5
Dec. 45
get
another one — I am placing in evidence,
because I am quite certain that in its study of
the background of this whole case, the Court
will be very much interested in this volume,
which is a detailed chronological history of all
the diplomatic events leading up to and through
the second World War of 1941. But what I am
actually offering in evidence at the moment
appears on Pages 454 and 455 of the volume, a
statement by the Acting Secretary of State
Welles, dated 17 March 1939:
"The
Government of the United States has on
frequent occasions stated its conviction
that only through international support
of a program of order based upon law can
world peace be assured.
"This
Government, founded upon and dedicated
to the principles of human liberty and
of democracy, cannot refrain from making
known this country's condemnation of the
acts which have resulted in the
temporary extinguishment of the
liberties of a free and independent
people with whom, from the day when the
Republic of Czechoslovakia attained its
independence, the people of the United
States have maintained specially close
and friendly relations.
"The
position of the Government of the United
States has been made consistently clear.
It has emphasized the need for respect
for the sanctity of treaties and of the
pledged word, and for non-intervention
by any nation in the domestic affairs of
other nations; and it has on repeated
occasions expressed its condemnation of
a policy of military aggression.
"It
is manifest that acts of wanton
lawlessness and of arbitrary force are
threatening the world peace and the very
structure of modern civilization. The
imperative need for the observance of
the principles advocated by this
Government has been clearly demonstrated
by the developments which have taken
place during the past 3 days."
With
Czechoslovakia in German hands, the Nazi
conspirators had accomplished the program they
had set themselves in the meeting in Berlin on 5
November 1937. You will recall that this program
of conquest was intended to shorten their
frontiers, to increase their industrial and food
reserves, and to place them in a position, both
industrially and strategically, from which they
could launch more ambitious and more devastating
campaigns of aggression. In less than a year and
a half this program had been carried through to
the satisfaction of the Nazi leaders, and at
that point I would again invite the Court's
attention to the large chart on the wall. I
think it is no mere figure of speech to make
reference to the wolf's head, what is known in
Anglo-American law as caput lupinum.