File No. 763.72/11905
The Minister in Switzerland ( Stovall ) to the Secretary of State
[Received (October 26?), 9.37 a.m.]
5376. It is reported that two Czech deputies of Austrian Parliament, Klofáč and Habermann, have received passports to proceed to Switzerland in order to obtain accurate information regarding the sentiment in the Allied countries especially as concerns the attitude towards the independence of Bohemia. In allowing them to leave, the Austrian authorities apparently hoped that information which they might receive here would serve to discourage the Czech extremists.
In view of America’s clear recognition of Bohemian right of self-determination only two important questions present themselves that these deputies might inquire about:
- (1)
- [Will] America support the Czechs in view of all claims to historic Bohemia, which now includes several million Germans or only oldest indisputably Czech portions of the country?
- (2)
- What is America’s attitude toward the formation of a Danube confederation of independent states, including Bohemia, German Austria, Hungary, Yugo-Slavia, Roumania?
[For a description of political conditions in Czecho-Slovakia and Jugo-Slavia, see telegram from the Minister in Switzerland, No. 5395, October 25, 1918, received October 27, ante, page 392.]