760c.61/272
The Polish Minister (Lubomirshi) to the Secretary of State
Sir: I have been requested by the Government of the Eepublic of Poland to convey to you, Mr. Secretary, its thanks for the essential principles on the Polish situation expressed in your note of August 10 to the Italian Ambassador.26
The declaration that the United States Government and the American Nation are, by way of the employment of all available means solicitous for the maintenance of political independence and territorial integrity of a united, free and autonomous Polish State, is very gratifying to the Polish Nation and has been highly appreciated by the Polish Government as a guarantee that the rights of the Polish Nation shall never be curtailed. Poland sees in it the manifestation of the deep sympathy which unites both Nations, and which has so many times been demonstrated in their historical development.
I am authorized to express to the United States Government deep gratitude for its open condemnation of the political system and methods of the Bolshevik Government.
[Page 397]The note of August 10 reached Warsaw at a time when Poland was flooded by overwhelming Bolshevik forces, and when, owing to lack of material means, only a great moral strength could win the battle of Warsaw. At this decisive moment the weighty words expressed in the note proved a valuable moral support.
By the supreme effort of our national army, not only was Warsaw saved; this victory will, with the help of Providence, contribute in a considerable degree to the weakening of the Bolshevik power, which, having brutally seized the governmental machinery of Russia, is straining its efforts to force upon the world its oligarchic principles, which are contrary to the general conception of justice and democracy.
I have great pleasure in assuring you, in the name of the Polish Government, that we share the feelings of sympathy for the Russian people as manifested by the American Government.
This war, which was forced upon us by the attack made on Polish cities, is a defensive war and is waged against Bolshevism and not against the Russian people.
The most prominent leaders of the Russian nation, heading the true Russian democratic movement, see in the success of the Polish war-endeavors the national Russian interest. They acknowledge them as a very important factor in the emancipation of the Russian Nation from Bolshevik oppression, which for two and half years has been destroying the moral and material strength of Russia.
And, indeed, in this struggle with the Soviet Government, whose armies are still devastating Polish territories, the Polish Government has always been guided only by its duty to defend the independence and territorial integrity of Poland and guard Europe against the Bolshevik wave.
Accept [etc.]