"1st. To consider by common agreement as not existing and withdrawn the notes of August 16 and 27 and of September 16 of the current year, exchanged between the legation of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and the minister of foreign affairs of the Argentine Republic, leaving only the note dated August 6. in which claims were initiated for certain acts connected with the subversive movement which existed in the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, about which the Argentine Government has taken the corresponding measures regarding the employees accused. "2d. That in the desire to establish fixed rules which will serve for proceeding in future and which it may be possible and easy to apply in practice, should internal commotions unfortunately occur in either of the two States, they compromise to negotiate an essential arrangement on the subject, or to amplify that of January 14, 1876. "3d. That pursuing similar purposes and in the interest of avoiding future discussions regarding the meaning and interpretation of Title II of the treaty of international penal right signed in Montevideo on January 23, 1889, in reference to asylum, they agree to formulate, separately, protocolized declarations which will serve as a rule of conduct for both countries in occurring cases. "In faith of which they sign the protocol in duplicate in Buenos Ayres, the capital of the Argentine Republic, on the 6th day of the month of December, of the year 1904. "DANIEL MUNOZ. "CABLOS RODRIGUEZ LABRETA." VENEZUELA. ARBITRATION OF VENEZUELAN CLAIMS BY THE MIXED CLAIMS COMMISSIONS UNDER PROTOCOLS OF 1903. See also (NOTE. Continuation of correspondence printed in Foreign Relations, 1903. Ralston's Report Venezuelan Arbitration of 1903," Senate Doc. 316, 58th Cong., 2d sess., and Report of Agent of the United States," Senate Doc. 317, 58th Cong., 2d sess.) Mr. Hay to Mr. Russell. No. 104.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 7, 1903. SIR: The mixed claims commission appointed by the United States and Venezuela will assemble on the 1st day of June at Caracas. I inclose two copies of the protocol," one for yourself and the other for the Venezuelan foreign office. You will arrange with the foreign office for suitable rooms in which the commission and its personnel may perform their work. I am, etc., JOHN HAY. No. 105.] Mr. Hay to Mr. Russell. SIR: I inclose herewith six copies of the protocol between the United States and Venezuela. You will advise the Venezuelan Government that the United States Government has named as its commissioner Mr. William E. Bainbridge, and as its agent before the commission Mr. Robert C. Morris; also that the United States Government has presented the request on its part to the Queen of the Netherlands to name an umpire, pursuant to the protocol. I am, etc., JOHN HAY. Mr. Loomis to Mr. Russell. No. 108.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: You are instructed to ascertain immediately whether the Government of Venezuela has appointed a commissioner. in accord ance with the protocol of an agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Venezuela for submission to arbitration of all unsettled claims against Venezuela, signed at Washington on the 17th of February, 1903. If the commissioner to be chosen by the a Printed in Foreign Relations, 1903, page 804. 864 Government of Venezuela has not been appointed, you will immediately call the attention of the minister for foreign affairs to the omission and urge prompt compliance with this provision of the protocol. You will further state that the commissioner on the part of the United States and its agent will sail from New York about May 15 and will be prepared to begin work on the morning of June 1, as is provided in the protocol. You will suggest to the Venezuelan Government that it is expected that proper rooms for the sittings of the commission will be furnished and that they will be ready for occupancy upon the arrival of our commissioner. It is the desire of this Government that the work of adjudicating the claims should proceed as speedily as possible. Very respectfully, yours, No. 173.] FRANCIS B. LOOMIS. Mr. Russell to Mr. Hay. AMERICAN LEGATION, Caracas, May 2, 1903. SIR: I have been informed by the Venezuelan Government that Dr. José de Jesus Paul has been appointed the representative of Venezuela on the mixed commission which is to consider the claims of the United States. Doctor Paul is also the Venezuelan member of the mixed commission for the French claims. ** * I have, etc., * * * * WILLIAM W. RUSSELL. Mr. Hay to Mr. Russell. No. 113.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 11, 1903. SIR: The Department is in receipt of a note of the 28th ultimo from the minister of the Netherlands at this capital, stating that Charles Augustinus Henri Barge, LL. D., former governor of Curaçao, has been designated by the Queen of the Netherlands to act as umpire on the commission to meet at Caracas to consider the claims of the United States against Venezuela. The selection of Doctor Barge is satisfactory to the Department, and the minister of the Netherlands at Washington has been so informed. I am, etc., JOHN HAY. Mr. Hay to Mr. Russell. No. 117.