File No. 861.00/1807
The Chargé in Denmark (Grant-Smith) to the Secretary of
State
No. 1361
Copenhagen, April 20,
1918.
[Received May
18.]
Sir: Adverting to my telegram of April 6
last, No. 2132,1
relative to the visit to Copenhagen of a delegation from the
Provisional Government (of three months ago) of the former Russian
Province of Esthonia, I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy
and translation of an interview with a member of the delegation,
published in the Copenhagen Ekstrabladet of
April 14 last, together with a photograph of the delegation which
appeared in the Dagens Nyheder of April 5
last.1
I further enclose herewith a copy of a memorandum drawn up by
Lieutenant Commander John A. Gade, U.S.N.R.,
naval attaché of this Legation, and Mr. Lithgow
Osborne, second secretary, of the conversation which
they had on April 5 last with the Esthonian delegation, which
consisted of Mr. M. Martna, Stadtrat of the city of Revel, Mr. Karl
Menning, a government deputy, and Mr. Jaan
Tönisson, editor of the largest Esthonian newspaper,
Pahraleht [Postimees?]. The members of the delegation left Esthonia
toward [Page 823] the end of January
1918, about a month before the German occupation.
I venture to add that three other delegates of the former provisional
government of Esthonia, after having called upon the Swedish and
Norwegian Governments, are proceeding to London and Paris to lay
before the British and French Governments the ambitions and hopes of
the people of Esthonia.
I have [etc.]
[File copy not signed]
[Enclosure 1—Translation]
Interview with the Esthonian Delegation as
published in the Copenhagen “Ekstraoladet,” April 14,
1918
The Government and Landtag of Esthonia recently sent out a
delegation the task of which was to induce the European powers
to recognize the independence of Esthonia. Upon the way here the
delegation, which consists of Mikhel
Martna, a member of the Landtag, Karl
Menning, editor, and
Tönisson, also a member of the Landtag,
made a stop-over in Stockholm. In a recent interview Mr.
Martna made the following statement:
We have now handed a statement to the Danish and Swedish
Governments concerning the present political situation
in Esthonia. The Ministers are in sympathy with us, but
they can take no action in the matter inasmuch as the
question must first be settled by Germany and
Russia.
My two companions have now left for Norway, and when they
return, we shall all go to Berlin, Vienna, and Budapest
where we contemplate making representations to the
Governments and getting into contact with the democratic
parties.
After the Russian revolution, Esthonia obtained autonomy
and in July 1917 a Landtag was elected upon the basis of
equal suffrage and a provisional Cabinet was appointed.
The old provincial Landtag of the nobles ceded all its
rights to the benefit of the new Landtag, but after the
invasion of the German armies the nobility tried to get
into power again and is now aiming at a close
approximation with Prussia. The population of Esthonia
totals about 1,700,000 people, of whom 90 per cent are
Esthonians, 5 per cent Germans, 3 per cent Russians, and
the remainder Jews, Poles, and Swedes. The German
nobility only amounts to 0.5 per cent of the total
population but they own 60 per cent of the land and the
remainder, 40 per cent, which is now in the hands of the
peasants, is practically also the property of the
nobility.
The nobility refers to the peace convention of 1721, by
which Sweden surrendered Esthonia to Russia, as
constituting the basis of their rights, and the
reactionary nobility agitates throughout Germany for a
close approximation with Prussia, whereas the
representatives elected by the people, who stand for a
democratic republic, have been cut off from all means of
agitation.
The Esthonian people have nothing against Germany and the
German people, but the antipathy which we bear toward
the German nobility in Esthonia, who are supported in
certain quarters in Germany, is bound to affect our
feeling toward Germany, which would otherwise rather be
in favor of Germany than in favor of
Russia.
Mr. Martna, who has several times visited
Copenhagen and participated in the socialist conferences, has
lived twelve years in exile in Switzerland owing to the fact
that he participated in the revolution in 1905. In conclusion he
expressed the hope that the representatives of the Esthonians
may succeed in inducing the Central powers to recognize the
independence of Esthonia and to create good relations between
the democratic elements in these countries.
[Page 824]
[Enclosure 2]
Memorandum of Conversation with the
Esthonian Delegation
Under the Russian Tsar the only elective assembly in Esthonia had
been the Landtag of the nobility which represented exclusively
German interests. On April 12, 1917, autonomy was granted to
Esthonia by the Russian revolutionary government and thereupon
elections were held on a basis of equal and direct and universal
suffrage and a provisional government formed. It was this
government which the three delegates represented. On July 5,
1917, the nobility, acting under protest, gave up all their
governmental as well as social privileges to the popularly
formed government.
Upon the accession to power of the Bolsheviks in Petrograd, the
Bolshevik elements in the troops in Esthonia seized the power in
Esthonia also by controlling the Zemstvos. In the election, on a
basis of equal suffrage, for an Esthonian Landtag and for a
Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks had received only about 20
to 30 per cent of the votes. A few days before the arrival of
the German troops the Government and local authorities based on
the popularly elected Landtag succeeded in regaining power and
restoring order so that the Germans found everything under the
control of a government and a popular assembly of a democratic
sort.
