710.H/88

The Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Concha) to the Secretary of State
[Translation]
No. 6/12

Mr. Secretary of State: The city of Lima having been designated in December 1933 as the seat of the VIII International Conference of American States, and the program of its sessions having been approved on June first of this year, I have the honor to invite Your Excellency’s Government to have representation in the event which will be inaugurated in this capital on December 9th next.

The grave problems which are today agitating the world and compromising its security, certainly require that the nations of America, united by a common ideal, strengthen their traditional ties, and endeavor to create new bonds of solidarity which should serve to protect [Page 9] them from the danger of war among themselves and to guard them from any threat of propagation on their soil of extracontinental disputes.

To this end the Buenos Aires Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace promulgated principles and norms of international policy which the public law of the states is progressively incorporating in the body of its legislation and which tend to give a unique and effective structure to the relations between the countries of this hemisphere.

The vigorous rhythm of our American life, however, growing ever more intense and richer in content, requires that the progress made in the sense of organization of peace be affirmed by the creation of new instruments of general utility, and that those old ideals which express our unshakable adherence to the postulates of justice be renewed.

It is for this reason that the agenda of the VIII International Conference of American States should contemplate, together with the necessity of guaranteeing the maintenance of a peaceful continental neighborly life, the study of highly important questions of a political, juridical and economic character which the present hour poses in urgent terms, perhaps in terms of anguish. The mere enumeration of the topics which are to be discussed at Lima and which are already within Your Excellency’s purview, would suffice to give importance to the December assembly, [even]13 if its real and highest significance were not to be sought in the very fact of the meeting of authentic outstanding personages from the whole continent, assembled to orientate, on the occasion of this new fraternal summons, their aspirations of cordial understanding.

We have also a lofty duty to fulfill toward all the men and all the peoples who live beyond our common frontiers. Representing a continent which views the future free from perturbing hatreds and antagonisms and apart from any spirit of harmful emulation, to display it in the plenitude of its moral unity is to offer to others a stimulus of suggestive idealism. When the American idea of an international society based on respect for independent and equal sovereignties and devoted to noble impulses of fraternity reaches all souls, we shall have reason to hope for better days for humanity.

It would be useless to undertake to emphasize to Your Excellency’s enlightened judgment how important it is for the Government of the United States of America to be duly represented at the Lima Conference. Peru knows how valuable the contribution which the plenipotentiaries of your friendly nation will make to the spirit of America is bound to be, and promises Your Excellency, through me, its sincerest and firmest collaboration, feeling certain that if the Peruvian [Page 10] Government cannot add anything to the lustre of the assembly, it will, in return be able, fully relying on the high endowments of its distinguished guests, to reflect the purity of its American sentiments and the sincerity of its eagerness to repay the signal honor it receives, by entertaining its eminent guests in an atmosphere of genuine and cordial hospitality.

I present to you, Mr. Secretary of State, the assurances of my very high and distinguished consideration.

Carlos Concha
  1. Brackets appear in the file translation.