Minister Fox to the
Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Quito, July 9,
1910.
No. 679.]Sir: I have the honor, respectfully referring
to my cablegram of July 2, to inclose herewith copies of notes, with
translations, exchanged between this legation and the minister of
foreign relations, with reference to the demobilization of troops in
Ecuador and Peru; also copy of the memorandum of a convention which
Ecuador would be willing to sign with Peru in the premises.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Minister Fox to
the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
American Legation,
Quito, June 30,
1910.
No. 200.]Mr. Minister: I have the honor to inform
your excellency that I learn this evening, by cable, from my
colleague, Mr. Combs, American minister in Lima, that the minister
for foreign affairs of Peru has informed him that nearly 4,000
Peruvian troops had been
[Page 482]
mustered out, and that the demobilization would continue. The
minister for foreign affairs also stated that the disarmament is
being well received by the peopleof Peru.
Minister Combs also advises me that the ministers of the Argentine
Republic and the United States of Brazil, in Lima, hold the opinion
that Peru is acting in good faith concerning the demobilization of
her forces.
I seize this opportunity to renew, etc.,
[Enclosure
2.—Translation.]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Minister Fox.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs,
Quito, July 2, 1910.
No. 30.]Excellency: I have had the honor to receive
your excellency’s honored note of June 30, 8 p.m., in which you were
pleased to communicate to me that, according to the information
which his excellency Mr. Combs had received, 4,000 men had been
discharged in Lima, and that the discharging of the Peruvian
reserves would continue.
I have already had the satisfaction of stating to the mediating
powers in my note of June 201 last that the Government of Ecuador accepts with
pleasure the reduction of its army to the number provided for by law
for time of peace, but that it considers that it is indispensable
that Peru should also oblige herself, expressly and previously, to
reduce her forces to a peace footing within a fixed period of time
and under the moral guaranty of the mediators.
Consequently, I have received instructions from my Government to
insist that this requirement be fulfilled before proceeding with the
reduction of the Ecuadorian army.
It will not be out of place to state to your excellency that my
Government, without calling the attention to the fact and without
making any display to the mediating powers, has already discharged
many units of its army, but it is certain that these 10,000
volunteers, who have returned to their homes, at the first call, at
the first appearance of danger, will return to their barracks. All
Ecuadorians capable of bearing arms will hasten to gather and treble
or quadruple the army, justly and rightfully, if peace is not soon
assured, so that nothing would be gained for a nacific solution
between Ecuador and Peru by the mere discharging of their armies, if
this act is not inspired by the loyal and sincere desire to arrive
at a friendly agreement. And the refusal of Peru to sign the
covenant, which I have had previously the honor to propose, for the
reduction of our forces will be the most patent proof that she does
not seek for concord but desires the breaking up of the
mediation.
In this manner I answer your excellency’s honored communication and
seize, etc.
[Inclosure
3—Translation.]
memorandum from the foreign
office.
The minister for foreign affairs sends his compliments to the
American minister and has the pleasure to send him, under the same
cover, the memorandum for the making of the protocol previous to the
discharging of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian forces.
José Peralta seizes this opportunity to renew to his excellency
Williams C. Fox the assurances of his most distinguished
consideration.
[Subinclosure]
protocol.2
The protocol, previous to the discharging of the Ecuadorian and
Peruvian forces, should be signed on the same day in Quito and in
Lima in the following form:
The Governments of Ecuador and Peru, being animated with sentiments
of concord and conciliation, have agreed to remove the possibility
of an armed conflict in order to arrive at a decorous and equitable
agreement for both parties; and considering that the reduction of
their respective armies is an efficacious means of obtaining
[Page 483]
the noble end indicated,
the same which the mediating powers pursue, with such benevolence
and high-minded views, agree:
- Article 1. Both Governments
covenant to discharge their forces in the positive period of
fifteen days, counted from this date; reducing them to the
footing which they had on December 31, 1909.
- Art. 2. Both Governments invoke
the moral guaranty of the mediating powers for the exact
fulfillment of this compact.
