File No. 723.2515/110.
The American Ambassador to Brazil to the Secretary of State.
Petropolis, March 17, 1910.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Baron do Rio Branco, informs me that on suggestion of Peru, but without disclosing that fact, he will telegraph to-day to the Brazilian Legation, Santiago, to propose to Chile to agree with the Government of Peru to submit the Tacna-Arica question to the United States, the Brazilian Republic and the Argentine Republic, for them to decide summarily upon documentary evidence, either by awarding the territory to one of the two countries or by dividing it between the two or by establishing it as an independent sovereignty guaranteed by the three disinterested States.
Rio Branco personally favors ending the dispute by giving Tacna to Peru and Arica to Chile.