Paris Peace Conf. 184.01102/51
Professor A. C. Coolidge to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
[Received February 6.]
Sirs: I have the honor to report that since my Dispatch No. 46,42 I have not received any additional information on the subject of the recent fighting in Austrian Silesia, which I trust may have now come to an end. I inclose herewith a note sent to Warsaw43 just before the Czech troops were set in motion. The Polish Government was not left sufficient time to yield even if it had desired to do so. The assertion has been made that the chief reason for this precipitation was the desire to occupy the district before it could elect members to the new Polish National Assembly, thereby testifying to its Polish nationality.
In a conversation I had yesterday with Mr. Tusar, the Czech-Slovak Minister here, he intimated that the fact that the Czechs were going to take action was known and approved in Paris by the Entente, but said that formal permission could not be given because Poland was an Allied nation. Some days ago, officials of the Western Galician Republic told me that in their efforts to get representatives to Paris they had been aided by Mr. Tusar, who had enabled them to send one man to Switzerland and two to Italy. None of these men, however, have been able to get further. This story, if known, would doubtless be regarded as another proof of Czech hostility to the Poles. It is no secret I believe that the Government at Prague refused to permit the shipping of arms and ammunition from Austria to Poland; or prevented it by [Page 324] delay, which is not surprising in view of what was in the wind. I inclose copies of a memorandum44 that has come into my possession in regard to similar dealings with Hungary.
I have [etc.]