Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume XII

Paris Peace Conf. 184.01502/43

The Chief of the Mission to the Baltic Provinces ( Greene ) to Major Royall Tyler

Libau , June 6, 1919.

Dear Major Tyler: The attached proposed memorandum from the Associated Governments’ Representatives in these countries has just been drafted in this office in time to go to Paris with Mr. Rosenthal. It has been agreed on between Colonel Tallents, Chief of the British Economic Mission, and myself. Tomorrow morning we go out on board the British Commodore’s flagship to have an inter-Allied meeting to adopt it as a memorandum representing the views and the urgent recommendation of all of us. At this meeting there will be present the British Senior Naval Officer, the French Senior Naval Officer, the Chief of the American Mission, the Chief of the British Mission, and the Chief of the French Mission. We are all agreed that the situation here is so intolerable and the need of action so great that we should prepare a joint note and that I should take it to Paris in person the moment we have all signed it. It is possible that the attached draft may be somewhat modified in detail at tomorrow’s meeting, but I do not think that it will be changed in principle. Our proposal is that I take it to Paris on a flying trip in the hope that favorable action can be secured and that I can return to Libau and then proceed to Riga with the other Allied Representatives where we will present this announcement to the proper authorities.

We find the present situation intolerable. We are forced to stand by and watch the country pass first under the Red Terror and then under the White, without any power to help matters. We consider that a continuation of the present inactivity on our part will lead the country either to Bolshevism or Germanism. The immediate peril has been Bolshevism, but we believe in the long run Germany is stronger, that she is consolidating her position in these provinces, thereby preserving her “bridges to the east” and that she looks to Russia to recoup from this war.

As soon as this proposed amendment is adopted and signed by the various representatives it will be cabled to Paris with a statement that I have been selected as a delegate to take it to Paris³⁸ and present it to the Peace Conference, returning here as soon as possible thereafter with the decision of our respective governments in regard to the matter.

Sincerely yours,

Warwick Greene

[Enclosure]

Draft Memorandum

Libau , June 6, 1919.

It is a matter of the greatest urgency that a declaration should be made locally of the immediate proposals of the Associated Governments in regard to the three Baltic Provinces. Fighting is to be expected at any moment about Riga among the forces hitherto opposed to the Bolsheviks, and apart from this, the situation in Latvia and Lithuania will inevitably continue on its present downward course unless a firm statement of Allied intentions is made locally. It is requested that the Political Representatives of America, France and Great Britain in the Baltic Provinces may be authorized to make a united statement immediately. It is suggested that the statement should as nearly as possible take the following form:—

“An Interallied Military Mission, under command of a British General, will reach the Baltic Provinces immediately. Arms, equipment, instructors, and (a proportion of their) pay will be provided for local forces, and for volunteers, who may be raised from external sources, in so far as this may be determined by the head of the Military Mission to be necessary for the protection of the provinces against Bolshevism or for other purposes of defence. The provision of such supplies will depend upon the loyal acceptance by the forces named of the general direction of the head of the Interallied Military Mission in their fight against Bolshevism, their methods of recruiting, and their relations between each other and with the German and Polish forces.

“A loan will be granted immediately to Lithuania and Esthonia, respectively, for civil purposes, on condition that the Provisional Governments concerned will undertake to lay before the Political Representatives of the Associated Governments, in their countries, their proposals for the use of the money thus raised, and that no such Proposal is carried out without their approval. A similar loan will be granted to Latvia as soon as a provisional Coalition Government has been formed, which, in the opinion of the Political Representatives of the Associated Governments in Latvia, is truly representative of the inhabitants of the country.”

38. An American Commission personnel memorandum of June 18, 1919, states that Lieutenant Colonel Greene, with certain other members of his staff, had reported in Paris from the Baltic Mission (Paris Peace Conf. 184.015/50).