vided for beginning four years from the exchange of said treaty instead of nine years from that date.

The United States consents and agrees that Panama may assign and transfer in advance to Colombia and to its assigns or nominees the first 10 annual installments of $250,000 each, so falling due under said treaty, as thus amended, on the 26th day of February, 1908, to the 26th day of February, 1917, both inclusive, and its right and title thereto, and upon the direction and acquittance therefor of the Republic of Panama will pay said 10 installments as they, respectively, fall due directly to Colombia for account of Panama.

II. As a consideration for the entering into of this agreement, it is hereby agreed between the United States and Panama that the socalled modus vivendi embodied in the reciprocal Executive orders of December 3, 6, 16, 28, 1904, and January 5, 1905, made by the Secretary of War, with the approval of the President, on the one part, and on the other by the President of Panama, on the 6th day of December, 1904, and which have proven so satisfactory in operation, shall be made the basis for a modification and definition of the rights of the parties under the treaty between the United States and Panama exchanged February 26, 1904, in so far as the contracting parties shall agree in a formal treaty, it being understood that unless agreement is reached upon the provisions of this article, neither this protocol nor the protocol between Colombia and Panama of the same date shall be binding.

It is, however, stipulated and agreed that Panama may increase its ad valorem import duties from 10 per cent (as in said orders provided) up to 20 per cent, and that provision to this effect shall be embodied in the treaty.

III. The United States and Panama reciprocally agree that citizens of either of the two Republics residing in the other shall enjoy the same civil rights accorded to the citizens of the Republic within which they reside, it being understood that citizens of either of the two Republics thus residing in the other shall be exempt from mili-· tary service imposed upon the citizens of such Republics.

And the United States further agrees that the Republic of Panama and the citizens thereof shall, upon their request, have and be accorded equal privileges, rights, and advantages in respect to the construction, operation, and use of the canal, railroad, telegraph, and other facilities of the United States within the Canal Zone and in respect of all other subjects relating thereto, operating within or affecting the Canal Zone or property and persons therein, as may at any time be granted by the United States in accord with said treaty, directly or indirectly, to any other nation or the citizens thereof, it being the intention of the parties that the Republic of Panama shall be with respect thereto placed at least on equal footing with the most favored nation and the citizens thereof.

IV. It is expressly understood and agreed that the treaty, when made between the parties hereto, shall not become operative nor its provisions obligatory upon either party until and unless treaties between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Panama and between the Republic of Colombia and the United States are both duly concluded and are exchanged, after ratification, simultaneously with the exchange, after ratification, of a treaty between the parties. hereto.

Done at the city of Washington the 17th day of August, 1907, in quadruplicate.

WM. H. TAFT,
Secretary of War

(By direction of the President).
J. A. ARANGO.

Colombian Minister to Secretary Root.

AUGUST 18, 1907.

DEAR SIR: I have had the honor of an interview with your excellency on the 16th instant at the Hotel Gotham, in New York, in reference to the treaty I am in the course of negotiating with Panama for the recognition of her independence by Colombia.

The attitude lately assumed by Mr. Cromwell, representing Panama, on the matter of boundaries has been a great surprise. A line of boundaries is suggested, perfectly unwarranted by any title or document whatever and which we could not, under any circum

stances accept.

This matter of boundaries was carefully studied by Mr. Buchanan, who came to a conclusion favorable to Colombia's line of demarcation, thus informing the Department of State. Your excellency himself has studied the point and become convinced that our line of limits with Panama was the one fixed by the law of New Granada of June 9, 1855. To this effect I have received from you on sundry occasions complete and unmistakable assurances.

Said line of limits is the same that appears in the official edition of the war office map of the Republic of Panama, to wit:

From Cape Tiburon 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 there to the Pacific between Cocalito and Ardita.

The matter was referred to in our interview, you being good enough to suggest that it would be a wise course, in view of the latest developments in negotiating with Panama, to leave out entirely all reference to the boundaries with Colombia. My answer was that I was willing to follow your advice, but that in order to prevent possible differences with Panama I ought to have a letter from you stating the views of the United States and which were the boundaries with Colombia that they have recognized and acted upon. Your excellency's answer was in the sense that the United States will have no difficulty in recognizing, by a letter to me, the fact referred to and that you consider as our limits with Panama those fixed by the law of June 9, 1855.

On this assurance of yours I came to Washington yesterday to meet Mr. Secretary Taft, on his last day in this town, and we did come to an agreement with himself and the representatives of Panama, embodying the general lines of a treaty to be signed about the end of the year simultaneously with other treaties with the United States and Colombia and Panama.

Acting as agreed with you, I hereby come to respectfully request a statement of the views of the United States respecting the line of boundaries between Colombia and Panama, so as to define the extent of territory covered by the protectorate of the United States according to article 1 of the treaty with Panama.

Mr. Gozman, the secretary of the legation, is ready to proceed to Bogota, taking with him the protocol agreed to yesterday, in order to explain the whole history to the Government. I would, therefore, esteem it a favor if you would give an early answer on receipt of this. I am also about leaving for Europe on important business.

I have the honor to remain, with high regards,
Your excellency's obedient and humble servant,

ENRIQUE CORTES.

Secretary Root to the Colombian Minister.

Hon. ENRIQUE CORTES,

WHITE PLAINS, N. Y., August 26, 1907.

Minister of Colombia, Waldorf Astoria, New York.

MY DEAR MR. CORTES:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of August 18, 1907, in which you state the substance of an interview between us at the Hotel Gotham, in New York, on the 16th instant: The description of the boundary line of Panama as described in the law of New Granada of June 9, 1855," and request a statement of the views of the United States regarding the boundary between Colombia and Panama in accordance with the oral statement made by me at our interview.

