Minister Fox to the Secretary of State.
Quito, July 27, 1910.
President of Ecuador invited minister for foreign affairs of Ecuador, Chilean minister, Brazilian minister, and myself to a conference this afternoon. President of Ecuador reviewed the situation historically [Page 491] since 1900, when he said that he first learned that the arbitration award was certain to be against Ecuador. He said that in 1901 Ecuador proposed to submit the question to the Argentine Republic, Peru not accepting. President of Ecuador said that this showed that he was not against arbitration, but on the contrary in favor of it; that Ecuador, however, never could submit to a decision by the King of Spain under all the circumstances. He closed saying that the Brazilian minister and I would receive a note transmitting a memorandum of proposed modification of the protocol which he begged us to transmit, and he sincerely hoped that the mediating powers would give it favorable consideration. This memorandum will be transmitted by cable to the department to-morrow.