File No. 834.032/8

The Chargé in Paraguay ( Sussdorff) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

The Paraguayan Congress convened today for the regular session of 1918. The President of the Republic read his message which contains [Page 681] the following very important statement regarding Paraguay’s foreign relations:

During the past year some of the nations of America have declared the existence of a state of war with Germany; others have broken off diplomatic relations with that Empire. This participation [gives] the conflict a new character in so far as we are concerned. There exists between the peoples and Governments of the continent an effective solidarity confirmed in recent years by international acts never before now realized in the reciprocal relations of so large a number of sovereign states. This solidarity, which Paraguay accepts in its entirety and desires to see strengthened in the future, creates identical interests of a high political order. Thus the fortune of the peoples who have seen the necessity of intervening in the contest is not a matter of indifference to those who remain apart from it: there is no divergence between the American countries when it is a question of events which may profoundly alter the international status of the world.

Inspired by this thought, the Paraguayan Government has felt from the very beginning, in view of the imminent intervention of America, that a continental conference ought to be convoked in order to determine upon a line of conduct which should be uniform and if possible identical. It is to be regretted that under circumstances which are so grave for the future of America, this spirit of fraternity and cooperation could not be manifested in a collective declaration of purpose, an expression of the sentiments and aspirations of the new world. But in spite of this, the tradition of our peoples, the free institutions which govern them and the moral criterion which constitutes their conception of international [relations] will always cause them to feel united by the call of democracy and justice. The principles of the Americas have been formulated by the President of the United States of America. The assurance of peace and the guarantee of the moral and material progress of the community of nations depend upon the definite triumph of those ideals.

Sussdorff