File No. 763.72119/2261

The Secretary of State to the Serbian Chargé ( Simitch)

Sir: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your note of October 14,1 requesting a declaration by the United States, and the other countries at war with Germany, in favor of the freedom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes of Austria-Hungary and their union with Serbia in a free and democratic state, such as was provided for in the Declaration of Corfu.

In reply I beg to state that the United States has expressed itself freely in support of the right of the Jugo-Slavs to be entirely freed from Austrian domination and that at the present time it does not feel that it can go further in declaring a policy which manifestly depends upon the self-determination of the peoples involved.

Accept [etc.]

Robert Lansing
  1. Ante, p. 842.