File No. 860c.01/40

The Ambassador in France ( Sharp) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

2622. Your 2715, October 15, 8 p.m. [6 p.m.]. Upon receiving Department’s telegram I at once made an appointment with Mr. Dmowski, President of the Polish National Committee sitting in Paris, and in the conversation following this appointment I spoke to him in the sense in which you instructed me.

Inasmuch as the written statement furnished to me by Mr. Piltz, the outline of which I telegraphed you in my No. 2591,1 could not be properly termed a formal request to our Government for recognition of the committee, I suggested to Mr. Dmowski that he formulate such a request which I would be pleased to forward to my Government. This he was very glad to do. A delay of a day, however, in its preparation followed, and I again saw him yesterday at my home, where I had a long talk with him as to the points raised in your telegram, and, in fact, concerning many questions involving [Page 772] not only the internal conditions of Poland but the general situation in Russia, about which he impressed me as being exceedingly well informed. He left with me a request in writing for recognition, which I quote as follows in its entirety, and am sending the original in French with translation in the outgoing pouch.

To His Excellency Mr. Lansing,
Washington.

Mr. Minister: Referring to the communication of the Polish National Committee, presented on behalf of the committee by Mr. I. J. Paderewski to the United States Government, we have the honor to beg the American Government kindly to recognize the Polish National Committee at Paris as an official Polish organization.

The following would come under the jurisdiction of the committee:

1.
The representation of Polish interests in the United States, in Great Britain, France, Italy, and in all other states where the cause of Poland and the objects of the Allies might make it desirable;
2.
Political questions in connection with the Polish Army at present organized on the occidental front to combat at the side of the Allies;
3.
Civil protection of persons of Polish nationality, hitherto Russian, German and Austrian subjects, in the Allied countries of occidental Europe.

The committee will use its activities outside Poland and the states to which the Polish territories have hitherto been subject; its relations with the Poles of Russia and with the Russian Government are assured by the National Council of the inter-party union recently created at Petrograd with which it is in perfect harmony.

Here follow names of members of the committee already transmitted to the Department. Communication continues:

The headquarters of the committee are at Paris and its members are as follows: Roman Dmowski, President; Erasme Piltz, Delegate near the French Government; Jan Jordan Rozwadowski, Vice President of the Agricultural Society of Galicia; Marjan Seyda of Bosnia, Director of the Central Agency of Lausanne; Count Maurice Zamoyski; I. J. Paderewski, representative to the United States Government; Count Ladislas Sobanski, representative to the Government of Great Britain; Count Constantine Skirmunt, representative to the Italian Government. The committee having been recognized by the French Government as well as by the British Government, we have the honor to renew our request to the United States Government begging it to take likewise a favorable decision on this point and to recognize Mr. I. J. Paderewski as the official representative of the National Polish Committee at Paris to the United States Government.

At the time the above quoted request was left with me, Mr. Dmowski gave to me a memorandum which in part answers the questions raised in your telegram, and which I also quote in its entirety.

[Page 773]

The activities of the Polish National Committee are confined to Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States, and the committee asked only the Governments of these four states for official recognition. France and Great Britain already recognized the committee as the official Polish organization.

Russia is not included in the sphere of the committee’s activities, being a state which possesses up till now Polish territories and where the Poles are until now in the legal situation of Russian subjects: In Russia, therefore, till the end of the war, the Polish affairs can not be treated as touching foreign affairs. To meet that difficulty a Polish Council at Petrograd, was organized in June, 1917, which works in close understanding with our committee, and which is in official relations with the Russian Government.

The establishment of the Polish National Committee in Paris cannot be looked upon unfavorably by the Russian Government for the following reasons:

(1)
On March 30, 1917, the Provisional Russian Government proclaimed the independence of Poland, which proclamation has been confirmed recently by the Russian Foreign Minister.
(2)
On June 4, the President of the French Republic issued a decree establishing an autonomous Polish army which implied the collaboration of a Polish committee in its political affairs; the Russian Legation was consulted beforehand and expressed its approval of the French proposition.
(3)
The committee does not intend to act in Russia, leaving the Polish affairs there to the care of the Polish Council at Petrograd.

[When] Provisional Government was established last spring in Petrograd, he [Dmowski] went over to London to press the question of the recognition of the independence of Poland upon Balfour, stating that the time was most favorable for such action. Balfour entirely agreed with him and instructed the British Ambassador, Mr. Buchanan, at Petrograd to urge this matter for favorable consideration upon the Russian Government; a few days later he received an answer that it did not appear as though such a movement would be successful, as it was not looked upon with favor by the Russian Government. However, Mr. Dmowski told me, very soon after that instructions were again sent to the Ambassador to vigorously push the matter, representing that it was the wish of the British Government that that action be taken, and a few days after, the Provisional Government at Petrograd proclaimed the independence of Poland.

As to the point raised in your telegram, that there is at present no representative of the Ludowe or Peasant Party on the committee, Mr. Dmowski said that they had some time ago sent a request to the Petrograd Council to have a representative of that party come to Paris to constitute a part of the personnel of the [committee]. He added that as a matter of fact he himself represented a great majority of the Peasant Party in Poland, He expressed the belief [Page 774] there were harmonious relations between the Polish Council at Petrograd and the Russian Government, and he said that there was no desire to ignore Russia in the matter of securing recognition of the committee.

Mr. Dmowski said also that, not desiring to hold anything away from me, he felt it is his duty to tell me in confidence—except, of course, with the understanding that the information would be given to my Government—that there were undesirable Poles in Russia who were working in close harmony with the revolutionary Russian Government, their aim being to complete rapprochement between the Russian Government and the Central powers. The best known among these elements was a (barrister?) from Moscow, half Jew by birth, of the name of …

I gathered from what he told me that there was much anxiety on the part of the committee as to the influence which those who were secretly plotting against Poland might be able to exert in Petrograd. He informed me that their inter-party Council of Petrograd, shortly after its organization, had asked Tereshchenko, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to allow Poland to have a representative at the next conference of the Allies. To this request no reply had been given. Mr. Dmowski also informed me that a small element of Poles had at one time desired to go to Stockholm for the purpose of securing recognition of Poland by the Central powers at Warsaw. This request, however, was refused by the Russian Government.

Mr. Frazier of the Embassy tells me that after Mr. Dmowski had left me he stated to him that in his opinion only the strong onslaughts of the Allies prevented the Russian Government from arranging for separate peace with the Central powers.

While I was led to believe from my talk with Mr. Dmowski that his committee had no prejudice against the Russian Government, and, in fact, would be very glad to receive its recognition and cooperation, yet, behind it all, there was an evident distrust of its intentions. He was very open in his declaration that it was his opinion that the Russian Government would be glad to see a [Socialist?] on the Paris committee, one that would be more in sympathy with revolutionary tendencies, but that to have a committee representing Poland so constituted would be to plant the seeds of a future revolution in Poland which neither he nor his co-members on the committee would want to see brought about. He said that they earnestly hope for the prompt recognition of the American Government, to the end that their work for aiding in the military operations through a Polish army might be thereby strengthened and made most effective. Following the Department’s instructions, I assured Mr. Dmowski that the American [Page 775] Government had no selfish purposes to serve and that its representations were made only to the end that the most effective way might be found to enhance the success of his committee’s movement in behalf of Poland. I am sure that he, as well as the other members of the committee, perfectly understand and fully appreciate the helpful attitude of our Government.

Sharp
  1. Ante, p. 766.