File No. 861.00/1967
The French Ambassador (Jusserand) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 24.]
Mr. Secretary of State: My Government has just forwarded to me a telegram from the Ambassador of France to Russia who, under the impression made on him by the more and more alarming advance of German enterprise in that country, is led by the series of facts that have lately come to his knowledge to the conclusion that a Japanese intervention bearing an inter-Allied character has become an urgent necessity. I deem it my duty, owing to the gravity of the facts reported by Mr. Noulens, to transmit hereinbelow to your excellency the substance of his message:
In spite (so telegraphs Mr. Noulens) of the protests of the People’s Commissioners and in violation of the provisions of the Brest Litovsk treaty, the Germans are still broadening their action and are advancing in every direction. Their soldiers have already passed beyond Kharkov and Odessa, in the south. In Finland they are extending to the White Guards an assistance which is but the first step toward a protectorate that would isolate Russia from the rest of Europe. They have possessed themselves of nearly all the Black Sea Fleet and that of Helsingfors which has sought temporary refuge at Kronstadt can hardly escape their clutches.
In control of the southern provinces and Black Sea ports, they are now using the Finnish guards in cutting off the communications of Russia with the Entente powers. If the Allied contingents are not reinforced, as I have repeatedly asked they should be, there is ground to fear that raids like that which was recently intended to blow up the Kem bridge will eventually be successful and that German-Finnish forces will occupy Kem and Kandalaksha where a submarine station could be established that would singularly hamper navigation to Archangel. …
Japan’s military action, brought into play as soon as possible with the assistance and in the name of the Allies, can alone thwart the schemes of the German Government in eastern Europe. It would be important to complement such an intervention by the unavoidable landing, which may be urgent, of an inter-Allied body of troops at Murmansk and Archangel. The group of Czechs which has not yet been sent on to the Far East might render valuable service in that respect.
In order to offer the required guarantees to the Entente powers as well as to Russian opinion, the Japanese intervention should bear an inter-Allied character which of course implies the consent of the United States. Again it must be borne in mind that Japan has reserved to itself the right to intervene on its own initiative on the day when its interests are threatened.
Your excellency will perhaps share my view that considering the importance of these data and the gravity of the events that may be foreseen in the very near future, it might be advisable to place before the President of the United States the foregoing résumé of our Ambassador’s telegram.
Be pleased to accept [etc.]