723.2515/2260: Telegram
The Ambassador in Chile (Collier) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:30 p.m.]
141. Inasmuch as the President of Chile in his conversation with me on April 28 complained that you and Lassiter were both trying to force good offices upon Chile, I thought it expedient to write a note to the Foreign Office reminding it that the very first intimation as to good offices was a request by Chile made on October 23 through Carlos Castro Ruiz, then Counsellor of Ministry of Foreign Affairs,73 and reiterated and embodied in a formal memorandum handed to me by Barros Jarpa, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, on October 27.73 In this note I said to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that I regretted he had deemed it necessary to keep this offer so secret that the public [Page 419] and newspapers had formed the impression that the United States had conceived the idea of good offices and was imposing it upon Chile against its will and that the newspapers were consequently creating very bitter feeling against the United States. You will please understand that my note was to the Foreign Office and not to the press nor even did it request that the press be informed; moreover it did not express any opinion whatever concerning future action of Arbitrator or the Commission but simply reminded the Foreign Office of Chile’s request last October for good offices and of Edwards’ subsequent advocacy of his plan and of Chile’s prompt acceptance of both your offers of good offices and of the plea of the Minister of Foreign Affairs a few days prior to March 24 that the United States use every effort to make Peru accept good offices.
Late last night the Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs called upon me to say that this note had produced a wonderful effect which he felt ultimately might bring about the acceptance of diplomatic settlement. He said that Mathieu had learned for the first time of Barros Jarpa’s memorandum and this information would make the former invulnerable against any possible attacks in Congress. The Under Secretary said that Alessandri was shown the memorandum of Barros Jarpa yesterday and instantly apologized to Mathieu for some attacks he had made upon him and declared he was coming to the Embassy to apologize to me. He came this morning bringing with him a copy of my note which the Minister of Foreign Affairs had given him. He … said he had come to express his regret that he had questioned the motives of the United States; that he had been entirely ignorant of the memorandum and that he appreciated now that the United States had acted only at the request of Chile. He also said that Mathieu had admitted to him yesterday that he (the former) had urged shortly prior to March 25th that the United States put pressure on Peru to make her accept good offices. Alessandri said that he still believed in the plebiscite but no longer would question the purity of your motives in offering good offices.
The Under Secretary showed the note to the President of the Republic who expressed astonishment but also great relief upon learning that the unpopular good offices movement was started in time of Barros Borgoña, Acting President. The Under Secretary said the President wished to publish the note but he advised against it. It would be a revelation that might break the opposition to good offices. [Paraphrase.] You may think it proper to publish text of the memorandum, as the subsequent memorandum of offer and acceptance have been published here and in Washington. [End paraphrase.] I shall not give any publicity to the matter at all but I am confident it will [Page 420] soon leak out … When our motives are no longer questioned they will listen to your advice.
To illustrate how nothing can be kept secret here, the resolutions and speeches of the secret sessions of Congress have been published and newspapers have boasted of this as a scoop. The Under Secretary of State tells me almost every Senator and Deputy who has spoken has arraigned Edwards. Although this is prompted by the feeling that at one time he was ready to abandon the plebiscite and although it indicates the strength of the present demand for the plebiscite, I think it means eventual disintegration of the opposition to good offices.
The health of the Minister of Foreign Affairs continues very bad; and notwithstanding that he seems, upon the whole, to have the confidence of Congress, he will probably resign as soon as a few things get straightened out.