723.2515/345a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Chile (Shea)34
You are instructed to hand the following statement to the President of Chile:—“The President of the United States desires to inform your Excellency that the various incidents leading up to the severance of consular relations between the Republics of Chile and Peru have been viewed by the Government of the United States with the gravest apprehension. Any agitation tending to lessen the prospect for permanent peace throughout the world, particularly on the [Page 127] eve of the convoking of the Peace Conference in Paris, in which it is confidently expected that steps will be taken to provide for an era of lasting peace among all peoples, would be disastrous, and those persons who had caused this condition would be charged with grave responsibility before the world for their actions.
The President of the United States feels it his duty to draw to the attention of the Governments of Chile and Peru the gravity of the present situation and to point out to these Governments the duty which they owe to the rest of the world and to mankind in general to take immediate steps to restrain popular agitation and to re-establish their peaceful relations.
That a satisfactory and peaceful solution of the matter in dispute between the two countries may be arrived at there can be no doubt and the Government of the United States stands ready to tender alone, or in conjunction with the other countries of this hemisphere, all possible assistance to bring about an equitable solution of the matter.”
The foregoing has been handed to the President of Peru.
Your November 28, 4 p.m.
You may take occasion to say to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, after having presented the foregoing statement to the President of Chile, that the Government of the United States regrets most deeply that it cannot accede to the courteous request of the Government of Chile that American consular officers in Peru take charge of Chilean consular interests in that country for the reason that the very great interest which the United States has in the friendly settlement of the questions in dispute between two sister countries with both of whom it maintains most friendly and cordial relations, makes it advisable for the United States to maintain the most impartial attitude possible so that it may be of the utmost service to both parties.
- The first four paragraphs, mutatis mutandis, Dec. 4, to the Minister in Peru (File No. 723.2515/345b).↩