722.2315/1068: Telegram

The Chargé in Peru (Dreyfus) to the Secretary of State

33. President Benavides summoned me to the Palace at noon and informed me that he was taking a step in Washington today to relieve the impasse which has existed between the thesis supported by the Peruvian and Ecuadoran boundary delegations now in Washington. He stated that his purpose in calling me was that he wished to have conveyed to President Roosevelt the message that his proposal to submit the preliminary question (asunto previo) to the Hague Tribunal was being made merely to help along the negotiations. He wished me to stress the point that the step should not be considered in the least as possible lack of confidence in our President but on the contrary it was his idea that through this procedure the President would be left quite unhampered (incolume) to make the final decision in accordance with the protocol of 1924.

Dreyfus