262 Presidential Addresses 



" 'This doctrine has nothing to do with the com 

 mercial relations of any American power, save that 

 it in truth allows each of them to form such as it 

 desires. . . . We do not guarantee any State 

 against punishment if it misconducts itself, pro 

 vided that punishment does not take the form of 

 the acquisition of territory by any non-American 

 power/ 



"His Excellency the German Ambassador, on 

 his recent return from Berlin, conveyed personally 

 to the President the assurance of the German Em 

 peror that His Majesty's Government had no pur 

 pose or intention to make even the smallest acquisi 

 tion of territory on the South American continent 

 or the islands adjacent. This voluntary and friendly 

 declaration was afterward repeated to the Secretary 

 of State, and was received by the President and the 

 people of the United States in the frank and cordial 

 spirit in which it was offered. In the memoran 

 dum of the nth of December, His Excellency the 

 German Ambassador repeats these assurances as 

 follows: 'We declare especially that under no cir 

 cumstances do we consider in our proceedings the 

 acquisition or the permanent occupation of Ven 

 ezuelan territory/ 



"In the said memorandum of the nth of De 

 cember, the German Government informs that of 

 the United States that it has certain just claims for 

 money and for damages wrongfully withheld from 

 German subjects by the Government of Venezuela, 

 and that it proposes to take certain coercive meas- 



