File No. 763.72119/1103
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador ( Jusserand)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of January 7, 1918,2 wherein you advise me that your Government is of the opinion that, notwithstanding the obstacles raised by the attitude of the Russian Maximalists on the peace question, nothing should be overlooked to prevent Roumania from concluding a separate peace with the Central Empires; that, in any event, the French Government believes it important absolutely to set aside the idea of a separate peace legally concluded by the present King and Government appointed by him; that if, on the contrary, the Allies should be confronted by a peace concluded by a de facto Roumanian Government set up by the Germans after the royal family and the present Government had left the country and taken appropriate measures to transfer the Army to the territory of southern Russia, the situation would be different; that, Roumania having remained faithful to the Allies to the last, they would be in a position to extend to her, at the time of the final peace conference, their whole support in having that provisional peace revised and obtaining for her the terms to which she will be entitled; that the French Minister at Jassy has been advised of the views of the French Government and instructed to deliver a declaration in that sense to the President of the Roumanian Council; and that, in bringing the foregoing to my knowledge, you have been directed by your Government to inquire whether the Government of the United States coincides in the French view and whether instructions will be sent to the American Minister at Jassy to take action similar to that of the French Minister there.
In reply I have the honor to say that the President of the United States has already conveyed a message to King Ferdinand in which he expressed the determination of this Government to assist the King and the people of Roumania in their struggle to preserve their national integrity and freedom, furthermore giving assurance that [Page 752] in any final negotiations for peace the United States will use its constant efforts to see to it that the integrity of Roumania as a free and independent nation is adequately safeguarded.1
In view of the instructions given to the French Minister, I shall now direct the American Minister at Jassy to reiterate to Mr. Bratiano the assurances already conveyed to the King.
Accept [etc.]
- Not printed.↩
- The message referred to was transmitted by telegram No. 91 of Nov. 28, 1917, to the Minister in Rumania, Foreign Relations, 1917, Supplement 2, vol. I, p. 325.↩