File No. 710.11/374

The Salvadoran Chargé ( Reyes Guerra) to the Secretary of State

[Translation]

Most Excellent Sir: In compliance with instructions from my Government I have the honor to forward herewith to your excellency an autographed letter of the President of Salvador to His Excellency Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of North America, and beg your excellency to be so good as to forward it to its high destination.

I enclose an office copy of the said letter for your excellency’s perusal and thank you in advance [etc.]

Antonio Reyes Guerra
[Enclosure—Translation]

President Meléndez to President Wilson

Most Excellent Sir: The Central American press has just published the telegram from Washington to the Legations of the United States giving the text of your open-hearted and patriotic speech to the Mexican newspaper writers and publishers who recently visited the great Republic whose destinies you so wisely guide. And I can not resist the desire of sending you this letter which will bring you my most fervent congratulations offered in my private capacity and in that of ruler of the Salvadoran people on the abundance of doctrine encompassed in that notable piece of oratory in which with truly apostolic eloquence you have shown the way to that political harmony that is to cement the peace and future welfare of the American nations.

From the height of your labors for the good of your people and of all mankind you have poured a limpid stream of sentiments and principles which washes out every speck of misconception or mistrust as to the attitude of the United States in her relations with Latin American. And in this sense, Most Excellent Sir, you have accomplished the most transcendental and patriotic achievement, because dispelling mistrust and doubt in the interpretation of the rights of the peoples is promoting in the most effective way their harmony and the stability of their peaceful intercourse so that they may more easily realize their destinies.

“Peace,” you have said, “can come only by trust. As long as there is suspicion there is going to be misunderstanding. As long as there is misunderstanding there is going to be trouble.” This is a great truth of which every day has brought the most distressing confirmation, and your words, marked by simple honesty and sincerity, having instilled trust into the heart of America, [Page 598] it is but justice to look upon you as a true apostle of peace and a broadminded statesman in whose judgment those others who also long for the firm maintenance of international concord must have faith.

As the ruler of the Salvadoran people, as a citizen of Latin America, I wish to express to you my firm adhesion to the ideas of justice and sentiments of fraternity with which your speech to the Mexican journalists is replete.

In expounding the Monroe doctrine you have dispelled prejudices and unfavorable conjectures that have for many years hampered the full blossoming and propagation of principles of true cordiality which must, for the common good, exist between the United States and the other Republics of the American Continent.

Your great conception of an international convention that would guarantee the political independence and territorial integrity of the nations of this hemisphere carries the highest purpose that has struck the chords of American public law from the days of Washington to our time. You would indeed be the great paladin of law and liberty in America if you would follow up your momentous initiative which without a doubt will receive the support of the greatest sympathy and best will of all the statesmen and rulers of our continent who, like you, Excellent Sir, are convinced that conventions of that nature are the foundation upon which to build the future life of nations, after the present war.

I wish to improve this opportunity to say, in the name of my people and of the Government over which I preside, that all the motives of our political life, with special regard to the maintenance of our international relations, have sprung from the purest sentiments of justice and cordiality, from an endeavor to uphold, within the forms of self-respect our national entity so as to be always in position to take an able and conscientious part in any civilized evolution which tends to bring closer union and prosperity of the American States.

In this aspect it is proper to hold forth our enthusiastic approval of the ideas and purposes manifested by Your Excellency in your recent speech; and I believe I am in accord with the opinion and sentiment of the other peoples and Governments of Latin America when I make the prediction that all would sincerely rejoice in the consummation of the magnificent plan of the international convention conceived in a moment of lofty and generous inspirations by the serene statesman, the upright man who guides the mightiest of the American democracies with such wisdom and prudence.

Permit me to tender to you, Most Excellent Sir, in the name of my fellow citizens and in my own, the strongest assurances of adhesion to your sound policy of mutual respect and cordiality, free of suspicion, inaugurated by your recent interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine and by the upright attitude you have set for your Government in its relations with the other peoples of the great family of our continent.

Count upon our determined cooperation in bringing to a tangible form your noble thought of securing by reciprocal trust and indissoluble bonds of law the peace of the nations; and be assured that if after the present world conflict the American States succeed in fortifying their future life on the strength of the international convention brought to view in the splendor of your ideals of justice, you will deserve to be regarded as a paladin of mankind and to have your name linked with that of George Washington in the respect of the world and the glorious verdict of history.

Accept, Most Excellent Sir, the assurances of my highest and most distinguished consideration.

C. Meléndez