This undertaking is, however, not applicable when the debtor State refuses or neglects to reply to an offer of arbitration, or, after accepting the offer, prevents any compromis from being agreed on, or, after the arbitration, fails to submit to the award.

ARTICLE II

It is further agreed that the arbitration mentioned in paragraph 2 of the foregoing article shall be subject to the procedure laid down in Part IV, Chapter III, of the Hague Convention for the pacific settlement of international disputes. The award shall determine, except where otherwise agreed between the parties, the validity of the claim, the amount of the debt, and the time and mode of payment.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES

AND HISPANIC AMERICA

136. CIRCULAR ON THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
OF AMERICAN STATES

Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the
Published by the United States Government.]

[Washington, May 7, 1912. United States, 1912 (1919), 1–2. The memorial of Señor Triana, referred to in this document, would seem to the student of international American relations to be the logical corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It is to be regretted that the government of the United States of North America did not avail itself of the opportunity to allay any suspicion in Hispanic America of designs upon any of its territory. It could have formally stated that the era of territorial conquests in America was forever proscribed. The following instructions from the Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Huntington Wilson, could hardly be expected to allay any fears of the aggressive policy of the United States, nor could they be expected to prevent what F. Garcia-Calderón in his work on Latin America styles a veritable crusade against that republic.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, May 7, 1912.

To the diplomatic officers of the United States in Latin-America. GENTLEMEN: Mr. S. Perez Triana, the Colombian Minister in London, has recently addressed to the President a letter accompanied by a long memorandum. He states that he has sent copies of the memorandum to all the Presidents of America. Mr. Triana styles the memorandum in question a statement of "the reasons that militate in favor of a Pan-American union for a certain specific purpose, which is that the era of conquest which President Monroe declared closed in 1823 to European Powers, should be declared as closed to American Nations

amongst themselves, that is, in other words, to declare that conquest per se is objectionable, irrespective of the conqueror.'

The memorandum occupies several pages and it seems unnecessary to send you a copy thereof. The essence of it is that the United States and incidentally the other American countries should solemnly declare that conquest is forever proscribed from the continent of America, and should pledge itself not to practice nor to tolerate the conquest of territory.

If in the country to which you are accredited Mr. Triana's plan should be discussed in such a way as to come to your notice you should belittle the idea and simply call attention to the following extract from the speech delivered by the Secretary of State before the National Assembly of Nicaragua at Managua on March 6, 1912:

I note, Mr. President, what you have said in regard to the existence of some apprehension here and in other republics of Latin-America as to the true motives and purposes of the United States towards them under the Monroe Doctrine. I beg to assure you, and I am sure that what I say meets the approval of the people and the President of the United States, that my Government does not covet an inch of territory south of the Rio Grande. The full measure and extent of our policy is to assist in the maintenance of republican institutions upon this hemisphere and we are anxious that the experiment of a government of the people, for the people, and by the people shall not fail in any republic on this continent. We have a well known policy as to the causes that might threaten the existence of an American republic from beyond the sea. We are equally desirous that there shall be no failure to maintain a republican form of government from forces of disintegration originating from within; and so far as we may be able we will always be found willing to lend such proper assistance as may be within our power to preserve the stability of our sister American republics.

You are no doubt familiar with the substance of the Secretary's speech at Panama which is so illustrative of the friendly and straightforward policy of this Government toward the other countries of this hemisphere, and which might be referred to with excellent effect in relation to the above.

I am [etc.]

HUNTINGTON WILSON,
Acting Secretary of State

137. THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE ON EFFORTS OF A NON-AMERICAN POWER TO ACQUIRE TERRITORY IN THE AMERICAN CONTINENTS FOR NATIONAL PURPOSES [July 31, 1912. The Congressional Record: containing the Proceedings and Debates of the Sixty-Second Congress, Second Session (1912), XLVIII, 9923. United States Government Printing Office, Washington.]

An American concern had tried to dispose of certain of its lands around Magdalena Bay in Lower California to Japanese subjects. It was feared that the possession of such lands by the nationals of some foreign power might endanger the safety of the United States. The subject became a matter for investigation by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. After a careful investigation by that committee, Henry Cabot Lodge, the chairman, made a report from which the following is taken. The resolution, as recommended by Senator Lodge, was adopted by the Senate.

These messages and the accompanying correspondence1 were referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. After a careful consideration of the subject referred, the Committee on Foreign Relations reports that it appears from the correspondence and from all the information that the committee has been able to procure that the government of no other country has concerned itself with acquiring, or has made any attempt to acquire, possession of Magdalena Bay and the land about it. It appears, further, however, from the evidence that the corporations or persons who have, or claim to have, title to the lands surrounding Magdalena Bay have made efforts to form a syndicate and to promote the sale of these lands upon the basis of the existence of some national value to a foreign nation in Magdalena Bay as distinct from any commercial value which that bay and the adjoining territory might possess. The fact that such an idea has formed the basis of a negotiation between the possessors of the title to the lands about Magdalena Bay and the citizens, subjects, or corporations of a foreign power seems to the Committee on Foreign Relations to afford an appropriate occasion for an expression of the view of the Senate of 1 The messages and the accompanying correspondence were submitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate by the State Department.

the United States regarding this and similar cases. For this reason the committee recommends the adoption of the following resolution:

Resolved, That when any harbor or other place in the American continents is so situated that the occupation thereof for naval or military purposes might threaten the communications or the safety of the United States, the Government of the United States could not see without grave concern the possession of such harbor or other place by any corporation or association which has such a relation to another Government, not American, as to give that Government practical power of control for national purposes.

138. LETTER TO JOSÉ VICENTE CONCHA, PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA, OF SEPTEMBER, 1914 (ON THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF THE AMERICAN STATES)

[September, 1914. Santiago Pérez Triana, in Hispania for November 1, 1914. Reprinted from Alejandro Álvarez's The Monroe Doctrine. Its Importance in the International Life of the States of the New World (1924), 319–325. Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Division of International Law. Washington. Oxford University Press, New York.]

The Circular Letter of May 7, 1912, did not have the effect of allaying Hispanic American fears of further territorial expansion of the United States of North America. Señor Triana again took occasion to call attention to the need of a formal declaration by all the states of the Americas that the era of territorial expansion in the Western Hemisphere had definitely ceased. In the following letter he explained his views in detail.

According to the announcement made, the Pan-American Congress, which has on other occasions met in Washington, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Ayres, respectively, will meet during the coming month of November in Santiago de Chile. Assuming that Colombia will be represented in this Congress on this occasion, as she has been in previous ones, I have deemed it proper to offer you some suggestions which might perhaps be useful.

I ask your indulgence, and beg you to excuse me if I should divert your attention for a moment from the very important and numerous duties imposed upon you by your high office.