Mr. Gresham to Mr. MacVeagh.
Washington , March 1, 1895.
Sir: I have to acknowledge receipt of your dispatch, No. 99, of the 6th ultimo. It incloses copies of notes from His Excellency Baron Blanc, the Italian minister for foreign affairs, and from Señor Don Jose II. Hurtado, the Colombian minister to Italy, formally inviting the President, on behalf of their respective Governments, to arbitrate the complaint of Sig. Ernesto Cerruti, an Italian subject, against the Government of Colombia.
I am charged by the President to say that he accepts the office of arbitrator in this case with much pleasure, and that he feels a just pride in doing so in view of the confidence implied by both Governments in his selection in so important and delicate a matter. I doubt not that you have, in accordance with the direction of my telegram of the 28th ultimo, communicated to Baron Blanc and Mr. Hurtado the decision of the President respecting this dispute. I desire, moreover, that each be furnished by you with a copy of this instruction, omitting the telegram.
I am, etc.,