710.Consultation(2)/663a
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
The President: The undersigned, the Secretary of State, has the honor to lay before the President, in certified form, with a view to its [Page 253] transmission to the Senate to receive the advice and consent of that body to ratification, if his judgment approve thereof, a Convention entitled “Convention on the Provisional Administration of European Colonies and Possessions in the Americas”, signed at Habana on July 30, 1940.83 The Convention is accompanied by the “Act of Habana”84 which is included in the Final Act of the Conference, signed at the same time. This Act is important as information and as a part of the record.
Permit me also to make the following statement concerning the background and provisions of the Convention.
It will be recalled that the primary purpose of the American republics in convoking the Meeting of Foreign Ministers at Habana last July was to consider the possibility that developments in Europe might affect the status of the European possessions in the Western Hemisphere in such a manner as to constitute a threat to the peace and security of the American republics. Sovereignty over these possessions has been maintained for many generations and in some cases for several centuries by the French, British and Netherlands Governments. These geographic regions have not heretofore constituted a menace to the peace of the Americas and we have maintained the most cordial relations with their respective administrations.
It would not, however, be consistent with the policy of the United States or desirable from the point of view of the defense of the Western Hemisphere to permit these regions to become a subject of barter in the settlement of European difficulties, or a battleground for the adjustment of such difficulties. Either situation could only be regarded as a threat to the peace and safety of this Hemisphere, as would any indication that the possessions under consideration might be used to promote systems alien to the inter-American system. Any effort, therefore, to modify the existing status of these possessions whether by cession, by transfer, or by any impairment whatsoever in the control heretofore exercised would be of profound and immediate concern to all the American republics.
The foregoing views are entirely consonant with the basic principle of foreign policy of the United States as enunciated over a century ago by President Monroe.
This doctrine continues to represent the policy of the United States; it is fundamental to our national defense. Moreover, as I have pointed out to the Congress in connection with legislation designed to strengthen the defense of this country, the war at present raging in Europe is the result in part of the abandonment by certain European powers of those principles of respect for the pledged word and [Page 254] of peaceful negotiation of agreements for the modification of the established order to which the American republics adhere.
The progress of that war to date has obliged the government of one of the countries85 having possessions in the American republics to abandon its homeland; the government of a second of these countries86 has been forced to sign an armistice involving, among other conditions, the hostile occupation of more than one-half of its territory. The third of the governments87 with whose possessions in this hemisphere we are now concerned is engaged in a struggle in which its very existence may be at stake.
It was therefore altogether appropriate that the United States in company with the other free and sovereign republics of the Western Hemisphere, should consider the consequences which might result from the transfer of sovereignty over any of these British, French or Netherland possessions, especially if that transfer were made to a country which has demonstrated a lack of adherence to the established principles of international law. It was equally obvious that such a transfer, by giving a foothold in the Americas to the representatives of a system of government and of international politics entirely alien to the traditions and practice of the American republics, would constitute a very serious danger to the peace and security of the two continents.
It must also be recognized that this threat may become a reality, not only through a formal transfer of territory, but also through circumstances arising out of the relative status of victor and vanquished, without there having been any formal expression regarding the disposition of these territories.
On June 17, 1940, the Secretary of State, after the Government of the United States had been informed that the Government of France had requested of the German Government the terms of an armistice, directed the representatives of the United States at Berlin and Rome to make a communication to the German and Italian Governments88 the pertinent paragraph of which is the following:
“The Government of the United States feels it desirable, in order to avoid any possible misunderstanding, to inform Your Excellency that in accordance with its traditional policy relating to the Western Hemisphere, the United States would not recognize any transfer, and would not acquiesce in any attempt to transfer, any geographic region of the Western Hemisphere from one non-American power to another non-American power.”
The Governments of France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands were informed in the same sense.
[Page 255]The Senate itself has also given evidence of its adherence to the policy which I have outlined above through the passage of S. J. Resolution 271 on June 17, 1940, “approving nonrecognition of the transfer of any geographic region in the Western Hemisphere from one non-American power to another non-American power, and providing for consultations with other American republics in the event that such transfer should appear likely”.
On July 21, 1940 there assembled at Habana the Second Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics for purposes of consultation in accordance with the procedure established at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace held at Buenos Aires in December 1936 and the Eighth International Conference of American States held at Lima in December 1938.
It was recognized that it would be contrary to the interests of the American Republics to permit the European possessions in the New World to become a subject of barter in the settlement of European differences and that such a situation would involve a threat to the peace and security of the hemisphere. Even in the absence of an actual transfer of sovereignty, it was evident that the use of these possessions to promote systems alien to the inter-American system could not be countenanced. Furthermore, in approaching this matter, it appeared desirable that any solution which might be reached should not carry with it the creation of any special interest for the benefit of any particular American republic or republics but that the solution should further the legitimate interests of all the American republics as well as the interests of the possessions that might be involved. It was therefore agreed that in the event that conditions should so permit, such possessions as might be taken under control by, or on behalf of, the American republics should be returned to their original sovereigns or declared independent, as soon as possible after the passing of the emergency which furnished the basis for the assumption of control over them.
To give effect to the foregoing, two measures were adopted at Habana, the Act of Habana, and the Convention submitted herewith. The former, a copy of which, as already stated, I enclose as essential information but not as requiring ratification, provides for the emergency establishment of a regime of provisional administration under specified conditions “when islands or regions in the Americas now under the possession of non-American nations are in danger of becoming the subject of barter of territory or change of sovereignty”. The determination of the necessity for establishing such a provisional regime is entrusted to an emergency committee consisting of one representative of each of the American republics, although provision is also made for individual or joint action on the part of any of the [Page 256] American republics should the need be so urgent that consideration by the committee cannot be awaited. In other words, full freedom of action is retained by each of the American republics, should the circumstances be such as in its estimation to require it to take provisional steps without prior submission of its views to the Committee.
The purpose of the Convention is to obtain the acceptance in treaty form of the mutual obligations recognized by the American republics with respect to the situation envisaged in the “Act of Habana”. It is my belief that this convention should be brought into force at the earliest possible date.
Respectfully submitted,