Previous to the Russian revolution the government of Esthonia did
not include all Esthonians. Subsequent to the revolution the
section of the government of Livonia inhabited by Ests was
joined to Esthonia. By the treaty of peace between Germany and
the Bolsheviks only the old province of Esthonia is recognized
and the Esthonian portion of Livonia has been once more
separated from what is now recognized as Esthonia.
The Germans have, up to the present, made no general requisitions
beyond what were absolutely necessary for the occupying troops.
The conditions as to wheat and flour were extremely
bad—practically the same as in Finland. German language and
German procedure are being introduced, German teaching in the
schools. The university and high schools at Dorpat, which once
were German, but which during the past twenty-five years have
exclusively taught in Russian, are in turn to be Teutonized.
Since the occupation by the German armies the nobility are once
more in the saddle and a quite one-sided government by them,
hand in hand with German officers and functionaries, has taken
over the power. The German nobility and bourgeoisie endeavor to represent themselves as the
only cultivated elements in Esthonia and are agitating for a
close alliance with Germany, recognizing that under Germany they
would be permitted to largely control Esthonia locally and could
thus play something of a rôle, whereas under a democratic system
in an independent or semi-independent Esthonia their influence
would be practically nil. In the meantime the German authorities
have to a large extent taken over the control of the country
from the Esthonian government based on the popular elections,
permitting it only certain limited divisions of activity. In the
meantime the German interests, which aim at having all the
Baltic provinces considered as a whole, are agitating for
practical union with Germany, which agitation is being covertly
forwarded by the German Government by having all its activities
widely published. Thus the German papers have recently published
manifestoes by the assembly of the Baltic nobility in Riga, and
of a similar assembly in Esthonia, an address to the Emperor by
1,000 German women in Revel, etc., all aiming at German
absorption. On the other hand a [Page 825] portion of the manifesto of the three
delegates was erroneously published in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, much to the horror of
the annexationist papers in Germany, and in the discussion which
followed it appeared that the German Foreign Office had
requested the whole German press to publish only resolutions,
etc., favoring German absorption for the Baltic provinces and
that the telegram setting forth the wishes for independence of
the Esthonian population, sent out by the three delegates from
Stockholm, had been inserted in the German semiofficial paper
entirely by mistake.
The wish of the Esthonian people is to form an independent state
with a close commercial connection with Russia which can hardly
exist without Esthonian harbors. Simultaneously, it wishes to be
a “free harbor “for the trade of all nations to and from Russia.
Its independence should be internationally guaranteed.
The Esthonians fear:
- 1.
- Absorption by Germany. (The present situation between
the Bolshevik government and Germany is strained and
Germany might easily seize upon a real or alleged breach
of the treaty by the Bolsheviks to declare the portions
of the treaty whereby Esthonia is still recognized as
Russian territory as null and void, and proceed to
extend their temporary police powers to permanent
occupation. The German Government is apparently
preparing the way for such a move by aiding the
pro-German agitation in Esthonia.)
- 2.
- Absorption by Russia, particularly by a possible
reactionary imperialistic Russia. (A change of power in
Russia is probable and a return to some form of the old
regime is possible, under which Esthonia would be
oppressed as formerly. Anything more than a close
commercial relation with Russia, under its present
government, would likewise be disadvantageous to
Esthonia, Russia being so much the greater power.
Participation in a federated Russian republic was once
regarded favorably but the chances of such a federation
seem now extremely remote. The Bolshevik government has
technically recognized the independence of the various
“subject nationalities” of the old Russia and it is
hoped that a special recognition concerning Esthonia may
be obtained.)
- 3.
- Becoming the apple of discord between Germany and
Russia, in which case the struggle would be fought out
on Esthonian territory. (Some sort of a stable position
for Esthonia in the near future is necessary because
being a small country it will be ruined unless stability
can be soon arrived at. It is the commercial interest of
England and America to maintain an open trade route to
Russia and to assist in defining Esthonia’s position as
soon as possible.)
The main fact that Esthonian delegates desired to emphasize was
the desire to have the western powers, especially England and
the United States, recognize an independent Esthonia, similar to
the recognition accorded by the Russian revolutionary decree of
1917. The sooner Esthonia is declared Independent by the western
powers, the more difficult will it prove for Germany to absorb
it. Esthonia does not desire to tear itself loose from Russia,
nor with the present political situation does it now see any
possibility of entering into any new confederation of Russian
states. Esthonia realizes that with its splendid ice-free
harbors, not only Revel, but also on its Baltic islands, it must
be the northern trade outlet and inlet of the great
“hinterland,” that it must form Russia’s great commercial,
channel to the west. It desires economic alliance with Russia,
without customs borders; it does not, however, desire political
dependency upon Russia. Germany does not underestimate the value
of Esthonia, either its farm lands or its harbors, or as a
buffer between Germany itself and Germanized Finland.
