763.72/11136½
President Wilson to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I respectfully suggest the following as a partial modification of your wording of the declaration which we must make with regard to belligerency of the Czecho-Slovaks:
The Czecho-Slovak peoples having taken up arms against the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires and having placed organized armies in the field which are waging war against those Empires under officers of their own nationality and in accordance with the rules and practices of civilized nations; and
The Czecho-Slovaks having, in prosecution of their independent purposes in the present war, confided supreme political authority to the Czecho-Slovak National Council,
[Page 145]The Government of the United States recognizes that a state of belligerency exists between the Czecho-Slovaks thus organized and the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires.
It also recognizes the Czecho-Slovak National Council as a de facto belligerent government clothed with proper authority to direct the military and political affairs of the Czecho-Slovaks.
The Government of the United States further declares that it is prepared to enter formally into relations with the de facto government thus recognized for the purpose of prosecuting the war against the common enemy, the Empires of Germany and Austro-Hungary.
It seems to me that you have successfully stated both the actual facts and the new legal relationship which we assume.
Faithfully Yours,