File No. 763.72/11116
The Consul General at London ( Skinner) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 27.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that the following declaration is officially announced this morning in all London newspapers as having been made by the British Government:1
Since the beginning of the war the Czecho-Slovak Nation has resisted the common enemy by every means in its power. The Czechoslovaks have constituted a considerable army, fighting on three different battlefields and attempting, in Russia arid Siberia, to arrest the Germanic invasion.
In consideration of its efforts to achieve independence, Great Britain regards the Czecho-Slovaks as an Allied nation, and recognizes the unity of the three Czecho-Slovak armies as an Allied and belligerent army waging regular warfare against Austria-Hungary and Germany.
Great Britain also recognizes the right of the Czecho-Slovak National Council as the supreme organ of the Czecho-Slovak national interests, and as the present trustee of the future Czecho-Slovak Government, to exercise supreme authority over this Allied and belligerent army.
I have [etc.]