File No. 710.11/374
I enclose an office copy of the said letter for your excellency’s perusal
and thank you in advance [etc.]
[Enclosure—Translation]
President Meléndez to President Wilson
San Salvador,
July 4, 1918.
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,
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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.
