To His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile,
Santiago.
Your Excellency: I have the honour to reply to the
telegraphic communication from your Excellency, which, with
some surprise, I received on the 12th. instant, and whose
purpose is to invite my Government to execute what are
termed telegraphic agreements which crossed between this
Department and that which your Excellency directs, during
the month of November, 1912.
My surprise is due to the fact that diplomatic relations
having been interrupted between Peru and Chile since
1910,57 a
breach which was still further widened by the withdrawal of
consular officials in 191858 owing to the
violent persecution and forcible deportation of the Peruvian
residents in the territories of Tacna, Arica and
Tarapaca—which of itself would nullify any steps towards
carrying out the plebiscite—yet it is felt that, in
accordance with the rules of diplomatic procedure, as
accepted by all countries, a means might have been found to
resume the interrupted relations so as to be able to enter
upon a peaceful examination of a political question, whose
final solution, whatever its nature, will not be secured by
irregular methods.
It is unusual to find that Your Excellency attributes
executory value to a mere exchange of ideas, transmitted by
telegraph, which, so as to carry all the force of an
international agreement, were wanting in certain absolutely
necessary conditions, and above all, should have received
the legislative approval of both countries. Your Excellency
is aware that your own Government discontinued these
preliminary negotiations, as appears from the documents
inserted in the Report of the Chilean Foreign Office for the
period between October 1911 and July 1914, pages 288 to 293;
a further proof thereof may be found in the fact that the
appointment of Ministers to Lima and Santiago, of which
mention was made in the telegrammes, were never carried out.
For all these reasons, surprise has been felt that Your
Excellency should invoke the ideas expressed during the
course of a negotiation which failed and consider them as
the first agreement between our Government[s], endeavouring
to make use of them as a proper foundation for the carrying
out of the plebiscite; while it is likewise surprising that
Your Excellency should forget that conditions for this
plebiscite were made fourteen years previously, in the
protocol of the 19th [16th] of April
1898, which was approved by the Peruvian Congress and by the
Chilean Senate, although to-day this same protocol could not
be carried out by my Government when yours has disregarded
the greater part of the terms of the Treaty of Peace and
Amity of the 20th of October 1883, from which this protocol
emanated.
I likewise consider indefensible Your Excellency’s contention
that the supposed bases of the negotiations of 1912 are
inspired by the same principles as those which the Treaty of
Versailles—of which Peru is one of the
signatories—stipulates shall govern the plebiscites
mentioned therein. It is only necessary to state in support
of my assertion that the principal condition which was
sought for these plebiscites, is the absolute freedom of the
vote, in its threefold manifestation respecting the
authority for its safeguard, the casting of
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the ballots and the accuracy
of the returns; meanwhile and subsequent to the forcible
expulsion of the Peruvian population and to the insistence
that the plebiscite be carried out under the jurisdiction of
the nation in occupation, and which is directly interested
in the result, the Chilean authorities of Tacna, Arica and
Tarata, have, for the last month and acting upon
instructions from headquarters, been assiduously campaigning
to secure the signatures of residents of every nationality,
in those provinces, to a printed form which contains the
promise to vote in favour of Chile for the final annexation
of the territory.
However, and notwithstanding the unjustifiable offenses
committed by Chile against Peru for the last twenty seven
years, my Government, solely in the interests of American
cordiality, has decided to lay aside its deep resentment and
wishes dispassionately to state that a plebiscite, carried
out under Chilean auspices and after the lapse of so many
years, instead of composing existing differences would only
tend to increase them. The fervent desire of Peru is and
ever has been to avoid any further motives for estrangement
and hostility towards Chile, and to this end has endeavoured
and will continue to seek an equitable solution of the
question of the South Pacific by means of a sincere and
impartial arbitration. Recently at Geneva the Chilean
Government, through its representatives, denied jurisdiction
to the League of Nations to interfere in the differences
existing between Chile and Bolivia, on the ground that these
constituted an American political problem. In recognition of
this principle which implies, as a natural consequence, the
obligation to secure its solution within our own continent,
my Government, consistently following the traditions of its
international policy in favour of arbitration, invite that
of Your Excellency to submit together the entire question of
the South Pacific, which has continued to keep them apart,
to arbitration, arranged at the initiative of the Government
of the United States of America, a step which, I am
convinced, would assure the satisfactory solution of the
question, fraught with so much danger to the peace of the
continent, and put an end to all controversy, in accordance
with the new tendencies towards Peace and Justice which
today govern the world.
In submitting this proposal to Your Excellency’s high
judgment, I take this opportunity to tender the assurances
of my highest and most distinguished consideration.
(signed) Alberto Salomón
Minister of Foreign
Affairs.
