Deeb, an American citizen, for losses sustained by him through the action of the federal and the insurgent troops during the civil war that existed in Colombia in the years 1901 and 1902, and requested that the claim in question be given that attention by your excellency which it deserved, in order that a settlement of the same might be effected, to which note this legation has not yet been favored with a response. As the claimant has appeared and represented that the nonpayment of this debt, amounting, without interest, to between $74,000 and $75,000 gold, has been extremely prejudicial to his interests and importuned this legation to use its good offices with the Colombian Government for an early adjustment of his claim, I have the honor to request your excellency to be so good as to advise me of the present status of the matter, and, if it is proper for me to ask, what steps are being taken for a liquidation of the same. With this motive I take, etc., WILLIAM HEIMKÉ. [Inclosure 3.] Chargé Heimké to Mr. Lian. AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogotá, December 28, 1906. DEAR SIR: Referring to your letter of the 17th instant, relative to the claim of your client, Mr. Ricardo A. Deeb, an American citizen, against the Colombian Government for losses sustained by him through the action of the federal and the insurgent troops during the civil war that existed in Colombia in the years 1901 and 1902, which claim is now before the Colombian Government for consideration, I beg to inform you that I have this day addressed an official note to the foreign office in which I stated that as the claimant had appeared and represented that the nonpayment of his claim, amounting, without interest, to between $74,000 and $75,000 gold, has been extremely prejudicial to his interests and had importuned this legation to use its good offices with the Colombian Government for an early adjustment of his claim, I requested to be informed of the present status of the matter, and asked what steps are being taken for a liquidation of the claim in question. As soon as I have received a response from the minister for foreign affairs I will advise you. I return herewith, for retention by Mr. Deeb, the following-named documents which you kindly transmitted to me with your before-mentioned letter, as these papers may prove useful to your client : First. Certificate of the nationality of the claimant. Second. The proofs of his neutrality during the war in Colombia during the years 1901 and 1902. Yours, very truly, WILLLIAM HEIMKÉ. [Inclosure 4.-Translation.] The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Chargé Heimké. REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA, Bogotá, December 29, 1906. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your courteous communication of yesterday. The matter of the claim to which said communication refers, presented by Mr. Ricardo A. Deeb, for damages in the late rebellion, is in course of verification, and it is pleasing to me to inform you that the examination and study of the matter will be hastened, in order that a decision be reached within the least possible time. I avail myself, etc., -19 A. VÁSQUEZ COBO. [Inclosure 5.] Minister Barrett to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogotá, July 27, 1906. MR. MINISTER: I have the honor to inclose for your excellency's kind consideration, first, the formal legal papers in the claim of an American citizen, one Ricardo A. Deeb, for losses sustained by him during the civil war, 1901-2, in Colombia, as a result of the action of both the government and insurgent troops; second, a translation of a statement dated September 16, 1905, made by the Colombian foreign office in regard to further papers and evidence required in this claim; and, third, a duplicate copy of a letter dated June 11, 1906, filed in this legation by the claimant, Ricardo A. Deeb. Inasmuch as this claim has already been formally considered by the foreign office, and as, in response to the requirements of that office, the claimant has obtained the additional papers and evidence necessary, I have the honor to request that your excellency will see that this claim is now given the full and just attention that it may deserve. In view of the fact, moreover, that the claimant declares that he is caused much financial loss by the delay in adjusting this matter, I beg to suggest most respectfully that your excellency's Government may find it convenient to go over the new evidence carefully and then propose its terms of settlement as soon as convenient. Your excellency will please accept, etc., JOHN BARRETT. File No. 4344/-5. No. 50.] The Acting Secretary of State to Chargé Heimké. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 12, 1907. