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 AROSEA/ENA 
 
 NOTES EXCHANGED BETWEEN 
 MR. AROSEMENA, MINISTER 
 OF PANAMA AT WASHINGTON, 
 AND MR. BACON, SECRETARY 
 OF STATE
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 NOTES EXCHANGED 
 
 BBTWJ5EN 
 
 MR. AROSEMENA, MINISTER OF PANAMA 
 AT WASHINGTON, 
 
 AND 
 
 MR. BACON, SECRETARY OF STATE, 
 
 Concerning the Addresses of Mr. Rainey, of Illinois, 
 Delivered in the House of Representatives.
 
 
 Correspondence between Mr. Arosemena, Min- 
 ister of Panama at Washington and Mr. Bacon, 
 Secretary of State, concerning the address of Mr. 
 Rainey of Illinois, delivered in the House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 LEGATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA. 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 FEBRUARY 8, 1909. 
 EXCELLENCY : 
 
 Under instructions from His Excellency the Secretary of 
 Foreign Affairs of my Government, and pursuant to Resolu- 
 tions unanimously adopted by the National Assembly of the 
 Republic of Panama on the first instant, I am directed to call 
 the attention of your Excellency's Government to two public 
 addresses delivered in the House of Representatives of your 
 National Congress, by one of its members, on the 26th and 
 28th days of January last, which addresses constitute a direct 
 attack upon the President of my Country, as well as upon the 
 fair name and Administration of the Republic of Panama, and 
 to convey to Your Excellency the solemn and emphatic protest 
 of my Government against said attacks and this violation of 
 international courtesy. 
 
 My Government and its people justly and naturally resent 
 the baseless and unwarranted attacks upon their President 
 contained in these public and official speeches of a member of 
 your Government delivered in the National Congress of the 
 United States of America. It is unnecessary for me to say to
 
 Your Excellency that through years of intimacy and associa- 
 tion my countrymen have the most implicit faith in the per- 
 sonal integrity, official uprightness and disinterested patriotism 
 of their present honored President. 
 
 My Government and its people also feel that they have 
 additional cause for exception by reason of the publication of 
 the speeches referred to in the official organ of Your Excel- 
 lency's Government, the Congressional Record, by which, in 
 addition to their appearance in the public press, official circu- 
 lation has been given to these wholly baseless and highly 
 offensive statements and they have been communicated to the 
 nations of the world with apparently official sanction, to the 
 great humiliation of my Government and its people. 
 
 It is with surprise that my Government also notes that 
 measures solely concerning the Republic of Panama and pend- 
 ing before its legislative body were at the same time made the 
 subject of official discussion and opprobrious criticism in a 
 legislative body of Your Excellency's Government, and this too, 
 with the declared purpose of inducing action by the House of 
 Representatives of the United States, designed to influence the 
 action of the National Assembly of my Country. My Govern- 
 ment further deplores the adverse comments contained in said 
 official addresses of said member of the House of Representa- 
 tives upon the treaties pending between the United States, 
 Panama and Columbia, which were concluded on January 9th 
 last, and which criticisms tend to affect their ultimate ratifica- 
 tion. 
 
 The Republic of Panama is bound to that of Your Excel- 
 lency, not only by ties of fraternity and by fervid admiration 
 for its institutions, but also by the inseparable bond of a com- 
 mon interest in the Panama Canal located within its boun- 
 daries, and it is a source of profound regret to my Government 
 and myself that occasion has arisen for calling attention to the 
 occurrences to which 1 have referred ; but their character is so 
 extraordinary that even the warm devotion of my Country to 
 that of Your Excellency does not permit my Government to 
 disregard them. 
 
