723.2515/2052: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Peru (Poindexter)
27. Your 33 March 24, 9 p.m., received. Please deliver immediately to the President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs the following memorandum:
“I am instructed by the Secretary of State to acknowledge the Memorandum of the President of Peru which was handed to me on March 24, and to say that the Secretary of State deeply appreciates the sentiments expressed by the President concerning the motives and disinterestedness of the Government of the United States, and that the Secretary welcomes the acceptance by the Government of Peru of the good offices of the United States as a new evidence of the desire of the Government of Peru sincerely to seek an adjustment of its differences with the Government of Chile concerning the provinces of Tacna and Arica. In view of this acceptance of good offices as heretofore offered by the United States, and in view of the acceptance by the Government of Chile of the same offer of good offices, the Secretary of State desires me to suggest that pursuant to the terms of the offer appropriate steps should be at once taken by the Plebiscitary Commission looking to a suspension of the plebiscitary proceedings, without prejudice to their resumption if it should later appear that the differences between the two countries are not susceptible of adjustment, other than by the celebration of a plebiscite; it being understood that pending the consideration of any adjustment other than by the celebration of a plebiscite the authority of the Plebiscitary Commission and the general arrangement made by it for the holding of a plebiscite under the terms of the award shall be maintained unimpaired. The Secretary of State, therefore, wishes to inquire whether the Government of Peru will not forthwith issue to its delegate on the Plebiscitary Commission appropriate authority and instructions to cooperate in taking the steps referred to. The Secretary of State further inquires whether the Government of Peru will authorize representatives on its behalf to enter into negotiations at Washington with representatives of the Government of Chile similarly authorized, the good offices of the United States with respect to such negotiations being exercised by and through the Secretary of State. Identical inquiries are being simultaneously submitted by the Secretary of State to the Government of Chile.”