PROCLAMATION ON OWNERSHIP OF PARAGUAY AND ARGENTINA

November 12, 1878
Washington, D.C

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, President of the United States of America, to all to whom these presents may come, greeting:

Whereas, pursuant to the fourth article of the treaty of limits between the Argentine Republic and the Republic of Paraguay, of the 3d of February, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, it was stipulated that ownership in or right to the territory between the river Verde and the principal arm of Pilcomayo River, including the city of Villa Occidental, should be submitted to the definite decision of an arbitration;

And whereas, by the fifth article of the same instrument, the two high contracting parties agreed to elect the President of the United States of American as umpire to decide as to the right to possess the said above-described territory;

And whereas the high contracting parties have, within the stipulated time, presented their invitation to the proposed umpire, which was accepted by him, and have, also, duly presented their invitation to the proposed umpire, which was accepted by him, and have, also, duly presented their respective memoirs, and the documents, titles, maps, quotations, references, and all the antecedents which they judge favorable to their rights, as provided in the sixth and eighth articles of said treaty:

Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States of America, having duly considered the said statements and the said exhibits, do hereby determine that the said Republic of Paraguay is legally and justly entitled to the said territory between the Pilcomayo and the Verde Rivers, and to the Villa Occidental, situated therein, and I, therefore, do hereby award to the said Republic of Paraguay the territory on the western bank of the river of that name, between Rio Verde and the main branch of the Pilcomayo, including Villa Occidental.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done, in triplicate, in the city of Washington the twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and third.