The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Sherrill.1
Washington, July 13, 1910.
Immediately repeat also to the embassy at Petropolis. After consultation with the chargé d’affaires of the Government to which you [Page 484] are accredited I quote for your appropriate action the following telegram just dispatched to the legation at Santiago:
At the suggestion of the Government of Brazil, concurred in by the Government of the Argentine Republic, Washington having been chosen for the present stage of the mediation negotiations, the chargé d’affaires of the Argentine Republic and of Brazil having similar instructions will to-morrow morning join the Acting Secretary of State in formally presenting to the ministers of Ecuador and Peru the protocol in three languages and in strongly urging its signature and solemn adoption by Peru and Ecuador.
Acting in unison with your Brazilian and Argentine colleagues, who will doubtless have corresponding authority, you will immediately make earnest representations to the Government of Chile in the following sense:
Simultaneously with the inception of the present mediation, the Government of the United States received with the greatest gratification the assurances of the cooperation of Chile which was so fruitful of good results in hastening the conscientious compliance of Ecuador with the condition relating to the withdrawal of forces, etc. In his message to Congress his Excellency the President of Chile again emphasized the friendly and effective support that Chile is in position to give to a project to which from the first it has been a moral party. On the 9th instant the Government of Chile renewed through the Chilean legation at Washington the reiterated pledge of its good will and influence on Ecuador toward the success of the mediation. Placing the highest value upon the promised cooperation, the Government of the United States now feels that the moment has arrived when it can be most successfully applied through instructions to the Chilean legation at Quito to urge upon Ecuador the adoption of the protocol and the cessation of further fruitless and irritating discussion.
You will at the same time hand a copy of the protocol to the minister for foreign affairs.
The foregoing has likewise been communicated to the legations at Lima and Quito for their information, together with the following instruction:
The draft protocol to be presented here to-morrow morning will doubtless be referred to their Governments by telegraph by the ministers of Peru and Ecuador. After consultation with your Argentine and Brazilian colleagues, who, doubtless, have the same instructions, you will unite with them in impressing most earnestly upon the Government to which you are accredited the united desire of the mediating powers that this protocol be adopted at the earliest possible date in order that there may be an end to the present strained relations and that the way may be prepared for the awaiting of eventualities by the people of both countries in an atmosphere of friendliness, calm, and confidence.
- Mutatis mutandis to American legations at Lima and Quito.↩