Exchange of Notes between Great Britain and Spain Respecting the Maintenance of Territorial Status Quo
the following points of the herein treaty relative to a defensive
alliance:
Art. I. If any European state attacks one of the two empires,
the allied party engages to aid the other contracting party with
all his military and naval forces.
Art. II. The high contracting parties engage not to conclude
with any common enemy a separate peace.
Art. III. The present treaty will become effective from the
moment of the conclusion of the peace between Russia and
Japan and may be denounced with a year’s previous notifica-
tion.
Art. IV. When this treaty has become effective, Russia under-
take the necessary steps to inform France of it and to propose to
the latter to adhere to it as an ally.
[Signed] NICOLAS.
WILLIAM.
[Countersigned] Von Tschirschky.
Naval Minister, Birilev.
Count Benkendorf.
4.1211 Exchange of Notes between Great
Britain and Spain Respecting the Maintenance
of the Territorial Status Quo in the Mediter-
ranean and in That Part of the Atlantic Ocean
Which Washes the Shores of Europe and Africa
Alliance Members:Great Britain and Spain
Signed On:May 16, 1907, in the city of London. In force until April
26, 1915, when Britain and France promised status quo changes to
Italy in exchange for Italy’s entrance into World War I.
Alliance Type:Entente (Type III)
Source:The American Journal of International Law,vol.1,no.4,Sup-
plement: Official Documents (October 1907), p. 425.
SUMMARY
Increasing fear of German expansion into the Balearic and Canary
Islands led in 1907 to an agreement among the members of the
Entente Cordiale—France, Great Britain, and Spain—regarding the
protection of the status quo in that region. Signatories also agreed to
cooperate in balancing what had become rapidly growing German
naval strength.
The signing of the agreement signaled that German designs on divid-
ing her potential balancers was hardly effective, as the understanding
between these powers and, subsequently, Russia would survive up to
the outbreak of the First World War. No longer did the status quo
demand protection, and new understandings between the allies would
lead to a new structure of agreements by war’s outbreak in 1915.
Exchange of Notes
The Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Spanish Ambas-
sador.
FOREIGN OFFICE,
London, May 16, 1907.
YOUR EXCELLENCY: Animated by the desire to contribute
in every possible way to the maintenance of peace, and con-
vinced that the preservation of the territorial status quo and of
the rights of Great Britain and Spain in the Mediterranean and
in that part of the Atlantic Ocean which washes the shores of
Europe and Africa must materially serve this end, and is, more-
over, to the mutual advantage of the two nations bound to each
other by the closest ties of ancient friendship and of community
of interests;
The Government of His Britannic Majesty desire to lay
before that of His Catholic Majesty the following declaration of
policy, in the confident hope that it will not only still further
strengthen the good understanding so happily existing between
them, but will also promote the cause of peace.
The general policy of the Government of His Britannic
Majesty in the regions above defined is directed to the mainte-
nance of the territorial status quo, and in pursuance of this pol-
icy they are firmly resolved to preserve intact the rights of the
British Crown over its insular and maritime possessions in
those regions.
Should circumstances arise which, in the opinion of the
Government of His Britannic Majesty, would alter, or tend to
alter, the existing territorial status quo in the said regions, they
will communicate with the Government of His Catholic
Majesty, in order to afford them the opportunity to concert, if
desired, by mutual agreement the course of action which the
two powers shall adopt in common.
I have the honour to be, with the highest consideration,
Your Excellency’s most obedient humble servant,
E. GREY.4.1212 General Treaty of Peace and Amity
Concluded at the Central American Peace
Conference
Alliance Members:Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and
El Salvador
Signed On:December 20, 1907, in the city of Washington, D.C. In
force until March 10, 1918.
Alliance Type:Neutrality Pact (Type II)
Source:British Foreign and State Papers,vol. 100, p. 835.SUMMARY
Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica signed
this general treaty of peace in 1907, creating in essence a broad neu-
trality pact aimed at enhancing cooperation in both economic and
security matters. Intended to last ten years unless a majority of mem-
bers should amend it, it did not survive beyond this original mandate.
Central to the terms of the treaty was the establishment of a Central
American Court of Justice, but by 1918 most states were dissatisfied with
the sovereignty they had yielded to the body. Nicaragua was the first to
leave the court in 1918, signaling what would be the end of the alliance.