File No. 419.11D29/37.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Panama, Feb. 1, 1913.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your instructions No. 96 of December 27th1 and No. 98 of January 9th last, the former directing me to use my discretion in the matter of acceding to the request of the Panaman Minister for Foreign Affairs for a copy of the testimony taken by American officials bearing upon the riot between Americans and Panaman policemen on July 4th last, and the latter directing me to make a communication to the Minister for Foreign Affairs relative to this testimony collected by the Panaman Government.
Since receiving your former instruction I have given serious consideration to the question of furnishing the copy desired, consulting with Mr. Belknap, Assistant Chief of the Zone Police, in the absence of Captain Barber, Chief of the Zone Police; Colonel Greene, Commanding the 10th United States Infantry Regiment; Major Butler, Commanding the Marine Battalion; and Colonel Hodges, Acting Chief Engineer of the Isthmian Canal Commission. All these gentlemen expressed their willingness that copies of the testimony taken by their subordinates should be given to the Panaman Government.
Captain Barber’s opinion is similar to my own and I have now decided, in view of the discretion given me, to send a copy of all our testimony to Señor Lefevre, Minister for Foreign Affairs. This copy I am now having made and it will probably be finished and transmitted on the 3rd instant. In reaching this decision I am not unaware that this testimony may possibly be misused either for political purposes or simply in an effort to discredit it. On the other hand in view of the fact that the Panaman Government have already furnished us with a copy of their testimony, and of the repeated requests to me of both President Porras and Señor Lefevre and the assurances of both that the Panaman Government desires this testimony to assist in an earnest effort to find out and punish the guilty and for no other purpose whatever, it is difficult to refuse it without furnishing ground for allegations on their part of lack of confidence and failure to give proper assistance. I also believe that although the Panaman Government sees no advantage for itself, [Page 1073] and perhaps the reverse, in endeavoring to find and punish the guilty in this affair, yet it desires greatly to avoid any appearance of failing in its duties toward us. By constantly keeping these duties before it, I trust that it will be possible to secure the proper results. Moreover it seems clear not only that our testimony will be of very substantial assistance but that without it it would probably be impossible for the Panaman Government to secure full information especially as so many of the witnesses are Americans living in the Zone, soldiers, marines and civilians, whose testimony would be extremely difficult for it to obtain.
As safeguards in addition to the assurances already mentioned, President Porras and Señor Lefevre have agreed willingly to allow a representative of the Legation to be present at the investigation and take notes, and General Pretext has agreed to have all the Panaman witnesses make new affidavits before him in the presence of Mr. Belknap, using the old ones to refresh their memories. In this way it is hoped to avoid the possibility of these witnesses varying their testimony.
Regarding your instruction No. 98, I have taken the liberty of delaying to make the communication therein in order to do so at the same time that I transmitted our complete testimony.
I trust that through our testimony, the communication which I am now addressing from the Department and my own continued efforts a satisfactory result may finally be obtained. It seems entirely clear that notwithstanding the absence of any records the present Administration with the knowledge of General Pretelt at hand could readily have found the guilty had it really desired to do so.
I may add that in prosecuting this investigation Señor Arjona is assisted by the Fiscal (District Attorney) of the Panama Circuit, Señor Eusebio A. Morales, jr., and that the Court before which the investigation is taking place is the Panaman Circuit Court of which Dr. T. Demóstenes Arosemena is the Judge. Señor Morales is a friend of the present Administration and Señor Arosemena of the last when he was Governor of Colon Province.
I have [etc.]