723.2515/567: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Bolivia ( Maginnis )
18. Your March 15, 10 a.m. [noon].
You are instructed to hand the following statement to the Minister for Foreign Affairs:
“The Government of the United States views with the gravest apprehension the attack by a mob on the Peruvian Legation and Consulate and on the houses and stores of Peruvians in La Paz. The Bolivian Government in failing to prevent such lawless action is not only injuring her good name but also making more difficult the attainment of the purpose which she has in view, namely, the securing of a port on the Pacific. The Government of Bolivia will, it is confidently expected, realize the serious responsibility which it incurs unless every possible measure is adopted to prevent the repetition of such events. This is true not only by reason of the character [Page 331] of the actions involved but also because any agitation tending to endanger the peace of the American continent is a calamity which places upon those responsible therefor or who countenance the same the gravest responsibility.
In December 1918, the President of the United States informed the Presidents of Peru and of Chile that he had no doubt that a satisfactory and peaceful solution of the question pending between the two countries could be secured.83 Until therefore, definite steps have been taken by the two countries involved towards a peaceful solution the Government of the United States deems it not only advisable but essential that no acts be performed and no agitation undertaken which would endanger such a peaceful solution.”
- See telegram of Dec. 4, 1918, to the Ambassador in Chile, Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. i, p. 126.↩