File No. 723.2515/261.
The Peruvian Chargé d’Affaires at Washing ton to the Secretary of State.
Washington, December 12, 1911.
My Dear Mr. Secretary: In the earnest endeavor to avoid a conflict with Chile over the question of Tacna and Arica, my Government has instructed me to approach you once more on the subject, trusting you will understand the motives of its insistence and therefore will overlook its seeming pertinacity.
It would appear that all the facts of the case have been stated, disclosing the intentions of the Chilean Government to forcibly settle to its own advantage the long-standing controversy it has sustained with that of Peru in regard to the execution of the treaty of Ancon. No doubt can either subsist that such an act, unrighteous in itself, would be fraught with serious consequences for the peace of our continent.
What my Government now wishes to emphasize is that only the action of the Governments to whom it has appealed can now solve the problem that has caused such prolonged unrest in South America, and avert useless strife.
If it ever seemed possible that in the course of time a direct understanding between the Governments of Peru and Chile could be [Page 1221] reached, events have unfortunately dispelled such a belief. Left to themselves, both countries have drifted farther and farther apart, until they have reached to-day the point of a definite and irreparable breach.
It would be irrelevant to analyze at present the various causes that have contributed to engender such a result; suffice it to say that all attempt tending to a direct and peaceful settlement of the dispute has failed, and that consequently but one resource is left: that of a common action on the part of friendly nations, who would interpose their good offices between the contending parties.
That such a course is possible, no one can deny; nor is it wholly improbable that even those who heretofore have rejected all outward interference would welcome to-day the opportunity of withdrawing from the extreme positions in which they have ill-advisedly placed themselves. For, in spite of their arrogance, they must be well aware that the benefits of peace greatly outbalance those to be derived from undue territorial expansion, and that a friendly settlement of a controversy, assuring a stable understanding, is certainly preferable to temporary advantages obtained by force, that leave behind an aftermath of resentment and discontent. No clear-sighted statesman could fail to perceive that a solution imposed by sheer might would be merely provisional, postponing and aggravating the final adjustment instead of definitively regulating the dispute.
Moreover, if one stops to consider that were Chile to carry out its plans of annexing Tacna and Arica by coercion the indignation of the people of Peru would be aroused beyond control, and that no possible direct agreement can avert the crisis, it becomes apparent that, if peace is to be maintained, only the influence of parties not directly concerned in the controversy can dominate the situation.
Owing to its great moral strength, but above all because its motives can not be misconstrued, the Government of the United States seems to be the one called upon to take the initiative in the matter. Far above and apart from the frictions that probably hinder the movements of the other friendly nations of South America, too intimately united, perhaps, to our political life to act with utter freedom, the United States could easily lead them on a road they would be sure to follow, but in which they may hesitate to take the first step.
My Government, therefore, hopes that after the Government of the United States has studied the question, ascertaining the accuracy of the statements made in the two memorandums lately delivered to the representatives of the United States, Argentina, and Brazil at Lima, it will reach a decision securing a durable peace to our continent and the normal development of each country within the bounds of its lawful sphere of action.
I am [etc.]