Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

with one another in the sense of your Holiness' prore could blossom forth from them.

could attain complete freedom of movement on the high terial burdens could be taken from them and new sources >pened to them.

a spirit of moderation and conciliation, we see in the your Holiness a suitable basis for initiating negotiations › preparing a peace, just to all and lasting, and we earnestly ent enemies may be animated by the same ideas. In this ; that the Almighty may bless the work of peace begun by

38.

H

FIR

ORDER OF THE URUGUAYAN GOVERNMENT REGARDING THE TREATMENT OF AMERICAN NATIONS AT WAR1

tering that, in various communications, the Government of has proclaimed the principle of American solidarity as the of its international policy, understanding that the grievance he rights of one country of the continent would be considered as nce by all and provoke them to uniform and common reaction; that, in the hope of seeing an agreement in this respect realized n the nations of America which may make the practical and effipplication of such ideals possible, the Government has adopted hful attitude with reference to its action, although it has signified h case its sympathy with the continental nations which have themselves obliged to abandon their neutrality. Considering that ong as such an agreement is not made, Uruguay, without acting trary to its sentiments and convictions, could not treat the American ions, which in defense of their own rights find themselves compromised an intercontinental war, as belligerents; and considering that this iterion is shared by the honorable Senate, the President of the Republic, t a general Cabinet meeting, decrees: First, to order that no American country, which in defense of its own rights should find itself in a state of war with nations of other continents, will be treated as belligerents; second, that it is ordered that existing decrees which may be in opposition to this resolution are to remain without fulfillment; third, let it be communicated, published, and so forth.

(Signed)

VIERA, President.

1 Official Bulletin, Washington, June 20, 1917.

We gave expression to this desire in a speech from the throne delivered at the opening of the Austrian Reichstag, thereby showing that we are striving after a peace that shall free the future life of the nation from rancor and a thirst for revenge and that shall secure them for generations to come from the employment of armed forces.

Our joint government has in the meantime not failed in repeated and emphatic declarations, which could be heard by all the world, to give expression to our own will and that of the Austro-Hungarian peoples to prepare an end to bloodshed by a peace such as your Holiness has in mind. Happy in the thought that our desires from the first were directed toward the same object which your Holiness to-day characterizes as one we should strive for, we have taken into close consideration the concrete and practical suggestions of your Holiness and have come to the following conclusions:

With deep-rooted conviction we agree to the leading idea of your Holiness that the future arrangement of the world must be based on the elimination of armed forces and on the moral force of right and on the rule of international justice and legality.

We, too, are imbued with the hope that a strengthening of the sense of right would morally regenerate humanity. We support, therefore, your Holiness' view that the negotiations between the belligerents should and could lead to an understanding by which, with the creation of appropriate guarantees, armaments on land and sea and in the air might be reduced simultaneously, reciprocally and gradually to a fixed limit, and whereby the high seas, which rightly belong to all the nations of the earth, may be freed from domination or paramountcy, and be opened equally for the use of all.

Fully conscious of the importance of the promotion of peace on the method proposed by your Holiness, namely, to submit international disputes to compulsory arbitration, we are also prepared to enter into negotiations regarding this proposal.

If, as we most heartily desire, agreements should be arrived at between the belligerents which would realize this sublime idea and thereby give security to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy for its unhampered future development, it can then not be difficult to find a satisfactory solution of the other questions which still remain to be settled between the belligerents in a spirit of justice and of a reasonable consideration of the conditions for existence of both parties.

If the nations of the earth were to enter, with a desire for peace,

into negotiations with one another in the sense of your Holiness' proposals, then peace could blossom forth from them.

The nations could attain complete freedom of movement on the high seas, heavy material burdens could be taken from them and new sources of prosperity opened to them.

Guided by a spirit of moderation and conciliation, we see in the proposals of your Holiness a suitable basis for initiating negotiations with a view to preparing a peace, just to all and lasting, and we earnestly hope our present enemies may be animated by the same ideas. In this spirit we beg that the Almighty may bless the work of peace begun by your Holiness.

EXECUTIVE ORDER OF THE URUGUAYAN GOVERNMENT REGARDING THE TREATMENT OF AMERICAN NATIONS AT WAR1

Considering that, in various communications, the Government of Uruguay has proclaimed the principle of American solidarity as the criterion of its international policy, understanding that the grievance against the rights of one country of the continent would be considered as a grievance by all and provoke them to uniform and common reaction; second, that, in the hope of seeing an agreement in this respect realized between the nations of America which may make the practical and efficient application of such ideals possible, the Government has adopted a watchful attitude with reference to its action, although it has signified in each case its sympathy with the continental nations which have seen themselves obliged to abandon their neutrality. Considering that as long as such an agreement is not made, Uruguay, without acting contrary to its sentiments and convictions, could not treat the American nations, which in defense of their own rights find themselves compromised in an intercontinental war, as belligerents; and considering that this criterion is shared by the honorable Senate, the President of the Republic, at a general Cabinet meeting, decrees: First, to order that no American country, which in defense of its own rights should find itself in a state of war with nations of other continents, will be treated as belligerents; second, that it is ordered that existing decrees which may be in opposition to this resolution are to remain without fulfillment; third, let it be communicated, published, and so forth.

(Signed)

VIERA, President.

1 Official Bulletin, Washington, June 20, 1917.

INDEX

« AnteriorContinuar »