The Sentinel=record., 1918-08-15
AMERICAN CONSUL
 IN MOSCOW HEARD FROM
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 not see in this attitude anything but
 confirmation of Lenines declaration of the existence of state of war lTchitcherin said that he would give q
 reply within three days.
 "On the night of August a reply
 was received from Tchitcherin. 1t stated that inasmuch as Lenines ut terances were made behind closed doors. in a meeting at which an agent of the allies could be present only ow- ing to special courtesy on the part of the soviet government, public ex- plantations could not be given about
 non public utterances As to the members of the military missiJi,s, ITchitcherin said that negotiations had been begun with the Germany author ities to procure safe passage from pe- troerad to Stockholm for these oi- ficers, passage through Archangel be- ing impossible because British cruis-
 CTS had already begun the bombaru-
 ment of the islands covering Arch langel.
 "A third report from Poole refers to the arrest of British and French ci- izens at Moscow In the afternoon of August there was a conference be-
 tween Tchitcherin and the consuls Of Japan, Sweden, and the United states and the following results:
 First, the Soviet government gave
 solemn assurance that allied persons having diplomatic of official charac- ter would not be molested; second, 5 Tchitchern stated that the allied military mission would not be allow ed to depart as had already been proposed; third. that civil persons - arrested were hostages for the lives of Soviet members in territory oc- . cupied by the allies Tchitcherin - said that these persons are civil ' pris oners arrested in accordance with the paractices of war for in
 ternment He added that no respon- | sibility could Ge assumed for their ? future safety because Great Britian | and France had attacked Archangel MT Poole stated that he was with l out knowledge of what had taken place in the north but warned Tcht-
 cherin that the peoples of the allied
 nations could not be intimdated and that the initiation of a system of re- prisals by the Soviet government could only result in individual mem 5 bers of the government being held personally responsible and in the loss ! | ..f.. 70 hot respect it might now have in the minds of the civilized world. "A fourth message from MT Poole, dated August 6, stated that the au-
 thorities forcibly entered the con-
 sulates general of France and Eng land on the afternoon of the 9th, and . arrested the consuls general and
 their staffs at three o'clock in the morning of the 9th the consules gen
 eral and part of their staffs were re- leased through the untiring good of- fees of the Swedish consul general
 MT Poole stated that a guard re-
 mained around both consulates and would not permit British or French nationals to approach
 Mr Poole pointed out that these
 acts occurred immediately following Il the solemn assurance given by Tshit
 cherin that all persons having diplo matic or consular character would 1e respected.
 Feeling that there were no as- | surances that the American consul general would not be violated at any moment, he destroyed his code and records This and the general situ
 ation, made 1t impossible to carry
 on his functions and he asked the Swedish consul general to take over
 the protection of American interests and at the same time to request faci- lities of the Soviet government for
 the immediate departure of the
 American diplomatic and consular , staff The allied consuis were doing likewise.
 'All steps were being taken for the
 security of private American citizens , who had not been molested so far MT Poole added that departure l. would probably be by the way of Fl Petrograd and Stockholm. At the ,l instance of the Swedish consul gen eral the German embassy had al- } ready recommended to the German | government the issuance of the ne- cessary of the safe conduct
 | -.- lhatr