 Your Excellency will note that I am instructed to include 
 in the protest the Counsel of this Legation and Fiscal Com- 
 missioner of Panama in this Country. I have not referred to 
 him in the foregoing protest, solely in deference to his request
 
 that I refrain from so doing, since he, as a citizen of the 
 United States, does not desire that any foreign Government 
 should intervene in his behalf. I should, however, fail in my 
 duty if I did not express the perfect confidence of my Govern- 
 ment and people in his personal integrity and official upright- 
 ness, and in the name of uiy Government absolutely deny the 
 truth of any of the injurious statements in the addresses to 
 which I have referred, concerning his relations or transactions 
 with my Government or any member of it. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg to submit to Your Excellency, with 
 this letter of protest, extract of a cablegram of instructions 
 from His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of my 
 Government and the text of the Resolution before mentioned 
 as adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of 
 Panama on the first instant, and copies of the Congressional 
 Record containing the speeches and remarks to which I 
 have referred, and finally I have the honor to request of Your 
 Excellency's Government such disavowal of the offensive 
 remarks, concerning the President and the Republic of 
 Panama, as may be deemed just and commensurate with the 
 deep and unwarranted injury inflicted on His Excellency 
 Sr. Jose Domingo de Obaldia, President of the Republic of 
 Panama. 
 
 I improve this opportunity to reiterate to Your Excellency 
 the assurances of my high and distinguished consideration. 
 
 C. 0. AKOSEMENA, 
 
 Minister of Panama.
 
 (Cables enclosures.) 
 
 PANAMA, February 1, 1909. 
 
 PANAMA CONSUL, 
 
 New York : 
 
 Inform Minister Arosemena that upon his return lie is to 
 emphatically protest against Congressman Rainey's disrespect- 
 ful official speech against the President of the Republic and 
 Counsellor of the Legation. 
 
 ARANGO, 
 Secretary of Foreign Affairs. 
 
 PANAMA, Feb. 1, 1909. 
 
 Panama Consul, New York, 
 18 Broadway. 
 
 Proposition approved today proposed by Diputado Morales, 
 modified by Diputado Pablo Arosemena. Before proceeding 
 with the order of the day the National Assembly considers the 
 following : Having seen the dispatch of the Consul General of 
 the Republic in New York addressed to His Excellency the 
 President, in which he states the caluminous remarks made 
 by Representative Rainey in the Chamber of Representatives 
 of the United States of America against His Excellency, Senor 
 Don Jose Domingo de Obaldia, President of the Republic, 
 statements that should only be considered for the official 
 character of the person who made them and the place 
 and occasion in which they were made but that in them- 
 selves are nothing but an insult to the canons of history 
 and a violation of international rights and courtesies, resolves 
 to protest, as in fact it protests, publicly and solemnly against 
 the offence committed in the Parliament of a friendly country 
 to the present head of the Panamanian Nation, His Excellency 
 Senor Don Jose Domingo de Obaldia. Transmit this resolu- 
 tion by cable to the Minister of the Republic in Washington 
 so that he may lay it before the American Government and 
 that he may give it the greatest publicity. 
 
 (Signed) ANTONIO BURGOS, 
 
 President of Assembly.
 
 DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 Serial No. FEBRUARY 9, 1909. 
 
 SIR : 
 
 The President directs me to say in answer to your com- 
 munication of February 9, 1909, that the remarks complained 
 of were made in the House of Representatives. Under our 
 Constitution we have for what we regard as wise reasons pro- 
 vided that 
 
 * * * " for any speech or debate in either House 
 " they (the Senators and Representatives) shall not be 
 " questioned in any other place." 
 
 This provision we regard as essential to secure full liberty 
 of speech to the elected representatives of the people ; and wo 
 feel that such liberty of speech should be preserved even 
 though it may occasionally be abused. 
 
 It ought to be understood, however, that the utterances of 
 individual members are not to be taken as expressing the views 
 either of the Government of the United States or of the House 
 in which such remarks are made. As regards the statements 
 in question made by Representative Rainey, the President 
 attached so little importance to them that he had not even 
 read them until your protest came ; he has now read them, and 
 none of them concerning which he has knowledge have any 
 foundation in fact. The President wishes me to recall to your 
 attention that the attack was made even more upon Americans, 
 including the President-elect, than upon the officials of 
 Panamn. The President need hardly say that this Govern- 
 ment disavows all responsibility for the remarks of Represent- 
 ative Rainey to which you refer. 
 
 Accept, Sir, the renewed assurance of my high consider- 
 ation. 
 
 (Signed) ROBERT BACON. 
 
 j To DON CARLOS C. AROSEMENA, 
 
 Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of 
 the Republic of Panama.] 
 
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