File No. 861.00/945
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Jusserand)2
Excellency: The American Government has not failed to give careful consideration to the plan proposed by the Government of the Republic of France and communicated in your excellency’s note of January 8, 1918, having in view the protection of the foreign residents of Irkutsk and eastern Siberia whose lives were reported to be threatened by the growth of anarchy in Siberia.
It is noted that the Government of France has under consideration the immediate sending to Harbin and thence to Irkutsk of the largest [Page 29] possible French force to be detailed from the corps of occupation in China and hopes for the cooperation of the Allies and a joint arrangement for the organization of a military mission. Your excellency’s Government further proposes that China, as one of the Allies, should be asked to detail for the proposed mission such contingents of troops as may be available and that the accession of Russian military elements also should be asked since the object of the proposed mission is to support those elements in Siberia which have “remained true to the cause of the Entente.”
Your excellency further, in obedience to the instructions of your Government, suggests the adhesion and cooperation of the American Government in the execution of the proposed plan.
In reply I have the honor to state that a telegram dated the 10th instant at Harbin reported the situation at Irkutsk on the 9th as quiet and stated that the consuls were active in protecting foreigners. This would seem to indicate that the earlier reports, which appear to have come from Petrovski Zavod, two hundred miles east of Irkutsk, greatly exaggerated the danger to the foreign residents.
The American Government is disposed to believe that such a military mission as is proposed is not required by the present condition of affairs in Siberia. It is believed that it would be likely to offend those Russians who are now in sympathy with the aims and desires which the United States and its cobelligerents have at heart in making war and might result in uniting all factions in Siberia against them. The American Government regrets, therefore, that it is unable to give its support to the proposals as suggested in your excellency’s note.
Accept [etc.]
- Substance transmitted to the Ambassador in Great Britain by telegram No. 6262, and to the Ambassador in Japan and the Minister in China by unnumbered telegrams, Jan. 16, 4 p.m., with instructions to “communicate to the Government to which you are accredited.”↩