Your account of what occurred at the interview agrees entirely with my recollection, and I now confirm what I then said to you orally that the view of the United States is that the boundary between Colombia and Panama is that described in the above-mentioned law of New Granada of June 9, 1855. This is the view originally reached by Mr. Buchanan and concurred in by me, and a careful examination of the various papers which have been adduced during the recent negotiations has not seemed to me to furnish any just ground for a change of this view, which you may regard as the matured and definite position of the Government of the United States.

I am, my dear Mr. Cortes, with kindest regards, always,
Sincerely, yours,

Colombian Minister to Secretary Root.

[Translation.]

ELIHU ROOT.

LEGATION OF COLOMBIA, Washington, D. C., December 5, 1907.

Mr. SECRETARY: I have the honor to advise your excellency of the return to this city of Senor P. Guzman, first secretary of the legation, who, as I informed your excellency at the time, went to Bogota to deliver to my Government the protocol signed in August last by me and by Senor Jose Agustin Arango, concerning the preliminary bases for the conclusion of a treaty between Colombia and Panama. an agreement to which your excellency's intervention has been of so great importance.

Senor Guzman has brought me my Government's instructions concerning the views set forth in the protocol and the final conclusion of the treaty.

The Government of Colombia finds the general bases we have arrived at satisfactory, and upon examination of the protocol and of the note your excellency addressed to this legation from White Plains under date of August 26 last, which defines the position and views of the American Government touching the boundary between Colombia and Panama, his excellency, the President of Colombia, was pleased to record in the minutes of the council of ministers which examined those documents the satisfaction with which the Government of Colombia views the highly honorable and cordial manner in which the Secretary of State of the United States, the Hon. Elihu Root, acted toward Colombia in the course of those negotiations, a declaration it affords me special pleasure to bring to your excellency's knowledge. My Government offers various general remarks, some about the elucidation of certain points which seem ambiguous in the protocol, and must be clearly defined in the treaty, others, of a different nature, which I had the honor to discuss with the Secretary at our last interview.

I shall defer the thorough examination of every one of those remarks until your excellency submits the draft of treaty, in accorddance with our private agreement, and I firmly cherish the hope that, considering the friendly dispositions which animate the Government and people of Colombia and my own sentiments as well as the special complaisance with which your excellency has received this matter, we shall achieve results that will bring to both countries mutual satisfaction and honor.

With sentiments of the highest consideration, I have the honor to be your excellency's

Very obedient and humble servant,

No. 45.]

ENRIQUE CORTES.

Secretary Root to Colombian Minister.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 17, 1907.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 5th instant in which you advise the department that the secretary of your legation, Señor Guzman, has returned from Colombia with the instructions of your Government regarding the proposed treaty between Colombia and Panama.

I have the honor, in this connection, to inclose a copy in Spanish of the draft of this treaty, submitted to the department by the chargé d'affaires ad interim of Panama.

Accept, sir, the renewed assurance of my highest consideration. ELIHU ROOT.

Inclosure:

Inclosure in personal note of Panaman chargé, December 10, 1907.

[Translation.]

DRAFT OF A TREATY WITH THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA.

The Republic of Panama and the Republic of Colombia, which constituted a single nation up to November 3. 1903, and which have

since then separated for reasons of expediency, being desirous of putting an end to the irregular character of their relations, of winding up the affairs which originated during their common political existence in the past, and of establishing general rules to govern their future relations, have conferred their full powers for this desirable purpose, to wit: The Republic of Colombia on Mr. Enrique Cortes, its envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at Washington, and the Republic of Panama on Mr. José Agustin Arango, its envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in the same city, in which took place the negotiations regarding the friendly and mutually acceptable mediation of the Government of the United States of America; who, after exchanging their respective full powers and finding them in good and due form, have agreed on the following articles:

ARTICLE I. The Republic of Colombia respects the desire of the people of Panama to form an independent Nation, and therefore recognizes the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Panama since 6 o'clock in the afternoon of November 3, 1903.

ART. II. There shall be perfect and perpetual peace and sincere and inviolable friendship between the Republic of Panama and the Republic of Colombia, and they shall maintain that respect and mutual consideration for each other which is necessary for the preservation of such peace and friendship.

ART. III. The Republic of Panama cedes and transfers to the Republic of Colombia, or to whoever represents the rights of the latter in due and lawful form, the first 10 annual payments of $250,000 gold coin each which it is to receive from the United States of America on the 26th day of February of each of the years from 1908 to 1917, both inclusive, in accordance with Article XIV of the treaty between the Republic of Panama and the United States of America, the ratifications of which were exchanged on February 26, 1904, and with the modification of said article which is agreed upon between them in another treaty signed on this same date, which modification consists in substituting the words "four years" for the words "nine years," so that the first annual payment is to be made four years after February 26, 1904 (the date of the exchange of ratifications of the aforementioned treaty), and the 10 annual payments are to be paid directly to Colombia by the United States of America.

ART. IV. In consideration of the cession of these payments and of the tacit and express pecuniary renunciations which the Republic of Panama makes in favor of the Republic of Colombia, the latter recognizes and agrees to declare, and does hereby declare, that the Republic of Panama is under no obligation or responsibility toward the bondholders of the external or internal debts of the Republic of Colombia or toward those who may have claims against the Republic of Colombia, whatever be the nature of such claims, or toward Colombia herself by reason of such debts or claims, since Colombia recognizes and agrees that she is alone responsible for these claims and external and internal debts, assumes the obligation to pay them herself, and pledges herself to guarantee the Republic of Panama against any responsibility or cost on account of the said claims and external and internal debts.

ART. V. Each of the contracting Republics discharges and liberates the other from any pecuniary claim or obligations of what