File No. 763.72111/6772
The Ecuadoran Legation to the Department of State
[Received August 20, 1917.]
On the 10th of August last the Congress of Ecuador inaugurated its annual ordinary sessions. The President of the Republic, Doctor Baquerizo Moreno, read personally his message. Regarding the attitude of Ecuador on the present war he said the following, received here by cable:
Our neutrality continues, not without us [sic] having attempted a more ingenuous and frank understanding with all the nations of the American Continent.
We have declared our sympathy, our faith, as often as requested by justice, for the great democratic principles which are the base and foundation of these nationalities. Therefore America will find us always with her.
Further on, speaking of the intervention of some of the American Republics in the war, he said:
The attitude of Ecuador, serene, friendly, within the bounds of the neutrality which we had adopted, has been equal to that of Colombia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, etc.
He goes on saying:
In maintaining neutrality, we shall not fail to find ourselves forever, preferably, side by side with the requirements of our democratic duties, of our republican duties, and of our duties of sons of America.
At the end of his speech, he recalls that the Chancellery of Ecuador insinuated the idea of a congress of neutrals, which met [Page 318] with the benevolent feelings of the American countries, and that hence Ecuador accepted the invitation of Argentina with the same object.