File No. 861.00/3271
The Consul General at Irkutsk ( Harris ) to the Secretary of State 1
[Received November 25, 1918, 11.02 a.m.]
Had long interview with Admiral Kolchak to-day. He is a high-type Russian and personally makes favorable impression. [Page 444] Whether or not his action has been wise the events of the very near future will decide. I regard him as a man in the last [best] class where one would group Milyukov, Alexeev, Guchkov, Lvov, and Rodzyanko, that is, a man who seriously has the best interest of all Russia at heart.
He stated that he represented no upper-house [class] party, was neither Social Revolutionary nor reactionary and his first step would be to attack the Bolsheviks in the direction of Perm and Samara.
Semenov is causing considerable trouble by declaring himself a sort of commissioner for the Trans-Baikal district and threatens to cut telegraphic communication unless Kolchak complies with all his demands. It is likewise believed that Japanese support and encourage Semenov. Opinion is still everywhere considerably divided concerning the wisdom of Kolchak dictatorship. Czech G[eneral] Gaida has declared for him. Chernov, late Social Revolutionary president Constituent Assembly St. Petersburg, was arrested in Ekaterinburg yesterday and conducted to Chelyabinsk. All consular officers in Siberia report everything quiet.
- Sent via the Legation in China.↩