File No. 713.001/55
I beg leave, also, to bring to the attention of your excellency’s
Government the attached memorandum containing a brief expression of the
views of the Government and people of El Salvador respecting that
momentous act on the part of her sister Republic, and would be grateful
if your excellency would be good enough to give some expression of the
views of your Government as, in a way, one of the moral guarantors of
the denounced convention.
[Inclosure 1—Telegram—Translation]
The Salvadorean Minister of
Foreign Relations to the Nicaraguan
Minister of Foreign Relations
San Salvador,
March 16, 1917.
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s
esteemed telegram of the 9th instant, in which you are pleased to
inform me that, according to Article 27 of the convention for the
establishment of a Central American Court of Justice, the said
convention shall remain in force for the term of ten years counted
from the last ratification, which was that of the Guatemalan
Government, on the 11th of March, 1908; and that, for reasons that
need not be fully set forth on this occasion—but among which you
cite the most important, to wit, the heavy expenses occasioned by
the maintenance of the Central American Court, which expenses, you
say, are already insupportable in face of the economic conditions
under which Nicaragua is laboring—your Government regretfully
denounces to this Government the said convention, in conformity with
the above-cited Article that fixes the term within which the
convention is to remain in force.
In reply, Mr. Minister, my Government begs to express to your
excellency’s Government the deep pain with which it has received the
notification of the latter’s intention to hold as rescinded the
convention in question, at the approaching conclusion of the term
prescribed in Article 27 thereof, because my Government considers
the fact to be most momentous that that sister Republic should place
itself outside the international concert of Central America which
was created in 1907 by the Conventions of Washington (conventions
that my Government is confident will be adhered to by the other
signatory republics), and consequently outside the system which the
Republics of the Isthmus established by those conventions for the
pacific settlement of their disagreements and controversies—a highly
beneficent system which the prominent men of America have recognized
as being a most advanced step in the progress of international
institutions. This act is the more regrettable when it is considered
that just now all peoples are anxious to provide for their future
well-being by seeking to protect themselves from the calamities of
war by means of what must be acknowledged as one of the best
methods, the adoption of a system of the kind that by good fortune
has
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been established in
Central American States; a system that makes it easy to disadjust
their agreements by the peaceful and honorable application of the
principles of law and justice. This conception of the Central
American Court of Justice must of necessity become more and more
popular from now on, and the tribunal must come to be accepted as a
wise and far-sighted measure that will reflect glory, not only on
the Republics of Central America, but on the United States and
Mexico, under the auspices of whose Governments was born that august
international institution, the first of its kind.
For the reasons set forth, my Government believes that your
excellency’s Government will contract a very grave moral
responsibility if it carries out its intention of holding as
rescinded the convention in question. Wherefore, in the most
friendly and fraternal spirit, my Government has the honor hereby to
address to the Nicaraguan Government, in the distinguished person of
your excellency, the most respectful expression of its hope that the
Government will generously strive to overcome any obstacles to its
adherence to that pact and retire from its determination to withdraw
therefrom, in order that it may continue, in unison with the
Governments of its sister Republics, to enjoy the benefits of the
stipulations agreed to at Washington, the object of which is that
Central America should form an international nucleus guided, in the
relations of its five States, by the canons of justice, law and
peace.
If, in spite of the considerations above suggested, your excellency’s
Government decides to insist upon its determination, I must inform
your excellency’s illustrious Government that my Government
understands that the stipulation contained in Article 27 of the
Convention for the Establishment of a Central American Court of
Justice, and prescribing the term within which it is to remain in
force, cannot be availed of as justification in holding that
convention alone to be rescinded whilst holding to be in full force
and vigor the General Treaty of Peace and Amity that was concluded
at Washington on the same date, because the first and most important
of the stipulations of the latter pact provides, as the means
whereby peace and the most complete harmony among the signatory
Republics is to be maintained, that every difference or difficulty
that may arise amongst them, of whatsoever nature it may be, shall
be decided by means of the Central American Court of Justice. That
stipulation constitutes the most essential provision of that General
Treaty, and, consequently, my Government considers that its force
and effect is wholly bound up with the life of the treaty itself.
From this it must naturally be inferred that so long as one of the
High Contracting Parties does not signify its intention to put an
end to that treaty, in the manner prescribed in its 19th Article,
the convention for the establishment of a Central American Court of
Justice cannot be held to be rescinded, even though the term fixed
in Article 27 of the latter may have elapsed. That term is merely a
repetition of the identic term prescribed in Article 19 of the
General Treaty, but it is unaccompanied by the provision granting
power to denounce the convention separately at the end of the
period.
My Government, Mr. Minister, takes refuge in the firm hope that the
Government of Nicaragua will do all that may lie in its power to
maintain in force the Treaties of Washington, and in thus giving
expression to these most fervent hopes, it remains only to assure
your excellency that the sentiments of my Government towards that
sister Republic are inspired by the liveliest sympathy and the most
sincere desire for the preservation of the friendly relations that
happily exist between the two countries.
I beg [etc.]
[Inclosure 2—Memorandum]
[Untitled]
The Government and people of El Salvador consider that the existence
of the Central American Court of Justice is of vital importance to
the maintenance of peace in Central America, since, in their
opinion, that court is the fundamental basis of the General Treaty
of Peace and Amity which was concluded at Washington on the 20th of
December, 1907. They are also of the opinion that the contemplated
rescission of the convention that created that court, if allowed to
be consummated, will effectively carry with it the rescission of the
other pact, because, conversely, so long as the General Treaty
remains in force, it would be impossible to hold that the convention
that gave life to a court which is called upon to settle peacefully
all disagreements that may arise among the Central American States
is not also in force; and that, therefore, if the Government
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of Nicaragua persists in the
determination of which the Salvadorean Foreign Office has been given
notice, by telegram of March 9, then also must stand without force
and effect the vitally important stipulations contained in these
Treaties of Washington that were concluded under the auspices of the
Governments of the United States and Mexico.
