Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 2, 1913

File No. 728.2515/145.

The American Chargé d’Affaires at Santiago to the Secretary of State.

No. 74.]

American Legation,
Santiago, April 5, 1910.

Sir: Referring to the Department’s cable of March 26, regarding good offices to Peruvian citizens in Chile, I have the honor to transmit a copy of the note which, in the absence of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I handed to the Sub-Secretary for Foreign Affairs on March 28, in accordance with the Department’s instructions. The answer to this note was given verbally by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and cabled to the Department in full on April 1, the day after the Minister’s return to Santiago.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, in making it clear that Chile would be pleased if the United States should refrain from extending good offices to Peruvian citizens in Chile, was evidently desirous of so wording his reply that the Government of the United States should not be offended, and in my cable I endeavored to communicate as nearly as possible his own words.

That the Department may be fully aware of Chile’s attitude as now expressed on this long-disputed question of Tacna and Arica, I inclose also copies and translation of the note directed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Chile to the Government of Peru under date of March 3 last proposing bases for holding the plebiscite. A great deal of bitter comment was caused here by the fact that the Peruvian Legation was withdrawn two or three days after the Peruvian Government is said to have received this communication, and it was generally stated that the withdrawal of the Legation was Peru’s answer to a note couched in friendly though positive terms.

As reported in my cable of April 2, however, Peru made answer in the form of a counter proposal suggesting, I am informed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the division of the territories, which answer was communicated to Chile by the Brazilian Minister. In stating that such a proposal could not be accepted by Chile, the Minister for Foreign Affairs told me frankly that Chile considered the possession of Tacna and Arica absolutely necessary for the proper military defense of her all-important territory in Tarapaea. He appears anxious that the United States should understand why Chile is so determined to keep the disputed territories; that she wants them for the best reasons, as he called military defense; and that she is pursuing a determined policy, not out of caprice nor to take advantage of Peru, but because she feels she needs the territories. He added that, as he had informed Brazil, Chile would be disposed to pay as much as £3,000,000 as indemnity for the two territories.

In my cable of April 2 I went on to say that the Minister had also told Brazil that if Peru would be willing to accept the decision of a third nation or of the United States, Brazil, and the Argentine Republic on the basis that Chile should keep Tacna and Arica, Chile would be willing to pay even a larger sum if the third nation or group of nations should so decide, and also to cede Tarata. In a later conversation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs I learned that he said this only to me and that he had not said it to the Brazilian Minister.

His idea seems to be that Peru would do well to accept such a sum, being so badly in need of money as she is; that Chile is ready to go to great sacrifices to keep Tacna and Arica; and that if the two countries could agree to submit the question to the decision of another power with the previous understanding that such decision would give Tacna and Arica to Chile and to Peru the Department of Tarata and a large indemnity Chile would be willing to pay whatever sum such decision demanded. The Minister evidently thinks that if such a previous understanding could be kept secret the Government of Peru would be willing to accept such a solution, as it could deceive the people of Peru into thinking that the plan proposed was a genuine arbitration.

The mention of £3,000,000 goes to show that Chile is prepared to seek a peaceful solution of the difficulty, and I think I am safe in stating that such is the case.

The recent agitation has proved conclusively the general fear among the people of Chile that the United States would intervene, an opinion which seemed to be partially based on the fact that so much American capital is invested in Peru. Thus, the disinterested attitude of the United States appears to have gone a long way toward restoring trust in her on the part of the people of Chile. Certain it is that in Government circles there is a better disposition than there has been for months toward the United States.

I have [etc.]

Seth L. Pierrepont.

[Inclosure No. 1.]

The American Chargé d’Affaires to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

No. 59.]

American Legation,
Santiago, March 28, 1910.

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to inform your excellency that the Government of the United States, through its Legation at Lima, has been requested by the Government of Peru to undertake the protection of Peruvian citizens in Chile.

My Government, in communicating this request to me, says that it is willing that this Legation should exercise its impartial good offices in behalf of such Peruvian citizens during the suspension of diplomatic relations between Chile and Peru.

I am therefore instructed—provided, of course, that the Government of your excellency consents to such action on the part of this Legation—to exercise my impartial good offices in behalf of Peruvian citizens in Chile. I would be pleased to know whether, in case the necessity for such protection or good offices should arise, it would be agreeable to the Government of Chile that I should exercise the same.

I should also make known to your excellency that the late Peruvian Chargé d’Affaires confided the archives of the Peruvian Legation to my custody. I seize this occasion to renew [etc.]

