740.00111 A.R./1055a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Panama ( Dawson )
59. The Department has been advised that on the evening of May 12 the Uruguayan Government telegraphed the President of Panama [Page 731] with regard to the invasion of Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg by Germany and invoked paragraphs 4 and 5 of the resolution entitled “Maintenance of International Activities in accordance with Christian Morality” adopted at Panama last October. The Uruguayan Government proposed a joint declaration by the American republics and asked that the contents of its telegram be transmitted to the other American governments, informing them that within 24 hours a draft text of the joint declaration would be forwarded.
The Department has informed the Uruguayan Government that this Government will be glad to join with Uruguay and the other American republics in a statement condemning the ruthless invasion of Holland, Belgium, and Luxemburg. The Department is in full agreement with the draft text proposed by the Uruguayan Government which reads as follows:
“The American Republics in accord with the principles of international law and in application of the resolutions adopted in their inter-American conferences, consider unjustifiable the ruthless violation by Germany of the neutrality and sovereignty of Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg.
In paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Ninth Resolution of the Meeting of Foreign Ministers held at Panama in 1939, it was established that the violation of the neutrality or the invasion of weaker nations as a measure in the conduct and success of war warrants the American Republics in protesting against this infraction of international law and the requirements of justice.
The American Republics therefore resolve to protest against the military attacks directed against Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg, at the same time making an appeal for the reestablishment of law and justice in the relations between countries.”
The resolution mentioned in the second paragraph of the proposed statement is the ninth instead of the tenth resolution in the English version of the Final Act of the Panama meeting.
The Uruguayan Government has accepted the cooperation of the Department in circulating this text to those governments where there is no Uruguayan diplomatic representation and in transmitting their replies to Panama.
The Department is confident that the proposal of the Uruguayan Government will meet with the approval of the Government of Panama and that that Government will cooperate with the other American republics in the same efficient and wholehearted manner which it has demonstrated on recent occasions requiring collective action on the part of the American republics.
You are requested to keep the Department informed daily of the steps taken by the Government of Panama and of the replies received by it to the proposal of the Uruguayan Government. It is hoped that the telegraphic message referred to in the first paragraph of this telegram has been transmitted by the Government of Panama by [Page 732] telegraph to the other American republics. The Department will be glad to render any cooperation which the Government of Panama may feel desirable in this connection.