[Sailor Steve]

Thursday, June 19, 1919

PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

M Pichon’s Room, Quai d’Orsay, Paris, 15:00

Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers


1. M Pichon says that he thinks it would be best to ask M Tardieu to inform the Council of the conclusions of his Committee regarding the limits of the Basin of Klagenfurt for the purpose of the telegram which the Council was requested to send.

M Tardieu says that the answer to this question is to be found in Minute 5 of a note addressed to the Supreme Council by the Commission for Romanian and Yugoslav Affairs. The consequence is that no change is made in Zone A and none proposed in Zone B, and that the boundaries shown on what is known as President Wilson’s map are maintained by the unanimous assent of the Committee.

M Pichon says that if the Council approves the proposal sent to them from the Council of Four, it will follow that a telegram should be sent demanding the evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin by both sides, the frontiers being those shown on President Wilson’s map excluding the Miesthal region.

Baron Sonnino says that as no alteration is proposed in the frontier, no specification need be made in the message. The telegram of May 31st should be repeated.

Mr Balfour says he cannot quite understand what it is proposed the Council should do. Is it to order that a large tract of country should be left with no troops in it either Austrian or Yugoslav?

M Tardieu observes that the Commission has no remarks to make on this policy as the question has not been submitted to it.

Baron Sonnino says that the Council of Heads of Governments wishes the Military Representatives on the spot to be informed of the order given for the evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin. These Officers would then make proposals in accordance with events for maintaining order in the evacuated area. This is the resolution adopted in the Council of Four.

Mr Lansing says that he does not quite follow Baron Sonnino. He reads the letter written by Sir Maurice Hankey on June 17th to mean that entire evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin is to be ordered. At the same time the Council of Foreign Ministers are asked to determine certain limits. Baron Sonnino says these limits have already been laid down. If the outline of the Klagenfurt Basin has already been determined, the letter must mean lines behind which the occupying troops should retire.

Baron Sonnino maintains that this is not the meaning of the resolution of the Council of Four. Seeing that the Commission proposed no change in the outer limits of the Klagenfurt Basin, all that remains to be done is to re-affirm the orders of May 31st.

Mr Lansing points out that the Council of Foreign Ministers is asked to “approve”; for his part he did not.

Mr Balfour also says that he does not approve.

Baron Sonnino says that he has himself raised the question in the Council of Four and asked what was to happen

(a) if evacuation took place

(b) if it did not take place.

He asks whether the Council would authorize the military Representatives on the spot to take action. The Council had decided that these Officers should not take action but should make proposals to the Council.

M Pichon observed that this matter is not within the terms of reference.

Baron Sonnino says that if his Colleagues do not approve the evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin in spite of the fact that it had been decided on by the Council of Heads of Governments, he can do no more. In his view the proper thing to do was to send a telegram and ask the military authorities on the spot to make proposals for dealing with the consequences.

M Pichon says that as Mr Balfour cannot approve of the telegram, it clearly cannot be sent. The Council is, therefore, at the very start precluded from doing what Baron Sonnino suggested.

Mr Lansing proposes that a reply be sent on behalf of the Council of Foreign Ministers to the effect that having been asked to approve of the total evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin, the Council returns the reply that it does not approve of this policy. It will, however, approve of the withdrawal of the opposing troops behind the line proposed by the Yugoslav Commission.

Baron Sonnino says he cannot agree to this. It appears to him quite contrary to the decision of the Council of the Heads of Governments as understood by him.

M Pichon says there is another proposal formulated by Mr Lansing and supported by Mr Balfour. He also concurs with it. All he can do is to put this to the vote. He thinks it would be a wise decision as supplementary information just received reports disturbances in the Klagenfurt area. He quotes a telegram from the French General on the spot saying that Allied troops are urgently required to keep order.

Mr Lansing says that he thinks there must be some mistake in the account given of the matter by Baron Sonnino. The more natural course would have been to consult the military men on the spot before asking the Foreign Ministers for their approval.

(At this stage Mr Balfour withdraws.)

Baron Sonnino says that the news quoted by M Pichon shows the necessity of doing something. He refers again to the history of the telegram sent on May 31st and to the subsequent events.

M Pichon says that, to sum up, as Mr Balfour and he himself supported Mr Lansing’s views, all he can do is to report to the Council of Four that with the exception of Baron Sonnino, all support a withdrawal of the contending armies north and south of the line shown on the map known as “President Wilson’s Map”.

Baron Sonnino says that his view is that a telegram should be sent renewing the order of May 31st for the total evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin and that the Military authorities should be asked to make proposals for dealing with the consequences. The following resolution is then adopted:

“The Council of the Foreign Ministers decided to reply to the Council of the Heads of Governments that their interpretation of the letter addressed by Sir Maurice Hankey to the Secretary-General of the Peace Conference on June 17th, 1919, regarding the evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin was that they were asked to approve the action suggested in paragraph 3.

With the exception of Baron Sonnino, this interpretation was unanimous and, with the same exception, the answer was that the Council of Foreign Ministers could not approve of the total evacuation of the Klagenfurt Basin.

It was further proposed by Mr Lansing, and approved by the other Foreign Ministers, excepting Baron Sonnino, that the troops of the contending forces be ordered to withdraw north and south respectively of the purple line drawn on the map known as President Wilson’s Map.

Baron Sonnino maintained that the duty of the Council was to send a telegram ordering the total evacuation of the Basin and to ask the 4 Military Representatives of the Allied and Associated Powers on the spot what proposals they had to make to deal with the consequences of the evacuation.”

(The Meeting then adjourns.)