Seth L. Pierrepont.

[Inclosure No. 2—Translation—Extract.]

The Chilean Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Santiago, March 3, 1910.

Mr. Minister: My Government is in possession of the communication that your excellency has been so good as to send on the 23d of December last, dwelling upon the observations due the Government of your excellency by certain measures taken by mine in the territory of Tacna and Arica. * * *

In the correspondence of your excellency’s Government that I have just cited it has been demonstrated in a manner that Peru has not yet been able to refute that according to the letter and the spirit of the Treaty of Ancon the districts of Tacna and Arica were ceded to Chile in plain and absolute sovereignty, without any limitation as to her control and only limited as to duration by the event of a plebiscite called for after ten years had passed.

If the plebiscite has not been held yet, it is because your excellency’s Government seeks to restrict the right of suffrage, divesting of the rights of naturalization the very essence of the plebiscite act, which, as its name indicates and diplomatic precedents confirm, should be popular; and because, moreover, Peru demands that Chile suspend, during the process, the exercise of a sovereignty which only the adverse result of the plebiscite itself can extinguish.

It is not Chile, as your excellency says it is, that is the obstacle in the way of realizing the plebiscite, because she may not have decided to come to an agreement with Peru. Your excellency, on stating that, forgets her reiterated propositions which have always been turned down.

For the rest, I should remind your excellency that the plebiscites recorded in history prove that these are measures adopted by governments to mitigate, with the appearance of a popular vote, a cession or an annexation agreed upon beforehand, thus avoiding, as far as possible, the wounding of the national pride of the country dismembered.

The reason is obvious: The governments can not seriously consent to leave to the result of voting the fate of a territory susceptible, as in this case, of representing the security of their frontiers and the compensation of sacrifices of blood and money.

The preliminaries, the alternatives, and the incidents of the diplomatic negotiations which resulted in the pact of Ancon clearly demonstrate that the plebiscite would be the only manner shown by history for satisfying the territorial exigencies of Chile without deeply injuring a national sentiment of Peru, which is supported by certain elements in order to bring down the vacillatory Government of the celebrated General Iglesias, who agreed to it. * * *

Before entering on more practical ground, and above all more effective for the desired object of putting an end to this difficulty that has already lasted more than a quarter of a century, for the sake of the friendly relations which my Government would like to have at all times with yours, I shall give you an exact explanation, if not of the right, which is indisputable, of the notions which induce my Government to take measures in Tacna and Arica which your excellency rates, in the note I am answering, as grave acts.

Of all the observations which your excellency makes, none surprise my Government more than the one relating to the opening of new industries in the Province of Tacna.

First of all, the opening of industries called upon to develop as best they can where free competition exists can not be material for discussion between two Governments; and the fact that your excellency takes up the question indicates that you consider it possible to restrict the freedom of commerce, the fundamental base of the progress of nations.

The Government, convinced of the importance that the growth of industries has for the future of the Republic, protects and fosters them throughout the country, taking advantage of the various measures which the laws grant; and thus as factories for woven goods, shoes, cloth, steel, sugar, paper, and tobacco are prospering in other Provinces, it is hoped that those recently opened in Tacna, bringing down the prices for the consumers of the articles they produce and creating new centers of activity, will flourish.

My Government fulfills the duties inherent to the sovereignty it exercises in those territories by expediting and encouraging the opening of new industries, and considers that even in cases of districts notably contentious it is permitted to foster industries which guarantee the rights that are disputed.

To prove this statement I need only to appeal to the liberality of sentiments of your excellency, who will have to admit as the truth that Peru has encouraged in every way possible the creation of Peruvian interests in all territory she has disputed or is disputing with bordering nations.

In the very Province of Tacna your excellency’s Government protects and helps not only agricultural, commercial, and industrial interests of Peruvian subjects, but also direct means of active propaganda to keep hidden its ancient acts of entailing, which my Government has tolerated up to the present time in spite of the abuses that have been committed in order to denigrate it for tolerating the same.

Your excellency’s equity of spirit will doubtless cause you to recognize the fact that it is not possible to qualify as grave and abusive that which your excellency’s own Government practices with even greater zeal.

My Government, in its communication of March 25, 1908, proposed to yours different ways by which the two countries could come to a perfect agreement, and among them the holding of a plebiscite on conditions that were equitable, but to no purpose.

Unfortunately, its propositions were not well received, and your excellency’s Government stated that for the present it wanted to limit itself to an agreement with mine as to the conditions for holding the plebiscite.

