721.23/1052
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (White) and Comment Thereon by the Secretary of State
The Secretary invited the British, French, Italian, German and Japanese Ambassadors49 to meet with him at Woodley50 at six o’clock on the evening of January 24 to discuss the Leticia matter. Mr. White was also present. The Secretary asked Mr. White to explain the background of the Leticia matter to the Ambassadors, which he did, and the Secretary then explained how this Government looks at the matter; namely, that there is no question regarding the title of Colombia over Leticia and that Peru has recognized Leticia as Colombian but now wants Leticia to be transferred to Peru and states that she will [Page 422] forcibly oppose the legitimate efforts of Colombia to reestablish her authority in her own territory and will only go to a conference to discuss the matter provided that Colombia agrees, in advance, to turn over Leticia to Peru. The Secretary said that this is a clear cut violation of the Kellogg Pact.
The French Ambassador inquired what could be done or what it was proposed to do and the Secretary said that he was preparing a note to send to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru. The French Ambassador inquired whether a note would also be sent to Colombia and the Secretary replied in the negative. He said that Colombia has not violated the Pact and Peru has not asked us to send anything to Colombia. It is Peru which is acting contrary to the Kellogg Pact and Colombia has asked the signatories thereof to remind Peru of her obligations under that Treaty. The Secretary said he thought it would be very unfortunate if the first time one of the Pact signatories invokes the support of the other signatories to prevent a violation thereof the call should go unheeded. The French and British Ambassadors said that they agreed and the German and Italian Ambassadors assented. The Japanese Ambassador made no comment throughout the meeting.
The Secretary said that of course we would also support again the Brazilian proposal for a settlement. Brazil asked us to do so some time ago and we did it through our Ambassador in Lima. Now Colombia has asked us to remind Peru of her obligations under the Kellogg Pact and we will do that and again support the Brazilian proposal and urge its acceptance.
The Italian Ambassador inquired whether Brazil had advised any of the European Governments of her proposal and he was advised that the information of this Government indicates that the British and Italian Ministers in Lima had already supported the Brazilian proposal so that it was presumed their Governments had been advised regarding it. He was also told that possibly France also had taken the same action.
The French Ambassador inquired regarding the scope of the Secretary’s note to Peru—whether it would be limited merely to a reference to the Kellogg Pact and to the Brazilian proposal—and the Secretary said that the note would also review the events in Leticia since September 1, as set forth in the exchange of telegrams between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Colombia and Peru on the eleventh and fourteenth instant.51
[A notation at the bottom of the page reads:]
“While the foregoing accords with my recollection as to the ultimate facts stated and agreed upon, the matter was presented much less abruptly and forcibly than would appear from this. First of all the facts as presented in the Colombian-Peruvian correspondence was brought out gradually and discussed by question and answer in reference to the obligations of the Kellogg Pact, and then the conclusions were gradually summed up with the apparent concurrence of every one present, even the Japanese Ambassador made no dissent and several times nodded his head. The British Ambassador seemed to have considerable antecedent acquaintance with the situation.
H[enry] L. S[timson]”
- Sir Ronald Lindsay, M. Paul Claudel, Signor Augusto Rosso, Herr Friedrich W. von Prittwitz und Gaffron, and Mr. Katsuji Debuchi.↩
- Private residence of Secretary of State Stimson, 3000 Cathedral Avenue, Washington, D. C.↩
- For texts of the telegrams exchanged on the 11th and 14th, see League of Nations, Official Journal, April 1933, pp. 609 and 611.↩