611.2231/324
The Minister in Ecuador (Long) to
the Secretary of State
No. 165
Quito, August 23, 1938.
[Received August
30.]
Sir: With reference to my telegram No. 111 of
August 23, 11 a.m., 1938,26 regarding the second clause of Article XVI of the
Commercial Agreement between the United States and Ecuador, I have the
honor to transmit herewith certified copies of note No. 75–DC of August
19, 1938 and note No. 77–DC of August 20, 1938, addressed to me by Dr.
J. Tobar Donoso, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, regarding
neutrality.
Translations of these notes are also enclosed for the Department’s
information.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure 1—Translation]
The Ecuadoran Minister for Foreign Afairs
(Tobar
Donoso) to the American
Minister (Long)
No. 75–DC
Quito, August 19, 1938.
Mr. Minister: I have had the honor of
receiving Your Excellency’s note No. 40, wherein you were good
enough to inform me of the
[Page 535]
manner in which Your Excellency interprets the second paragraph of
Article XVI of the Treaty of Commerce concluded on the sixth instant
by the Governments of the United States and Ecuador, and in which
you enquire if the view of the latter coincides with that of Your
Excellency.
In reply I am pleased to inform Your Excellency that I believe that
the paragraph referred to contains nothing that may be interpreted
as opposed to the adoption or application by either of the High
Contracting Parties of measures relative to neutrality.
I avail myself [etc.]
[Enclosure 2—Translation]
The Ecuadoran Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Tobar
Donoso) to the American
Minister (Long)
No. 77–DC
Quito, August 20, 1938.
Mr. Minister: With reference to Your
Excellency’s note No. 40, regarding the second paragraph of Article
16 of the Commercial Treaty, recently signed between Ecuador and the
United States of America, and to my number 75–DC, dated yesterday, I
have the honor to bring the following points to Your Excellency’s
attention:
I believe it necessary to declare that my country adheres in this
matter of neutrality to the new concepts of International Law, which
demand differential treatment of the parties in conflict according
to the justice of their cause; and that it will respect the
obligations which to this end are derived from the signature of the
Pact of the League of Nations.
I am sure that Your Excellency will share with me the opinion that
the great Republic, worthily represented by Your Excellency, will
also maintain in due course, those new concepts. As Nicholas Murray
Butler said in 1917, “there can be no neutrality in a war of
aggression. It is necessary that we take our place by the side of
the nation which carries out its word; support cannot be given a
State which through pride, ambition, ill will, or any other reason
breaks its promise and turns loose on us a storm such as that of
1914.”
The statements of President Hoover in 1930 confirm that doctrine
which is so necessary for international peace.
I avail myself [etc.]
[For text of the reciprocal trade agreement between the United
States and Ecuador, signed August 6, 1938, see Executive
Agreement Series No. 133, or 53 Stat. 1951.]