For the sake of cordiality and a national sentiment, my Government desires once more to be deferential to that of your excellency, and, leaving to one side juridical considerations and historical precedents which fix the real meaning of the plebiscite, proposes to celebrate it according to the following bases:

1. The plebiscite shall take place six months after the ratification of the protocol.

2. All the acts of the plebiscite shall be under the vigilance of a “governing board” and realized by “commissions of inscribers” (“comisiones inscriptoras”) and “commissions of receivers” (“comisiones receptoras”).

3. The governing board that will act in the city of Tacna, as well as the committees of both classes that will act in Tacna and Arica, shall be composed of three members, as follows: One named by the Government of Chile, another by the Government of Peru, and a third elected by the consular corps resident in Tacna or in Arica, by a majority of votes.

The presidency of the governing board and of the two committees shall correspond to the member named by the Government of Chile.

4. The duties of the governing board shall be:

(a) To make out and publish a list of all the voters, in conformity with the partial lists of the committee on registration.

(b) Practice a general vigilance, proclaim the result of the plebiscite, and communicate the result to the Governments of Peru and Chile.

(c) To decide upon all questions and doubts that may arise in the registration, voting, and other acts of the plebiscite.

(d) To dictate all the measures that would insure correctness and seriousness in the proceedings of the plebiscite and public order during election time.

5. The committees on registration shall be installed, one in Tacna and another in Arica, within the eight days following the constitution of the governing board, and shall hold their sessions continuously for twenty days, from 10 in the morning until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, registering all those who apply and have the following requisites:

6. Male Chileans, Peruvians, and foreigners who fill the following conditions shall be eligible to registration:

(a) Twenty-one years of age.

(b) Know how to read and write.

(c) Six months’ residence in the territory.

7. The committee on registration shall hand to each individual a certificate of registration which he should afterwards present to the receivers.

8. Whenever the committee on registration refuses to register an individual it shall make note of it in the minutes of the session of that day, the name of the person refused and the reason for the refusal, and the party concerned shall have a right to demand a copy of the part of the minutes that refers to him.

9. At the foot of the last list the members of the committee on registration shall sign their names every day, placing before their signatures, in writing, the number of individuals registered during the day.

10. At the end of the time set for the registration, the governing board shall cause the lists to be published, within the eight days following, in the newspapers of Tacna and Arica and on posters placed on the public buildings.

11. Within the fifteen days following this publication those who wish to complain about their exclusion may present themselves before the governing board, and at the end of that time the registration will remain definitely formed with the changes recommended by the board.

12. The final list of voters being completed, the governing board shall name, within the eight days following, the date on which the polls shall be open. The polls shall be open on the appointed day from 8 o’clock in the morning until 6 in the afternoon, and the tellers shall be the same individuals who formed the committees of registration.

13. The voters shall present their tickets of registration at the time of voting, and that ticket shall be canceled by the tellers and exchanged for a certificate which shall show that the individual has voted.

14. When all the votes are in, the commission shall make a partial examination of them and shall turn them over to the governing board, together with the acts, registers, canceled registration tickets, and other documents they may have in their power.

15. Within the next twenty-four hours the governing board shall count the votes at one sitting and shall proclaim the result.

16. The governing board and the two committees shall be entirely independent in the exercise of their functions, and the president of each one of them shall take the necessary means to maintain order and to insure liberty to the voters.

17. The governing board and the committees shall only perform their functions when there is a majority of their members present, and when any one of them is disabled he shall be replaced during his illness by some one named by the authority who named the disabled party.

18. All resolutions must be passed by a majority of votes.

19. A special protocol that shall be signed at the same time as the one fixing the conditions of the plebiscite shall determine the administrative acts of the Government of Chile and the rights of third parties that Peru engages to respect, in case the result should be favorable to her, as well as the pecuniary indemnities which may be owed for any reason.

Such liberal and equitable propositions must deserve frank and favorable reception by your excellency’s Government if it cares to settle the difficulty pending according to the stipulations of the Treaty of Ancon. The conditions and requirements as to the time when the plebiscite should take place, the nationality of the voters and other requisites pointed out, and the presidency of the act are not new to your excellency, since they have been formulated already by the representative of Chile in Lima. * * *

May your excellency see in the suggested bases the high spirit of justice that inspires my Government and the efforts she puts forth to give Peru unquestionable proof of her intention, never broken, of complying with the treaties she has signed.

I take this opportunity [etc.]

Agustin Edwards.