ernment of the United States knows that when the flames of war were kindled the Persian Government declared its neutrality and sought to maintain it. "It was a matter of real distress to the Imperial Government to see the conflagration spread over the important parts of its territory, which, because of her slight powers of resistance, has become almost unbearable and has inflicted upon Persia moral and material prejudice and losses. "The Persian Government feels sure that the advantages and blessings of peace can be attained only after measures have been taken to guarantee neutral powers in the future against recurrence of such aggressions. "The interest and concern shown by the President to adopt measures to secure the peace of the world in the future and improve the condition of neutral powers and protect weak nations against the encroachments of more powerful nations inspire the Persian nation with the confidence that all neutral states will hasten to take advantage of this declaration, and it hopes they will be admitted to take their part in the negotiations and ultimate arrangements of the world peace. In this way they will be in position to uphold their political independence and the inviolability of their rights and privileges. "The Government notes with pleasure the President's desire to concur and his determination to cooperate in the achievement of this object and expresses its gratitude for his pledge of support to this end." The note is signed by the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister. File No. 763.72119/467. Minister Mc Millin to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, Lima, January 20, 1917. SIR: Referring to Department's circular cablegrams of December 18 and 20 regarding peace; my despatch of December 26, 1916, and my telegram of January 19,1 4 p. m., I have the honor to report: That, as indicated in my despatch of December 26, 1916, I delivered Department's circular cablegram of December 18 to the Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs. As reported in my cable of January 19, 4 p. m., I received from the Peruvian Minister for Foreign Affairs the reply of the Peruvian Government to the peace proposition embraced in Department's circular telegram of December 18. I send herewith a literal copy in Spanish and also the English translation thereof. I have, etc., BENTON MCMILLIN. [Inclosure Translation.] No. 3.] Lima, January 16, 1917. MR. MINISTER: It has been an honor to me to receive Your Excellency's note of December 20, last, in which, by instructions of your Government, Your Excellency was pleased to transmit to me a copy of the communication that the Honorable Secretary of State, in the name of the President of the United States, has sent to the 1 Not printed. nations which form the Entente in the European War, insinuating to them that an immediate opportunity be sought for all the belligerent countries to make known their ideas on the condition under which an end can be put to the War and a satisfactory guarantee be reached against the renewal of it or against the breaking out of new wars in the future; a communication which is substantially like that directed to the Central Powers, accepting the modifications expressed in the same note of Your Excellency. I have read with the greatest care and have made known to the President of the Republic the important communication of the Honorable Mr. Lansing, which reveals at first sight the noble motive that has inspired it. My Government, on being acquainted with it, makes the most sincere wishes that the initiative of President Wilson may produce the results sought with regard to the reestablishment of peace, and holds the idea of the American Government and people on the necessity of procuring, if possible, the future tranquillity of the world and is firm in the interest manifested for the means that urgently must be adopted to free the smallest and weakest nations from the danger of injustice and violence to which they are exposed. The moment having arrived which the Government of the United States considers opportune to give practical form to those very noble purposes, which after reestablishing normal conditions will tend toward the reign of Peace by Justice, Peru will lend to them her most active sympathy, consistent with its traditions and with the sound doctrines to whose service she has always put her most devoted efforts. May Your Excellency deign to transmit to your Government the gratefulness of mine for the very valuable information which it has been pleased to give; and accept, etc., E. DE LA RIva Aguero. PROPOSALS OF THE DE FACTO GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO FOR TERMINATING THE EUROPEAN WAR. File No. 763.72119/468. Mr. Ramón P. De Negri to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] MEXICAN EMBASSY, Washington, February 12, 1917. MR. SECRETARY: I have the honor to transcribe to your excellency the following note, which the Secretary of Foreign Relations of my country has been pleased to write to me: "QUERÉTARO, February 11, 1917. "SEÑOR RAMÓN P. DE NEGRI, Washington, D. C.: Please transcribe to the most excellent the minister of foreign relations of that country the following note: 666 'By direction of Citizen Venustiano Carranza, First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army, in charge of the executive power of the Mexican Nation, I have the honor of addressing to your excellency the following note, which the above-named high mandatory has seen fit to send to the neutral countries: "It is more than two years since the most gigantic armed conflict recorded in history broke out in the old continent, sowing death, desolation, and destitution in the belligerent nations. The tragic contest has deeply wounded the sentiments of humanity of all the peoples that are not engaged in the struggle, and their standing unmoved before so great a disaster would be contrary to both justice and humaneness. A deep-seated sentiment of human solidarity then constrains the Mexican Government to tender its modest cooperation in endeavoring to bring the strife to an end. On the other hand, the conflagration in Europe has reached such proportions and the situation of the countries which remained neutral has grown more and more trying, bringing them, as it has, to the verge of being involved in that war; and several nations which at the outset took no part in the conflict have found themselves irresistibly drawn into it. "Those countries which at present are still preserving their neutrality in the world and truly desire to keep out of the conflict must combine their efforts toward bringing about the earliest possible termination of the European war, or at least so circumscribing it as to remove the possibility of further complications and thus bring into sight an early ending. "The present European conflict affects the whole world, like a great conflagration, a severe plague which ought to have been isolated and confined some time ago so as to shorten its life and prevent its spreading. Far from doing this, the trade of all the neutral countries in the world, and that of America in particular, bears a heavy responsibility before history, because all the neutral nations some more, some less-have lent their quota of money, provisions, ammunition, or fuel, and in this way have kept up and prolonged the great conflagration. |