LETTONIE - RUSSIE, Traités et documents de base

Statement by Undersecretary of State, Summer Welles, July 23, 1940

Statement by Undersecretary of State, Summer Welles, July 23, 1940

During these past few days the devious processes whereunder the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbours, have been rapidly drawing to their conclusion.

From the day when the peoples of these republics first gained their independence and democratic form of government the people of the United States have watched their admirable progress in self-government with deep and sympathetic interest.

The policy of this Government is universally known. The people of the United States are opposed to predatory activities no matter whether they are carried on by the use of force or by the threat of force. They are likewise opposed to any form of intervention on the part of one state, however powerful, in the domestic concerns of any other sovereign state, however weak.

These principles constitute the very foundations upon which the existing relationship between the 21 sovereign republics of the New World rests.

The United States will continue to stand by these principles, because of the conviction of the American people that unless the doctrine in which these principles are inherent once again governs the relations between nations, the rule of reason, of justice, and of law - in other words, the basis of modern civilisation itself - cannot be preserved.

Source:
The Department of State Bulletin, July 27, 1940, Vol. ILI, No. 57, page 48. cit� dans American Latvian Association in The United States, Lettonie, en com-m�moration du 50�me anniversaire de la D�claration d'Ind�pendance de la R�publique de Lettonie , Washington D.C., 1968, p.71.