711.7112Anti-War/10
The Rumanian Chargé (Sturdza) to the Acting Secretary of State
Sir: In conformity with telegraphic instructions I have the honor of transmitting to Your Excellency the following note received from the Royal Government:38
“I had the honor to receive on August 27th a note in which the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States advises the Royal Government that the treaty of renunciation of war has been signed at Paris by the representatives of the governments of Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States of America.
“By the same note the Royal Government is advised as to the means of adhesion to the treaty by the states which have not taken part in the signature at Paris.
[Page 177]“It is shown with absolute clearness by the negotiations preliminary to the signature of the treaty as well as by the changes which have been made in the preamble with respect to its original text and the explanations contained in the note under date of June 23, 1928, of the Government of the United States addressed to the governments invited to sign the treaty, that this treaty in no respect modifies the provisions of the covenant of the League of Nations. Consequently, the rights and obligations derived from the new treaty constitute neither an extension nor a reduction of the rights and obligations derived from the covenant of the League of Nations, which remain as they are. It also appears that the new treaty does not conflict with the neutrality treaties nor, in general, with the engagements contained in existing treaties which the Royal Government has contracted up to the present. It also follows from the note of the Government of the United States of June 23rd39 and the above-mentioned acts and negotiations that any violation of the multilateral treaty by one of the contracting parties ipso facto releases the other powers signatory to the treaty from their obligations toward the power which has violated the engagements of the same treaty. It follows moreover that the right of defense is in no way affected or restricted by the engagements of the new treaty and that each power is entirely free to defend itself at will and according to its necessities against an attack or a foreign invasion.
“Thus defined, whether in the text of its preamble, or the statements in the note of the Government of the United States of June 23, 1928, or in the observations made preliminary to signature by the various governments taking part in the negotiations, especially by that of the French Republic, the object of the new treaty is to consolidate and maintain the relations of peace and peaceful and friendly cooperation under the contractual conditions in which they are now established between the nations concerned.
“In the light of the explanations given above and which, while confirming the explanations given by the signatory powers, define the terms of the consent and signature of Rumania, at the moment when she is invited to give them, the Royal Government is happy to be able to reply in the affirmative to the invitation given it to adhere to the treaty signed at Paris August 27, 1928.
“The Royal Government considers that it is its duty to render homage to the noble initiative of the United States for the purpose of prohibiting war as an instrument of national policy with the object of satisfying selfish interests, as well as to the efforts of all the states, thanks to the valuable support of which this initiative has been crowned with success. Rumania, which aspires only to labor in peace, sees in the signature of the new treaty one of the most important events in the progress of the world toward universal concord.
Argetoianu.”
Concluding, I have the honor to communicate to Your Excellency that I am instructed to adhere immediately to the pact to which the note of my Government refers.
[Page 178]I am informed by the Royal Government that my full powers have been communicated to the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States in Bucharest. This procedure was adopted as a matter of urgency and expediency and the text will arrive by mail.
I beg [etc.]