Memorandum. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 10, 1902. The request in the memorandum of the Belgian legation dated the 6th instant, that the United States vessel at Cape Haitien be authorized to concert measures with the Belgian consul there for the protection of common interests in the Bayeux plantation, was communicated to the Navy Department. That Department wrote on the date above referred to, that instructions had been issued to that end. ATTEMPT ON LIFE OF KING OF BELGIUM. Mr. Townsend to Mr. Hay. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Brussels, November 15, 1902. (Mr. Townsend reports that two shots were fired by a man in the street at the King, without inflicting any injury.) Mr. Townsend to Mr. Hay. No. 164.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Brussels, November 15, 1902. SIR: I have the honor to confirm my cablegram of this day. I regret to inform the Department that an attempt has just been made upon the life of the King. As the King, members of the Royal family, and corps diplomatic were to-day driving away from the cathedral, after the memorial funeral service for the late Queen, a man in the crowd fired two shots from a revolver directed toward the closed carriage in which the King was seated, fortunately without inflicting any injury. It is reported that one of the shots narrowly escaped striking the Princess Clementine, who was seated in the carriage directly behind the King's. I have called upon the minister for foreign affairs to express my horror at this dastardly attempt upon the King's life and congratulations that his life has been providentially spared. I have, etc., LAWRENCE TOWNSEND. Mr. Hay to Mr. Townsend. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, The President directs you to convey, through the appropriate channel, his sympathy with His Majesty by reason of the attempt upon H his life, and sincere congratulations in his own name and in the name of the people of the United States that the King has been providentially saved from harm and the Belgian people from affliction. Mr. Townsend to Mr. Hay. HAY. No. 165.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Department's cable, dated November 17, 1902. In conformity with instructions, I called personally upon the minister for foreign affairs to request him to kindly convey to the King the sincere congratulations of the President and people of the United States upon His Majesty's providential escape from harm. I have, etc., LAWRENCE TOWNSEND. Mr. Townsend to Mr. Hay. No. 166.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Referring to my dispatch No. 165 of November 19 last, I have the honor to inform the Department that, in addition to my personal visit to the minister for foreign affairs to offer congratulations on the escape of the King from the attempt upon his life, I wrote to the minister to the same effect. I have received from the minister for foreign affairs a reply to my letter of congratulation, a copy and translation of which is herewith transmitted. I have, etc., LAWRENCE TOWNSEND. [Inclosure.-Translation.] Baron de Favereau to Mr. Townsend. DECEMBER 2, 1902. MR. MINISTER: In your letter of November 19 your excellency was kind enough to inform me that you had been requested to have transmitted to the King, my august sovereign, the sincere congratulations of the President and people of the United States by reason of his having happily escaped from harm. His Majesty was much touched by this kind message, and he has requested me to have recourse to the obliging medium of your excellency in order to transmit to their respective objects the expression of his sincere thanks. Please accept, etc., DE FAVEREAU. BOLIVIA. PROTECTION OF CUBAN INTERESTS BY UNITED STATES CONSU No. 341.] LAR OFFICIALS. Mr. Barber to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, La Paz, Bolivia, June 2, 1902. SIR: In reference to the Department's telegram" of May 24, I have the honor to now inclose copy of note No. 42 of the Bolivian foreign office, and translation thereof, recognizing the right of United States consular officers to represent the interests of Cuba and of Cuban citizens within Bolivia until Cuban consuls be appointed. Following the Department's instructions, I have notified the United States vice-consul in this city that this permission has been granted. I have, etc., REGINALD D. BARBER. No. 42.] [Inclosure. Translation.] Mr. Villazon to Mr. Barber. MINISTRY OF FOREIGN RELATIONS AND RELIGION, SIR: I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your honor's attentive note, dated the 26th instant, in which you are pleased to inform me that the Department of State has sent you instructions by telegraph, on behalf of the President of the Republic of Cuba, to request the Bolivian Government that the United States consular officers in this country may use their good offices for the protection of Cuban citizens until such time as Cuban consuls may be named. In reply I may state that my Government accedes with pleasure to your request, and recognizes in the United States consuls the right to represent the interests of Cuban citizens until the Republic of Cuba may name its own consuls. I have, etc., ELIODORO VILLAZON. PROTECTION OF BRITISH INTERESTS IN BOLIVIA BY UNITED STATES OFFICIALS. Mr. Hay to Mr. Sorsby. No. 8.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I am advised by the British chargé d'affaires ad interim at this capital that his Government is desirous that you shall exercise your good offices in behalf of British subjects in Bolivia, as was done by your predecessor, Mr. Bridgman. a Printed, page 6. You may bring the matter to the attention of the Bolivian Government and state that if agreeable to it you will continue the use of good offices in behalf of British subjects in Bolivia, on the same lines as your predecessor, until a representative of His Majesty's Government shall be appointed. I am, etc., JOHN HAY. Mr. Sorsby to Mr. Hay. No. 27.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Acknowledging the receipt of the Department's No. 8, of October 4 last, relative to the request of the British Government, through its chargé d'affaires ad interim at Washington, that the good offices of this legation be used in behalf of British subjects in Bolivia until a representative of that Government shall be appointed, I have the honor to report that in an interview on the 16th instant Dr. Eliodoro Villazon, the Bolivian minister for foreign affairs, expressed his willingness and satisfaction that the good offices of this legation should be used as heretofore in behalf of British subjects in Bolivia. I have, etc., WILLIAM B. SORSBY. BRAZIL. TREATY SUBMITTING TO ARBITRATION THE QUESTION OF THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN BRAZIL AND BRITISH GUIANA. No. 396.] Mr. Dawson to Mr. Hay. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Petropolis, Brazil, February 6, 1902. SIR: I have the honor to forward you herewith the English and Portuguese texts of the arbitration treaty recently negotiated in regard to the boundary between Brazil and British Guiana. The Brazilian congress ratified it on December 27; January 28 ratifications were exchanged by the minister for foreign affairs and the British chargé d'affaires here accredited, and the treaty was immediately proclaimed. It will be observed that the supplementary "declaration" annexed to the treaty virtually settles the southern boundary of British Guiana. In that region the Amazon-Essequibo watershed is agreed upon as the dividing line. The part of the line in dispute constitutes, roughly speaking, the Southern half of the western boundary of the colony, the northern half being its Venezuelan frontier. The territory in question is about 300 miles long and 100 miles wide in its broadest place. Great Britain claims the line to be the Takutu and Cotinga rivers, which unite to form the Rio Branco, which in turn flows into the great Rio Negro. Her success would therefore give British Guiana a navigable tributary of the Amazon as a boundary. On the other hand Brazil claims the division to be partly the watershed between the Amazon and Essequibo basins and partly the Rupunumi, a navigable tributary of the Essequibo. The Takutu and Rupunumi approach very near each other and there is no well-defined watershed; the altitude above the sea is only about 350 feet; portage is easy, and a railroad would be cheap. If Brazil's claim is sustained she will have the essential link of the proposed Georgetown-Manaos route all within her own territory, the Essequibo will be an international stream, and no European power will have a foothold anywhere in the Amazon Valley. If a sketch map would be useful to the Department, it can be obtained. I have, etc., THOMAS C. DAWSON. [Inclosure.-Translation.] The President of the United States of Brazil and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, being desirous to provide for an amicable settlement of the question which has arisen between their respective governments concerning the boundary between the United States of Brazil |