His remarks, together with President Leguía’s reply, as they appeared in
La Prensa on October 4, are enclosed
herewith. La Prensa, of October 6, also published
the remarks made by President Ibáñez of Chile when the Peruvian
Ambassador, Doctor Elguera, presented his credentials on October 5. His
remarks terminated with the following paragraph:
A high official of the Foreign Office here told me that he considered
this reference by President Ibáñez to “justice and greater equity” as
especially significant.
[Enclosure—Translation]
Remarks of the Newly Appointed Chilean
Ambassador to Peru (Figueroa) on the Occasion of the Presentation of His
Letter’s of Credence on October 3, and Reply of President
Leguía
Your Excellency: I am particularly pleased
and honored to place in Your Excellency’s hands the letters of
credence with which His Excellency Carlos Ibáñez del Campo,
President of Chile, accredits me as Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary before the Government of Peru.
These credentials are of transcendental importance. They embody the
desire to renew, on a stable and definitive basis, the political
relations of two countries which should end their differences in
order to collaborate more fully for the progress of the
Continent.
My mission, Your Excellency, has as its special object the
cultivation of the spirit of cooperation and harmony in the
reciprocal relations of Peru and Chile, whose mutual intelligence
all America hopes will produce worthy results. This situation has,
moreover, given the Secretary of State of the United States the
opportunity to take the happy initiative in paving the way for your
Government and mine to renew diplomatic relations, as a consequence
of the spiritual friendship already awakened between the two
peoples.
A desire for frank concord reigns today over the relations of the
greatest nations of the world, and an intense seeking for
tranquility and harmony is clearly visible in all manifestations of
the popular will. And these nations of America which guard the
treasure of their youth and natural riches, must live a life of
frank understanding and fruitful economic cooperation.
Toward the realization of these ends I shall bring all the
earnestness animating not only my Government but me personally, and
I entertain the firm conviction that in the discharge of this task I
can count upon the wholehearted assistance of Your Excellency and of
your worthy colleagues in the Government of Peru.
Permit me, Your Excellency, to express my sincerest wishes for the
prosperity of Peru and for the personal happiness of Your
Excellency.
In reply, President Leguía spoke
as follows:
Your Excellency: It is with especial
pleasure that I receive the letters accrediting you in the high
position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the
Government of Chile before my Government.
[Page 659]
There was a time, Your Excellency, when the traditions of the past
united us fraternally in the shadow of a history forged by common
heroes on a soil whose continuity was marked by the hand of God.
In the course of time peoples unite or separate, according to the
voice that moved them. There was an epoch during which predominated
dissolving forces which provoked the perpetual anarchy of the
universe; but today, by the law of evolution which transforms
primitive instincts into intelligence, forces of cooperation
dominate the world; these forces weld men and peoples and establish
the reign of peace and love.
Believing thus, His Excellency the Secretary of State, Mr. Frank B.
Kellogg, proposed the suggestion, which we accepted, that diplomatic
relations between our two peoples be reestablished. These relations
were broken in a moment when human conscience had not revealed its
strength for transforming the past, embittered by wars, into the
present, illuminated by peace.
We live, Your Excellency, in an historic moment. Your presence in the
ancient house made illustrious by the legendary life of Pizarro;
your words which demonstrate the sincerity of your convictions; the
generous attitude of His Excellency, the President of Chile,
statesman and patriot,—all seem to anticipate the coming of an hour
which posterity shall bless:—the hour for liquidating, with justice
and abnegation, the errors of the past, as you have so well said, in
a manner which shall reestablish firmly and definitively the
friendship between Peru and Chile, in order, that, in the future,
without fear nor distrust, the ancient brotherhood which our
strength and glory generated, may be achieved anew.
Your Excellency, in acknowledging your high diplomatic rank, it gives
me pleasure to offer you all the assistance of my Government for the
greatest success of your mission and to request that you transmit to
your country my best wishes for the prosperity of Chile and the
personal happiness of your worthy President.