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 139, of December 29, 1906, relative to the claim of Ricardo A. Deeb, an American citizen, for losses sustained during the late civil war in the United States of Colombia. The department approves the action of the legation in respect to this case. I am, etc., ROBERT BACON. File No. 4344/6-7. No. 226.] Chargé Heimké to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogotá, September 2, 1907. SIR: Referring to my No. 139, of December 29, 1906, relative to the claim of Richard A. Deeb, an American citizen, against the Government of Colombia for horses, mules, cattle, and merchandise taken from him by federal and insurgent troops during the revolution that existed in Colombia in the years 1901 and 1902, in which dispatch I stated that I had taken up with the foreign office the settlement of that claim, I have the honor and pleasure to report that through my persistent efforts the Government has now issued a resolution allowing the claim of Mr. Deeb in the sum of $25,069 gold, payable in for eign bonds, in accordance with the judicial decision pronounced by the examiner of the second section of the department of foreign affairs and with the concurrence of the council of ministers, a copy of which, clipped from the Diario Oficial of this city of to-day, I inclose in duplicate, as well as a translation of the same, also in duplicate. Mr. Deeb claimed indemnity in the sum of $72,471.12 gold, $42,000 of which being, as was alleged, for levies caused by revolutionaries, and was disallowed, the Government holding that it did not recognize claims for damages caused by the insurgent forces; and of the remainder, namely, $30,471.12, the sum of $5,402.12 was disallowed for lack of proper evidence, resulting in a balance in Mr. Deeb's favor of $25,069, which that gentleman has accepted in full settlement of his claim against the Government of Colombia. It is gratifying to me to add that, as with the two other claims against the Government of Colombia recently reported to the department (in dispatches Nos. 213, 217, and 225), and which I have had the satisfaction of bringing up to the point of settlement, the payment of the claim of Mr. Deeb was arranged by me with perfect harmony and attended by the exhibition of the greatest courtesy on the part of the officers of the Government. Mr. Deeb, a Syrian by birth, although an American citizen by naturalization, whom I have found to be a man of superior intelligence and exceptional refinement, informed me that it is his intention to return within a few months to the United States, where he would again take up his permanent residence. I have, etc., [Inclosure. Translation.] WM. HEIMKÉ. [Extract of the judicial decision in the claim of Richard A. Deeb, an American.] Under date of the 28th of October, 1901, Mr. Richard A. Deeb presented to the ministry of war a memorial introducing his claim. Subsequently, on the 27th of July, 1906, it was passed to this department for its examination and decision. He claimed $72,471.12 gold. In this amount there are included $42,000 for levies caused by the revolutionists. The record having been examined, the ministry found it in conformity with law 27 of 1903 and its organic decree, and proceeded to pronounce its decision on the 10th of August, 1907, which, in its determinate quality and with the concurrence of the council of ministers, says: 66 'First. There are no grounds for any recognition whatsoever on account of levies caused by revolutionaries, as defined in article 3 of law 27 of 1903. "Second. The only and definitive indemnification adjudged to Mr. Richard A. Deeb, American citizen, as the sum total of the present claim, is the amount of twenty-five thousand and sixty-nine dollars ($25,069), payable in foreign bonds. "Ordered to be entered in the register and published in the Daily Official Gazette; and if the result is accepted, an authentic copy hereof is to be sent to the ministry of the treasury for its action, and the record is to be filed. "For the minister, the subsecretary, "FRANCISCO JOSÉ URRUTIA." At Bogota, on the 17th of August, 1907, the undersigned official gave notice of the preceding resolution to Mr. Teófilo F. Lian, attorney for the claimant, who accepted the same in all its parts, and in virtue of which he signs: Teófilo F. Lian. José M. Cárdenas M., judge of the second section, SIR: Referring to the subject of the last two paragraphs of my No. 26, of the 21st instant, in which I mention that a boundary and navigation treaty was concluded between Colombia and Brazil on April 24, 1907, and ratified by the Colombian Congress on May 17, I have the honor to report that word was received to-day from Rio de Janeiro that the Brazilian Senate voted to approve on the 29th. This completes ratification, as the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies had already acted favorably. The minister of foreign affairs tells me that he expects the ratifications will be exchanged promptly at Rio and that a modus vivendi in