Guillermo Ferrero, the famous writer, in the prologue to his masterly study of the role played by Talleyrand at the Congress of Vienna, wrote the following admirable passage: “Adventure and reconstruction: this is the labour of Sisyphus to which humanity is condemned and which it is performing, in most instances, without realizing that it is doing so.” Further on, with the profound wisdom and sagacity of the true philosopher of history, he continues: “Wandering in an imaginary world, we have lost more and more our sense of the great realities of life. We no longer know exactly what is meant by war, peace, revolution, order, justice, law, power and legitimacy. Our ideas of all these essential facts have become confused, contradictory, elastic, mobile and partially or completely unreal.”
179. Although these words were written more than a quarter of a century ago, the ideas they express still retain their vividness and appear likely to remain a true expression of what man has been, what he is and what he will be to the end of time. It would be difficult to describe more accurately or more colourfully the atmosphere of uncertainty, confusion, contradiction and spiritual penury in which we live today.
180. Although not yet fully recovered from the great losses they suffered during the Second World War, the peoples of the world are once again feeling the impact of the errors, ambitions, appetites, injustices and incomprehension of their leaders. Fortunately, the nations of the world now have this Organization, which serves both as the main centre for unification of all efforts for peaceful co-operation and of all endeavours to achieve friendship and understanding between men who wish to have a civilized, decent and productive life for themselves and for their sons, and as the highest and most diligent guardian of international peace and order.
181. As evidence of the Organization’s value in the first of these capacities, I might quote the happy results of the conference, recently held in this very hall under the auspices of the United Nations, which drew up the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
182. As an example of the second capacity, I should like to mention the manner in "which this General Assembly, in two emergency special sessions and now in the present session, has been dealing with the most immense, urgent and painful political problems of our time : those of the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
183. Just as we have often wondered what would have become of the Republic of Korea had it not been for the resolutions adopted by the Security Council in 1950 and the military action which ensued, we may wonder today what would have become of Egypt if the General Assembly, acting as it did and is continuing to do in lieu of the Security Council, had not adopted a series of resolutions designed to protect that little country and to restore law and order in that area, which had been disturbed in an evil hour by the violent action of three Member States.
184. It is only fair to recognize — and my delegation makes no secret of its pleasure in so doing — that in the case of Egypt the Governments of Israel, the United Kingdom and France have heeded, up to a certain point, the recommendations and appeals addressed to them by the General Assembly. Thanks to this attitude, we already discern on the horizon, not only the possibility of a complete withdrawal of the invading forces, but also a possible solution to or at least an improvement in the Suez Canal problem and the more serious and more enduring general problem of Palestine.
185. How different is the picture presented by the desolate, fearful, farcical and almost irremediable situation in Hungary! All protests and all appeals so far have come up against the arrogant and imperialistic attitude of a great Power, the Soviet Union — appeals not only from the General Assembly of the United Nations but also from many Governments and from many humanitarian institutions and associations anxious to alleviate in some way the sufferings inflicted upon a people devoted to peace and valiant to the point of sacrifice by the foreign invaders and — sad to say — by some unworthy sons of that martyrized and oppressed Hungarian people.
186. The pages of history will record the dismal events in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe, and they will doubtless not fail to mention the fact that whereas the United Kingdom, French and Israel Governments showed some evidence of respect for the decisions of the United Nations, the men of the Kremlin remained unheeding and inflexible while they committed, in a most crafty manner and — what is worse — with impunity, the most barbarous outrage suffered by any small country during this century.
187. My country is imbued with traditions of liberty, independence, dignity, respect for law and order, and sympathy and magnanimity towards oppressed men and peoples.
188. It was a worthy Salvadorian priest, Father Jose Matias Delgado, who, on 5 November 1811, fired with patriotic fervour, climbed the steeple of La Merced church, in the centre of San Salvador, and uttered the first cry for the independence of Central America. In the first quarter of the last century, shortly after we had assumed independence and long before Abraham Lincoln, that great American; took similar action in his country, another heroic priest of El Salvador, Father Jose Simeon Cañas y Villacorta, made a moving and solemn appeal to the Central American Constituent Assembly, of which he was a member, for the immediate ant complete abolition of slavery in Central America.
189. This will explain why El Salvador is always to be found on the side of worthy causes.
190. Here in the United Nations, as formerly in the League of Nations at Geneva, as well as in the Organization of American States and in that promising new body, the Organization of Central American States, my country has always been one of the staunchest defenders of all sound and lofty causes. Some of the representatives here today will recall that great occasion when, at the Sixth International Conference of American States, held in 1928 in the fair capital of Cuba, Mr. Gustavo Guerrero, my eminent compatriot, vigorously supported the proclamation in this hemisphere, as part of American international law, of the principle of non-intervention by any State in the affairs of another, a principle which has been enshrined since 1933 in various important inter-American documents, including the Charter of the Organization of American States, or the Bogota Charter, one which no serious statesman or jurist worthy of the name would venture to question.
191. According to the American concept, and to quote the very words of article 15 of the Bogota Charter: “No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. The foregoing principle prohibits not only armed force but also any other form of interference or attempted threat against the personality of the State or against its political, economic and cultural elements.”
192. These points I have outlined will explain why the representatives of El Salvador, like the representatives of the other Latin American countries, have always striven and will continue to strive to maintain or restore respect for the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, particularly those principles concerning mutual respect between States, the self-determination of peoples, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
193. As I do not wish to tax your patience with a long speech, I have merely sought to express a few general ideas which I believe reflect adequately the lines upon which the Salvadorian representatives are prepared to act in the debates of this General Assembly and in the various Committees. We shall have an opportunity to refer, during this eleventh session, to the most important problems and issues on the agenda of the General Assembly: international political problems, legal, economic, financial, social, humanitarian and cultural problems, as also the problems of the peoples living under the Trusteeship System and the indigenous inhabitants of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.
194. I should not like to conclude without offering the President, both personally and on behalf of my Government, our sincere congratulations on his unanimous election to his high office, in these particularly grave circumstances when it would seem that a wind of death is blowing about the world. His wisdom and patience, his experience and his profound and noble understanding of life lead us to hope that this General Assembly will succeed in avoiding the obstacles and hazards of our time and will bring a little tranquillity to the minds of those who are justifiably tormented at the obvious danger of a new universal conflagration, which sometimes seems inevitable.
195. - The President, may count upon the intelligent and diligent co-operation of Mr. Hammarskjold, our indefatigable Secretary-General, and on the resolute and constant co-operation of the majority of the delegations which, like the delegation I have the honour to lead, would wish to see inscribed in large letters over the portals of this home of the family of nations a great Mexican statesman’s immortal phrase: “Peace is respect for the rights of others”.