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: You will inform the Venezuelan Government that the President has named 1. General Henry H. Duffield, a distinguished lawyer of Detroit, Mich., and one of the most prominent men in the west, to act as umpire on the German-Venezuelan claims commission to sit at Caracas on June 1 next; and 2. Mr. Jackson II. Ralston, who appeared for the United States as its agent in the Pious Fund case before The Hague Tribunal, as umpire on the Italian-Venezuelan claims commission, to sit at Caracas on the same day. I am, etc., Mr. Loomis to Mr. Russell. JOHN HAY. [Telegram-I'araphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 20, 1903. (Mr. Loomis informs Mr. Russell that Mr. Frank Plumley has been appointed umpire for the British and Dutch commissions, and instructs him to convey this information to the Venezuelan Govern No. 212.] Mr. Russell to Mr. Hay. AMERICAN LEGATION, Caracas, October 11, 1903. SIR: I have the honor to report that the Spanish minister here, who was umpire for the Mexican claims, has given an award in favor of the Mexican claimants for £102,400. The award was for £17,955, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent for seventy-five years. The press has been so violent and abusive at this decision that the Spanish minister has notified the Venezuelan Government that he intends to leave Caracas, and has turned the legation over to the secretary, who will take charge as chargé d'affaires ad interim. I translate from one of the local papers in giving a history of this claim: In the year 1824 the Government of Gran Colombia secured in London, through its representative there, Mr. Zea, a loan of £2,500,000. In the month of May, 1826, the fourth quota of this loan was due, and Colombia was ready to meet it with funds it had deposited with the firm of Goldschmidt & Co., but this house having failed in February of the same year (1826), Mr. Hurtado, then minister of Colombia in London, found himself without funds to meet the payment due, and applied to Mr. Vicente Rocafuerte, Mexican minister, and asked him for a loan of £63,000 of the funds which Mexico had on deposit with a banking firm of London. Mr. Rocafuerte, mindful of the close ties of friendship which united the two countries, lent Mr. Hurtado the £63,000 for eighteen months without interest. In the year 1830, when Gran Colombia was dissolved, the £63,000 had not yet been paid, and in the year 1834 the Republics of New Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela made an arrangement for dividing among themselves proportionately the debts of the extinct Gran Colombia, and of the Mexican debt. £63,000, 28 units were allotted to Venezuela, which amounted to £17,955; this is the origin of the debt of Venezuela to Mexico, which debt the Mexican Government afterwards sold to the mercantile firm of Martinez del Rio Hermanos. Martinez del Rio Hermanos are the present claimants, and purchased the debt in question in 1856. Venezuela claims counter credits against this debt, the largest sum being for $194,000, expenses for a squadron which Colombia assem FR 1904 M- -55 bled at Cartagena and lent to Mexico to aid in the taking of San Juan d'Ulloa in 1825. Venezuela claims several other counter credits, reducing the debt to $30,000, and this was the amount awarded by the supreme court in Caracas last May, which the claimants would not accept and carried the case to the mixed commission. The Spanish minister here accepted the position as umpire for the Mexican claims and also for the claims of Sweden and Norway. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that four of the mixed commissions for the settlement of claims have closed their sessionsFrench, Belgian, Mexican, and German. In my No. 212 of to-day I have given you the decision of the Mexican commission. I now inclose you a newspaper clipping with a brief account of the work of the German commission. I am, etc., WILLIAM W. RUSSELL. [Inclosure Clipping from Venezuelan Herald.] MIXED TRIBUNALS. The mixed German-Venezuelan tribunal has closed its sittings after four months' sessions, during which 23 claims were presented, amounting to 5,619,031 marks; two claims amounting to 500,000 marks and one relating to the navigation of the Catatumbo for 2,400,000 marks were disallowed. Of the remaining ones which were taken into consideration, 1,673,527 marks have been awarded. No. 218.] Mr. Russell to Mr. Hay. AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to inform you that Dr. Carlos F. Grisanti has been appointed a member on the part of Venezuela of the mixed commission for the examination of claims of the United States, vice Doctor Paul, appointed special agent of Venezuela before The Hague Tribunal. I am, etc., No. 225.] WILLIAM W. RUSSELL. Mr. Russell to Mr. Hay. AMERICAN LEGATION, Caracas, November 29, 1903. SIR: At the request of the minister for foreign affairs I have the honor to inclose two documents, copies of attachments issued by the a Not printed. |