Thomas O. Osborn to By the President: Wm. M. Evarts, November 23, 1881

No. 86. Mr. Osborn to Mr. Evarts.

Sir: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a circular note addressed by this government to the diplomatic representatives in Santiago, explanatory of Chili’s purposes in the war in which she is engaged, as also an English translation thereof.

The government evidently fears that the discussion in the Aria conference may have left an impression that in exacting Tarapacá as a condition for peace, Chili has proclaimed the right of conquest, and the minister’s note seems to be directed mainly to the removal of any such belief. It is insisted, as you will observe, that the territory mentioned was demanded as indemnity for damages sustained by Chili because of the war-damages which, it is claimed, Peru is powerless to liquidate in any other way.

The minister also touches upon the proposition made by the allies in the conference to submit the questions in dispute to the arbitration of the United States, justifying the action of his government upon the ground that the results of the war have given to Chili certain rights which cannot well be determined in the manner proposed. As I have heretofore written to you, my judgment is that the proposition for arbitration was not made with the expectation that it would be seriously entertained. Had the reverse been true, I assume that it would have been submitted in some practicable form, rather than in the intangible shape in which we find it.

I have, &c.,