724.3415/3512
The Ambassador in Peru (Bearing) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received January 25.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that during Secretary Hull’s visit in Lima, the Bolivian Minister approached me at the reception at the Embassy to ask that I would say to the Secretary that Bolivia was prepared to agree to prolonging the armistice between Bolivia and Paraguay and to accept the arbitration formula proposed by the League and carry the Chaco dispute to the Hague. I told the Minister I would be glad to tell the Secretary what he had said and to make an opportunity for him to speak to the Secretary.
This opportunity occurred after dinner at the Palace on the night of the eleventh. I introduced the Bolivian Minister to the Secretary and the Bolivian Minister repeated what he had said to me in the afternoon. The Secretary replied that he was aware that the Paraguayan Government had desired something of the same sort itself, but that certain Generals and Colonels had overridden wiser counsels out of a fear of losing the military advantages that Paraguay had obtained, and had pitched the two countries back into war. The Secretary indicated the importance of the role of Argentina in the matter and told the Bolivian Minister that he had used all the influence he could towards getting Argentina to exercise good counsel and restraint.
The Secretary told the Bolivian Minister pointedly, however, that although he intended to continue to use every effort he could to promote peace between Bolivia and Paraguay, his efforts could only be effective in case he continued to retain the confidence of both Paraguay and Bolivia, thus indicating that what he would do could be in no partisan sense but that it would be as much in the interests of one country as in the other, and that what he had said was not intended to justify Bolivia as against Paraguay, but to support a real effort at peace.
The Bolivian Minister expressed himself as being immensely gratified by what the Secretary said and has since again expressed his gratification to me, saying, as he had said to the Secretary, that Bolivia regards the Secretary as its great hope for a just settlement of the dispute.
Respectfully yours,