic of Panama being acknowledged as an accomplished fact, it is agreed that the boundary between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Panama shall be based upon the Colombian law of June 9, 1855, and the line shall accordingly run from Cape Tiburón to the headwaters of the Rio de la Miel and following the mountain chain by the ridge of Gandi to the Sierra de Chugargun and that of Mali going down by the ridges of Nique to the heights of Aspave, and from thence to a point on the Pacific half way between Cocalito and Ardita. It is not necessary to send formal introduction and conclusion. You will notice that the boundary is approximately that of 1855, but more clearly defined for the sake of certainty. BRYAN. NOTE. The draft treaty forwarded by the Department to the American Chargé d'Affaires in its telegram of December 19 was presented to the Foreign Office on December 28, 1913. (File No. 711.21/222.) COSTA RICA. EXTRADITION AND DEPORTATION FROM COSTA RICA TO THE UNITED STATES AS AN ACT OF COMITY. File No. 200.11L44/1. The Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affaires. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, June 14, 1913. The Department is informed by the Attorney General that a warrant has been issued for the arrest of Waldo C. Lawson, on the charge of embezzling postal and money-order funds of the United States; that Lawson recently sailed on a steamer bound for Costa Rica in company with Ross M. Pennypacker. [Descriptions.] You will informally ascertain whether the Government of Costa Rica will grant the extradition of Lawson as an act of comity, explaining that for constitutional reasons this Government cannot reciprocate, in the absence of an extradition treaty, in case of a similar request being made by Costa Rica. BRYAN. File No. 200.11L44/8. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, San José, June 21, 1913. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that upon receipt of the Department's telegraphic instruction of the 14th instant I called upon President Jiménez-the Minister for Foreign Affairs being absent from the city-to informally request the extradition of Lawson should he arrive in Costa Rica. The President said that he would be glad to have Lawson deported if found, and would have him arrested and placed on board of the first steamer leaving for the United States, but for the sake of formality he wished a warrant or extradition papers,' which I telegraphed to the Department [etc.] I have [etc.] MARSHALL LANGHORNE. 1 The Department promised these upon notification <f the arrest of the fugitive. (File No. 200 11.44/2.) File No. 200.11L44/14 and 15. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. [Telegrams-Paraphrases.] AMERICAN LEGATION, San José, July 17, 1913. Lawson arrested today. The Minister for Foreign Affairs tells me that he will be deported for Galveston on the 18th instant. LANGHORNE. AMERICAN LEGATION. My July 17. Lawson deported yesterday. File No. 200.11L44/17. LANGHORNE. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: In confirmation of my telegram of the 17th and also of the 19th instant, reporting the arrest and deportation of Waldo C. Lawson, I have the honor to inform you that on the 17th instant Mr. W. E. Mullins, the general manager of the United Fruit Company, whose aid in trying to locate the fugitives I had requested, telephoned me that Lawson was at that moment in his office in Limon. Mr. Mullins said that Lawson came to him to ask for work and, recognizing him from his descriptions, he questioned him as to his identity. Lawson at once confessed to everything and said that he would be glad to give himself up and to be sent to America to face his charges and that he was tired of being a fugitive from justice. Upon receipt of this news I immediately called upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs to ask for his arrest and extradition, which the President had informed me he would grant. Mr. Castro, however, said that it would be preferable to have Lawson arrested and deported as a "pernicious foreigner" (estranjero pernicioso), as the Central American Court of Justice would be sure to take an exception to the granting of extradition in the absence of such a treaty. [Details regarding arrangements for deportation.] I have [etc.] File No. 200.11L44/8. MARSHALL LANGHORNE. The Acting Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affaires. No. 27.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: The Department has received your unnumbered despatch of June 21 in regard to the desired extradition of Waldo C. Lawson, and approves your action in taking up the matter with the President of Costa Rica in the absence of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and in taking measures to cause the arrest of the fugitive. The attitude of the Costa Rican Government in the matter is highly appreciated by the Department. I am [etc.] J. B. MOORE. File No. 200.11L44/17. The Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affaires. No. 30.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, July 31, 1913. SIR: The Department has received your unnumbered despatch of July 19 [etc.] The Department approves your action in having Lawson arrested and deported as an objectionable foreigner, in accordance with the suggestion of the Costa Rican Government that you would thus avoid any possible objection of the Central American Court of Justice to the granting of extradition in the absence of treaty provisions applicable to the case. I am [etc.] For the Secretary of State: J. B. MOORE. |