File No. 825.001/8. No. 734.] Minister Fox to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Quito, August 20, 1910. SIR: I have the honor to inform the department that the Chilean minister officially notified me of the death of President Montt. I inclose copy of my reply to him. The Ecuadorian Government decreed a period of official mourning of three days. The flag was displayed at half-staff over this legation during this time. I have, etc., [Inclosure.] WILLIAMS C. Fox. Minister Fox to the Chilean Minister at Quito. AMERICAN LEGATION, Quito, August 18, 1910. MY DEAR COLLEAGUE: I learned with great regret from your letter of August 17 of the death of President Montt. In extending to your country and to yourself my sincerest sympathy permit me to state that it is my mournful pleasure to display the flag of my country at half-mast over this legation in honor of the distinguished statesman whose deeds illuminate one of the brightest pages of the history of Chile. Believe me, etc., File No. 825.00/77. No. 40.] WILLIAMS C. Fox. The Acting Secretary of State to the Chilean Chargé. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, August 25, 1910. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 17th instant, conveying the sad intelligence, which has been received with sorrow, that the President of Chile, Señor Don Pedro Montt, died at Bremen, Germany, on the preceding day. The grief of the Government and people of the United States, which would have been profound in any event, is intensified by the personal knowledge of President Montt's high abilities and amiable qualities, which they obtained during his recent visit to this country. Accept, etc., File No. 825.001. HUNTINGTON WILSON. Chargé Pierrepont to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Santiago, September 6, 1910. Mr. Pierrepont states that after a short illness the Vice President of the Republic of Chile, Senor Fernandez Albano, died this day. File No. 825.001/7. The Chilean Chargé to the Secretary of State. No. 20.] [Translation.] CHILEAN LEGATION, Washington, September 7, 1910. SIR: With the greatest sorrow I discharge the duty of announcing to your excellency that I have received a telegraphic communication from my Government apprising me of the death, which occurred yesterday at 2.15 p. m., of the Most Excellent Vice President of Chile Señor Don Elias Fernandez Albano, and that, under the provisions of our constitution, the Chief Magistracy has been assumed by the senior member of the cabinet, the Most Excellent Señor Emiliano Figueroa, minister of justice and public instruction. File No. 825.001/1 A. A. YOACHAM. President Taft to the Vice President of Chile. [Telegram.] THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, September 7, 1910. I deeply regret to learn of the death of His Excellency Vice President Albano. I send to you and to the Government and people of Chile the deep sympathy of the Government and people of the United States of America and my own sincere condolences in the national loss sustained by your country. Pray accept for yourself the expression of my personal sympathy and high regard. File No. 825.001/1 B. WM. H. TAFT. The Acting Secretary of State to Chargé Pierrepont. [Telegram-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 7, 1910. Mr. Wilson informs Mr. Pierrepont that the above telegram has been sent to the Vice President of Chile, and directs him to supplement that telegram by an appropriate communication to the foreign office conveying the condolences of the Government of the United States, and especially of the Secretary of State. File No. 825.001/2. The Vice President of Chile to President Taft. [Telegram.-Translation.] SANTIAGO, September 8, 1910. The Government and people of Chile will take grateful knowledge of the telegram in which your excellency deigns to transmit the condolence of the United States in our latest affliction. Accept, excellency, my personal gratitude and the sentiments of my highest and most distinguished consideration. File No. 825.001/7. No. 41.] EMILIANO FIGUEROA. The Acting Secretary of State to the Chilean Chargé. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 10, 1910. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 7th instant, in which you announce that you have received telegraphic information from your Government advising you of the death at 2.15 p. m., on the 6th instant, of His Excellency the Vice President of Chile, Señor Don Elias Fernandez Albano, and that, in conformity with the provision of the constitution of the Republic, the minister of justice and public instruction, His Excellency Señor Emiliano Figueroa, as the senior member of the cabinet, had assumed the executive power. In receiving information of the death of His Excellency Vice President Albano, the President, on the 7th instant, telegraphed to Señor Figueroa, Vice President of Chile, the expression of the deep sympathy of the Government and people of the United States and his own sincere condolence in the great loss sustained by the Republic of Chile. In the same telegram the President also expressed to his Excellency Señor Figueroa his personal sympathy and high regard. On the same day the department directed the American legation at Santiago to supplement the President's telegram by communicating to the foreign office the condolences of this Government and especially those of the Secretary of State. I now desire to convey to you, Mr. Chargé d'Affaires, the expression of my sincere regret at the death of Señor Albano and my sympathy in view of the loss sustained by your Government and people. Accept, etc., HUNTINGTON WILSON. DEATH OF SEÑOR ANIBAL CRUZ, CHILEAN MINISTER TO THE UNITED STATES. File No. 701.2511/63. The Chilean Chargé to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] CHILEAN LEGATION, Washington, December 18, 1910. SIR: It is my extremely sad duty to notify your excellency of the death this morning of the head of this legation, his excellency Mr. Anibal Cruz, caused by a sudden attack of heart failure. In communicating this sad news to your excellency, I have, etc. File No. 701.2511/56. A. YOACHAM. The Secretary of State to the Chilean Chargé. