852.00/6314: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Uruguay (Dawson)
19. Your 34 of August 28, 3 p.m. You are requested to deliver the following note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs:47
“I am directed by my Government to state that it has given most careful consideration to Your Excellency’s communication of August 27 and recognizes in the proposal therein set forth the characteristic concern of the Uruguayan Government in the maintenance of high international standards and the pacific adjustment of all disputes, wherever they may arise, which threaten the good relations among nations. My Government fully appreciates that the heritage of many of the countries of this hemisphere gives them a particular concern in the tragic strife that has taken the toll of so many lives in Spain.
The Governments of twenty-seven European nations have for many months been cooperating through the Non-intervention Committee at London in an endeavor to prevent the internal conflict in Spain from involving the peace of Europe. While this Government has not participated in the work of this Committee, it has followed with sympathetic interest the efforts of these European nations to limit the effects of the Spanish civil strife. The Government of the United States has, moreover, in so far as such action might be consistent with its firm policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, always stood ready to support any constructive effort to promote and preserve world peace. The Non-Intervention Committee at London has not, however, as the result of its deliberations in which 27 [Page 386] European nations have participated, decided to recognize a state of belligerency in Spain.
Therefore, while fully recognizing the high motives which have prompted Your Excellency’s Government to take this initiative, and without in any way implying any judgment with respect to the merits of the proposal, my Government is confident that you will appreciate that the policy which it has consistently maintained since the beginning of the Spanish conflict would preclude it from associating itself with the action proposed by the Uruguayan Government.”
- By telegram No. 38, September 3, 8 p.m. the Minister in Uruguay informed the Department that the note was delivered at 7:45 p.m. (852.00/6360).↩