Evening star., 1937-03-14
i. S. STAND ON ETHIOPIA
REASSURINC TO LATINS
Denial That Withdrawal of Legation
From Adds Ababa Means Rec.
ognition Is Welcome.

treaties, the Gondra convention, the
Kellogg pact, the Washington treaties
OF arbitration and conciliation-which
because Of their very nature preclude
the forcible acquisition Of land-there
are five diplomatic instruments in the
New World which specifically forbid
the recognition of territorial gains
obtained by military means
The first one is the now famous
Washington declaration of August 3,
1882, in which the representatives of
19 American republics solemnly and
publicly pledged their respective gov
ernments to the principle of non
recognition of territorial acquisitions
by force, which soon before that had
taken shape in the notes of Secretary
OF State Stimson condemning the
japanese invasion Of Manchuria.
The immediate occasion for this
historical pronouncement was the war
then raging between Bolivia and Para
quay over the Chaco Boreal. When
the Chaco war ended, Bolivia and
Paraguay, the only two American
countries which had not signed the
original Washington declara ton, made
it the paramount feature of their
peace agreement and pledged them
selves, under the auspices Of six neu-
tral nations, to settle their territorial
differences by legal ways, irrespective
of the positions OF their armies.
Another War Avoided.
Even before that, the Washington
declaration had played an important
role in avoiding open warfare between
two other South American republics,
Colombia and Peru, when the PERU
Wan government had been reminded
OF it in no uncertain terms by the
State Department, and informed that
the forcible seizure of Leticia by some
| of its citizens would never be recog-
nized as legitimate.
Then, in the Saavedra Lamas anti
| war pact, to which nearly all the
American republics have become par
ties, the obligation to disregard
the fruits of war was given a con-
tractual character, article 2 of that
treaty specifically providing that the
| high contracting parties will not
recognize any territorial arrangement
which is not obtained by pacific
means, nor the validity of the oc-
cupation or acquisition of territories
that may be brought about by force
of arms"
A few weeks after that pact had
been signed, the Montevideo Conven-
ton on the Rights and Duties of
States, unanimously indorsed by the
American governments, reaffirmed the
doctrine and even enlarged the scope
Of its prohibition. Article IL con-
secrated the express obligation not to
recognize land acquisitions or special
advantages realized by force, and added
that this applied whether force con-
sisted in the use of arms, in threat
ening diplomatic representations or
in other means of effective compul-
sion"
| Buenos Aires Conference.
Finally, at the recent Buenos Aires
Conference for the Maintenance Of
Peace, the declaration of inter- -Ameri-
can solidarity and cooperation, which
may be described as statement OF
the political creed of the American
republics in the field Of international
relations, lists, in first place, among
the principles accepted by them "the
prescription of territorial conquest
and establishes that, in consequence,
mo acquisition made through violence
shall be recognized"
These are very definite commit
ments. What was once an idealistic
declaration of policy is now, at least
for the Americas, an obligation es-
tablshed by law and sanctioned by
precedents.
(Copyright. 1879