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 24, 1910. MY DEAR MR. CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES: I beg to notify you that the battleship Delaware has been detailed as the vessel of the United States to convey to Chile the remains of the late Minister Anibal Cruz. I am, etc., File No. 701.2511/67 A. P. C. KNOX. The Secretary of State to Minister Fletcher. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 23, 1911. The body of the late Minister Cruz will leave Hampton Roads the 31st instant, on the battleship Delaware, arriving at Valparaiso on March 15. You will meet the body at Valparaiso with the entire legation staff. The department is informed that Madame Cruz will reach Valparaiso about the 30th instant, and desires that she be met at the port by a legation representative. File No. 701.2511/73. KNOX. Members of the commission appointed to accompany remains of late Chilean Minister to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] WASHINGTON, February 1, 1911. MOST EXCELLENT SIR: The undersigned, members of the commission appointed to accompany the remains of Señor Don Anibal Cruz, minister of Chile at Washington, present their respects to your excellency and have the honor to inform you that they have fulfilled the mission with which they were intrusted on that very sad occasion. They further desire to express to your excellency their high appreciation of the honors paid by the Army and Navy of the United States to the memory of their late distinguished colleague, and to say that they duly acknowledge the attentions they received during the time occupied in the fulfillment of their mission at the hands of Assistant Secretary Hale, who represented the Department of State, and of the captain and officers of the Mayflower, which took them to Hampton Roads. Your excellency's most obedient servants, File No. 701.2511/73. J. B. CALVO. LUIS LAZO, A. P. EZEQUIEL ROJAS. The Secretary of State to the members of the commission appointed to accompany the remains of late Chilean minister. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 9, 1911. EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 1st instant, expressing the high appreciation of the commission of the honors paid by the Army and Navy of the United States to the memory of your late distinguished colleague of the diplomatic corps, Mr. Anibal Cruz, of the attention received by you from Mr. Chandler Hale, Third Assistant Secretary of State, and the officers of the Mayflower, on which the remains were conveyed to Hampton Roads. It has afforded me pleasure to bring your note to the knowledge of Mr. Hale, to communicate a copy of it to the Secretary of the Navy in order that your courteous expressions may be made known to the commanding officer of the Mayflower. Accept, etc., P. C. KNOX. ARBITRATION OF THE CLAIM OF ALSOP & CO., AN AMERICAN CORPORATION, V. CHILE. No. 60.] The Secretary of State to Minister Hicks. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, D. C., April 30, 1907. SIR: The department is earnestly desirous that you take up once more with the Chilean Government a matter which has been outstanding for a considerable period of years, and to recommend to the well-known sense of that Government a claim the circumstances of which have appealed strongly to the department and toward which it has very great sympathy and concern. The reference is to the Alsop claim. The object of this communication is to lay certain pertinent facts which are believed to be controlling before the Chilean Government, and to obtain from it, in the light of fairness and justice, the best offer of settlement which commends itself to Chile as just and right. With this end in view, you are instructed to present the matter to the Chilean minister of foreign affairs and express the hope and belief of this department that the claim may have the just and even generous consideration of the Chilean Government which it has been led to expect from the favorable assurances heretofore given by Chile in this regard. It will be remembered that as far back as 1872 an obligation existed on the part of Bolivia to pay to Don Pedro Lopez Gama (to whom the claimants advanced large sums of money and of whom they became assignees in 1875) the value of 200,000 tons of guano. In virtue of the compromise authorized by the Bolivian law of November 22, 1872, it was agreed in cabinet council on December 21, 1872, to recognize the claimant's right to the value of 150,000 tons at the rate of 7 pesos and 2 reales per ton, equivalent to 1,087,500 pesos. A later cabinet resolution of December 18, 1875, recognized the principal sum of 870,000 bolivianos, which seems to have been equivalent to 1,087,500 pesos, as the amount due, with interest at 8 per cent. These resolutions likewise contained provisions for the manner in which the debt was to be paid. The subsequent cabinet resolutions of January 22 and February 7, 1876, confirmed the amount of the principal sum due. Finally, a definitive settlement was reached which is set forth in the supreme decree of December 24, 1876, ratified December 26, 1876, by John Wheelwright, liquidator of the firm of Alsop & Co., and confirmed by the decree of the National Bolivian Congress February 12, 1878. By the terms of this settlement the principal sum was reduced from 870,000 bolivianos to 835,000 bolivianos; the sum of 230,000 bolivianos was allowed for unpaid interest; and the interest upon the new principal sum was reduced from 8 per cent to 5 per cent. Special provision was made for the payment of the interest account, and a considerable percentage thereof was paid. For the payment of the principal sum of 835,000 bolivianos (the Bolivian silver dollar then being worth 96 cents) two kinds of security were given: (1) A charge was created upon the customhouse at Arica, in which Bolivia then had an interest; and (2) a |