regard to the triangle of territory at the mouths of the Yapura and Putumayo, whose sovereignty is still in dispute between the two nations, will be put into effect. Indeed, I understand that such a modus vivendi has already been formulated. It is impossible yet to obtain here a copy of the treaty and modus vivendi, since this foreign office considers itself under obligations not to publish until ratifications have been exchanged or until it has the permission of the Brazilian foreign office. The conclusion of this treaty settles, or puts in the way of certain settlement, a dispute that has lasted nearly a century and on several occasions seriously menaced the relations of the two countries. Besides its beneficial effects on Brazil and Colombia themselves, it may have a far-reaching international bearing as tending to bring about a disentangling of the complicated knot of boundary disputes in the upper Amazon. I have, etc., T. C. DAWSON. DENUNCIATION OF THE MODUS VIVENDI CONCERNING THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN COLOMBIA AND PERU. File No. 526/1. No. 9.] Minister Dawson to the Secretary of State. [Extract.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogota, December 31, 1907. SIR: I have the honor to report that a few days ago instructions were sent to the Colombian chargé d'affaires at Lima to notify to the Peruvian Government Colombia's denunciation of the modus vivendi concerning the boundary between the two countries. Word was received to-day from the chargé that these instructions had been complied with. I have, etc., a See also under Brazil, p. 108. T. C. DAWSON. Not printed. CLAIM OF THE CHILEAN STEAMER "LAUTARO," DESTROYED WHILE IN THE SERVICE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PANAMA, VS. COLOMBIA. File No. 10511/1. No. 14.] Minister Dawson to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Bogota, November 8, 1907. SIR: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy and translation of a protocol recently signed here between the minister of foreign affairs and the Chilean chargé which settles the long-pending claim arising out of the destruction of the steamer Lautaro, under the Chilean flag, while in the service of the Department of Panama. An agreement was reached between the two governments in 1902, responsibility admitted by Colombia, and some payments made. A year and a half later Panama declared her independence, and with the restoration of regular government and solvency under President Reyes, the Colombian administration represented to the Chilean that it was inequitable to require the new and smaller Colombia to pay in full a debt contracted by and on account of a seceded department. This was, however, not insisted upon as a matter of right under international law, but on equitable grounds. By the final agreement the interest and one-third the principal are forgiven. A careful reading of the recitals of the protocol shows, I think, that from them it can not fairly be inferred that Colombia insists or Chile admits that a continuous governmental entity is not responsible integrally for prior acts and agreements. The recitals are, however, not as clear on the point as they might be. You will not fail to observe that the protocol in question explicitly recognizes the fact of Panama's separation in the following words: "the Department of Panama which has separated itself from Colombia." (See fourth and fifth lines of the second paragraph.) I have, etc., T. C. DAWSON. [Inclosure. Translation.] PROTOCOL. In Bogota on the 28th of September, 1907, there met in the department of foreign relations Gen. Vasquez Cobo, minister of foreign relations of Colombia, and the Hon. Dr. Emilio Rodriguez Mendoza, chargé d'affaires ad interim of Chile, for the purpose of agreeing on the terms of a convention to modify the (convention) which was made in Bogota October 17, 1902, between Felipe F. Paul, minister of foreign relations of Colombia, and Francisco J. Herboso, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Chile, by which the form of payment of the amount owed by the Colombian government for the burning and sinking of the ship Lautaro, belonging to the South American Steamship Company, was agreed. The minister of foreign relations of Colombia and the chargé d'affaires of Chile being moved by the sentiments of closest cordiality which to-day exist between the Republics of Colombia and Chile and between their respective Governments, and also taking into account the fact that the Lautaro was lost while serving the Department of Panama which has separated itself from Colombia, and that the latter has already paid a large part of her value, and being fully authorized thereunto by their Governments, have agreed as follows: 1. The balance amounting to £37,000 sterling, viz: £30,000 as principal and £7,000 as interest, which the Colombian Government owes according to the |