723.2515/751
The Peruvian Ambassador ( Pezet ) to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Some time since, I read to you, and left with you, a Memorandum42 in connection with the Question of the Pacific, in which, among other things, I said:—“If, however, the [Page 240] position taken by Secretary Blaine44 with respect to European Powers, either singly or in group, participating in the settlement of an American affair of this kind has been changed, may we not be advised thereof?”
When I had the honour of presenting this Memorandum to you, as I recall, you verbally and informally advised that the position taken by Secretary Blaine had not been changed, and that the doctrine announced by Secretary of State Blaine is the present policy of the Department. This is understood to mean that the United States would not look with favour upon Peru submitting this American question to European Powers, either singly or in group, and that the determination of this American question by the League of Nations would not be in accordance with the doctrine set down by Secretary Blaine, to which the Department still adheres.
The League of Nations Council will meet very soon, and as Peru desires to act in entire harmony with the views of the Department of State, may I not respectfully ask a formal answer to the question as to the attitude of the Department respecting the doctrine of Secretary Blaine, which, as mentioned, we have been verbally informed is adhered to by the Department.
Accept [etc.]
- Not printed; excerpts from the memorandum are quoted in the note of Sept. 17 to the Peruvian Ambassador, p. 241.↩
- See the instruction of Sept. 5, 1881, to the Minister in France, Foreign Relations, 1881, p. 426.↩