724.3415/768

The Chargé in Bolivia (Hibbard) to the Secretary of State

No. 242

Sir: I have the honor to refer to my telegram No. 66, September 16, 2 p.m.,66 quoting a portion of a note received from the Bolivian Foreign Office in reply to one which I sent in accordance with the Department’s instructions contained in its telegram No. 42, September 13, 1 p.m., and to transmit herewith a copy and translation of the note partially quoted in the telegram above referred to.

I have [etc.]

Frederick P. Hibbard
[Enclosure—Translation]

The Bolivian Minister for Foreign Affairs and, Worship (Chávez) to the American Chargé (Hibbard)

D/P No. 364

Mr. Chargé d’Affaires: I take pleasure in answering your kind note No. 104 of yesterday’s date, received today, by which Your Excellency transmitted the telegraphic message from the Secretary of State of the United States of America, His Excellency, Henry L. Stimson, in regard to the happy result reached by the Commission of Investigation and Conciliation, stating that the success of the mission entrusted to that body is due largely to the efficacious manner in which the Government of Bolivia and its Delegates in Washington have interpreted the constant solicitude and interest of all the American Republics, represented by the five neutral Commissioners who have peacefully adjusted the controversy between Bolivia [Page 895] and Paraguay, an achievement which marks an epoch in the historical development of conciliation as a practical method for advancing the cause of Pan American peace. You add that you have been instructed by your Government to say that, as there exists a proposition for the settlement of the fundamental controversy, the work of the Commission should have a worthy consummation in an atmosphere removed from the haste occasioned by shortness of time in a matter the magnitude and complexity of which justify any delay. And you conclude stating that the Government of the United States will be glad to offer to the two Governments directly interested the services of its Commissioner and of the Secretary General “in a continued effort to assist the two interested Governments in finding an adequate solution of the fundamental controversy.”

In reply I am pleased to inform you that the Government of Bolivia appreciates fully the congratulations of His Excellency, the Secretary of State of the United States of America, both for the success of the Commission of Inquiry and Conciliation, and for the manner in which this Government and its Delegates contributed to the notable success achieved by that Commission.

The Government of Bolivia feels that the Commission has completely fulfilled its duty under the terms of the Protocol of January 3rd of this year and has therefore instructed its delegates in the sense that the friendly and informal propositions for the settlement of the fundamental controversy, to which the President of the Commission referred in his note to our delegates of May 31 to which the note of August 31, last, is only a consequence, should be differently [deferentemente: deferentially] heard and studied without this meaning “the modification or weakening” of said protocol.

As in accordance with the bases of conciliation accepted by Bolivia and Paraguay, diplomatic relations between the two countries are shortly to be renewed, the Government of Bolivia will be very pleased to take into consideration the esteemed suggestions of the Commission of neutrals at the time of renewing the negotiations to which the last Conference of Buenos Aires referred.

While the new peaceful efforts which the Government of Bolivia is disposed to carry through are being realized, by means of its Foreign Office, I have the honor to present to the Government of the United States of America, through Your Excellency, the expression of the most grateful appreciation of the Government of Bolivia for the eminent services which the illustrious President of the Commission of Inquiry and Conciliation, General McCoy, gave to the cause of American peace.

I avail myself [etc.]

F. Vaca Chávez
  1. Not printed; the full text of the note which it quoted was transmitted to the Department in telegram No. 69, September 18, noon, but that text has not been used since some parts of the telegram were garbled.