860m.07B11/–
The Secretary of State to the Lithuanian Executive Committee
Gentlemen: The receipt is acknowledged of your letter of December 30, 1919, by which you advise the Department that the so-called Provisional Government of the Republic of Lithuania has constituted your Committee its diplomatic agent in the United States, and that your Committee is prepared to perform all acts which are usually performed by the Embassies or Legations of foreign governments, in so far as this can be done consistently with the fact that the so-called Provisional Government of Lithuania has not been recognized by the United States.
You are informed that, the Government of the United States not having recognized the so-called Provisional Government of Lithuania, [Page 643] it is not possible to attribute to your Committee any diplomatic character.
The Government of the United States appreciates the difficult situation in which many Lithuanians find themselves as a result of the disruption of the Russian Government and is disposed to go to the utmost practicable limits to relieve them from its inconveniences. In the matter of passports, it has been provided that persons of Lithuanian origin may depart from the United States on affidavits of identity and nationality, approved by the State Department, in lieu of passports, when accompanied by the usual permits of departure.
The Department is glad to deal informally with individuals and groups of individuals which are acting disinterestedly on behalf of the Lithuanian people or any portion of them. Your Committee, in common with other representative Lithuanian bodies, may therefore count upon the consideration of the Department in all matters which it may have occasion to take up with it, within the limitations set forth above.
I am [etc.]