823.30/122
The Ambassador in Peru (Dearing) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 1.]
Sir: As the Department will recall, the attitude of the Peruvian Navy toward the new Government here has been one of the uncertain [Page 760] factors in the situation, since the officers of the Navy have always been loyal to Ex-President Leguia and to the Constitution. I gather from a conversation with Rear Admiral William S. Pye, U. S. N., Chief of the American Naval Mission in Peru, that to all intents and purposes this uncertainty may now be said to be removed for the present at least, since it would appear that the Navy is no longer thinking politically but rather of its own problems.
In this general relation Admiral Pye tells me that his own position and that of the remaining members of the Naval Mission is most satisfactory, having been relieved of all administrative duties in exactly the same manner and practically to the same extent of personnel of the Mission as he had originally desired (Please see Embassy’s telegram No. 141, Aug. 20, 11 a.m.15) Admiral Pye now finds himself with time and opportunity to carry out the strictly educational efforts which he has felt for some time should be substituted for more active executive functions. With Captain Spears’ assistance he has organized the Naval War College which it is expected will be opened on the first of October.
Furthermore, an Organic Law of the Navy is being worked out and is about to be put into effect through a series of decrees to be issued by Colonel Sanchez Cerro. The Navy, as it happens, has been administered under most archaic and unsatisfactory regulations, dating for the most part from 1886 and amended in a somewhat bewildering fashion by numberless decrees issued since that date. The Organic Law which Admiral Pye has compiled will bring these regulations up to date and in one body of rules for the conduct of the Naval forces of Peru. All together I see no reason to doubt that the contribution of the Naval Mission both with respect to assistance to Peru and toward the fostering of good relations between Peru and the United States may not go forward perhaps more successfully than ever under the new régime.
Respectfully yours,
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