File No. 861.00/2467
The Chargé in China (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 12.]
Sir: Referring to my telegram of July 12, 5 p.m., on the subject of General Horvat’s proclamation of the establishment of a provisional Siberian government on the 9th instant, I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of a despatch on that subject, addressed to the Legation by the Consulate at Harbin under date of the 12th instant.1
In this connection, I have to report that late in the evening of July 11, the Russian Minister communicated to me a French translation of a telegram addressed to him by General Horvat, embodying the substance of this proclamation, which telegram, it may be remarked, was dated as early as July 3.
It is also to be noted that the program of General Horvat’s government, as set forth in this telegram to the Russian Legation here, and as communicated in my telegram above cited, did not include the twelfth item as given in the proclamation published in Harbin, of which the translation is enclosed with Mr. Moser’s despatch, this item reading as follows:
12. Right of autonomy of Siberia and other provinces to be acknowledged, on condition that the unity of Russia be preserved.
On the morning of the 12th instant, the British Minister called a meeting of certain of his colleagues—the French, Japanese and Russian Ministers, and myself—to consider the situation created by [Page 286] General Horvat’s action, with particular reference to its effect upon the transfer of Czecho-Slovak troops from the Maritime Region to assist their fellow nationals in western Siberia. The Russian Minister was apparently disposed to urge, though somewhat diffidently, General Horvat’s claim to the support of the Allied Governments, but was persuaded to concur with his colleagues in the opinion that General Horvat must be induced to refrain from any action which might impede the movements of the Czecho-Slovaks. The French Minister was particularly insistent that the Allied Ministers should decline to recognize any of the pretensions of General Horvat, an opinion in which his British and Japanese colleagues concurred, the Japanese Minister stating his conviction that General Horvat should be removed as an obstacle to the proposed transfer of the Czecho-Slovak troops, although the Japanese Government would thereafter regard with indifference the establishment of General Horvat’s or any other government in eastern Siberia.
In the absence of instructions, I did not feel warranted in taking any part in the decision reached. That decision, as reported in my telegram above cited, was to send to General Horvat, through the Russian Minister, but in the names of the British, French, and Japanese Ministers, a telegram to the following effect:
The representatives of Great Britain, Japan, and France, being in receipt of telegrams from their respective consuls at Vladivostok pointing out the danger of civil strife which may result from the proclamation of General Horvat and which may prevent the passage of the Czechs through Manchuria, which is all important and has a purely military object directed against the Germans, advise General Horvat to withdraw his proclamation and return to Harbin so as to facilitate the passage of the Czechs over the Chinese Eastern Railway. The Ministers beg General Horvat to be good enough to favor them with a prompt reply to their communication.
At the present time, telegraphic communications with Siberia (except Vladivostok) are interrupted; and it is not known whether General Horvat has in fact received the telegram sent in the names of the three Allied Ministers. I am to-day informed by the French Minister, however, that the Russian Legation received on the 14th instant a further telegram from General Horvat, stating that he would not oppose the transfer of the Czecho-Slovak troops from eastern to western Siberia. It has not thus far been possible for the Legation to obtain any information, supplementing that embodied in the telegram from Harbin, which was repeated to the Department by me, July 12, 7 p.m., as to the support apparently given to General Horvat by the Japanese.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