Paris Peace Conf. 8611.0146/1
The Minister in Switzerland ( Stovall ) to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
[Received December 18.]
Gentlemen: With reference to my report No. 1 of to-day’s date,9 I have the honor to quote herewith a statement received from the Lithuanian Bureau of Information at Lausanne with regard to the occupation by Polish troops of Lithuanian territories:
[“]For some time the Polish Press Bureau has been giving out communiqués to prepare public opinion for the occupation of certain regions of Lithuania. We must declare that the Lithuanian population has taken no steps to obtain any protection whatsoever against the Bolshevik bands. It is rather organizing itself by its own means, under the direction of the Provisional Lithuanian Government, for the maintenance of order and the defense of the country. And if the Polish troops were tempted to occupy a portion of the territory of Lithuania, they would find the Lithuanian people united as one man to defend it by force of arms.”
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