No. 51. Yesterday I returned the following answer to the note of
the Chargé d’Affaires of Brazil:
Mr. Chargé d’Affaires: I have had the honor to receive
your polite note dated the 4th instant, by which, in the
name of His Excellency the President of Brazil, you are
pleased to apprize Chile that the Brazilian Republic has
resolved to revoke, in the present state of belligerency
between the United States of America and Germany, the
decree which fixed its rules of neutrality in the
European war.
In reply I take pleasure in saying to you that Chile,
bound to Brazil of old by the closest ties of fraternal
cordiality, has watched with the keenest interest in
these difficult times the developments in its foreign
policy brought about by the efforts made in the present
European conflagration to impose restrictions on the
maritime sovereignty of the neutral powers.
My Government understands that the measures adopted by
Brazil under these circumstances are not prompted by
warlike ambitions but by the lofty spirit of defense of,
and regard for, its rights and in compliance with the
declarations on the same subject, which I have already
had occasion to formulate in common with the other
Latin-American nations.
The identity of juridical conceptions and the fitness of
a policy of harmony on the American Continent are
factors which constrain the Government and public
opinion of Chile to lament, now more than ever, the
cause from which those events have sprung.
You further say that the policy now pursued by Brazil is
traditional, has precedents in the old regime, and has
always been observed when the interests of sister and
friendly nations of this continent were affected.
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My country is particularly sensible of, and gratified by,
that recollection.
Your communication ends with an honorable declaration of
principles making it of record that, whatever may
happen, the Government of your Republic will not swerve
from the duties flowing from its conscience of a free
people and will maintain the guaranties due to all
rights, public and private.
These lofty views will meet with the unanimous applause
of all the peoples for whom juridical culture
constitutes one of the most valued conquests of
civilization.
I renew to you [etc.]
