Delegation of Jugoslavs to Woodrow Wilson

Washington, D. C.

The Jugoslavs, organized in the SERBIAN NATIONAL DEFENCE, the CROATIAN LEAGUE OF U. S. A., and the SLOVENIAN NATIONAL ALLIANCE, represented by the JUGOSLAV NATIONAL COUNCIL of Washington, D. C., and under the leadership of the JUGOSLAV COMMITTEE OF LONDON, in the name of the Jugoslavs in the United States, as well as those in Austria-Hungary, beg to express to you, Mr. President, their unswerving loyalty and their warmest appreciation of the recognition of the just nationalistic aspirations of the Jugoslav nation.

The Jugoslav deputies of the Vienna Parliament, basing their demands on the principle of self-determination, in their declaration of May 30, 1917, demanded the unification of all Jugoslavs in a single State, absolutely sovereign and completely independent of any foreign domination. On July 20, 1917, Dr. Trumbic, the president, and other authorized representatives of the Jugoslav Committee of London and the Royal Serbian Government, in the DECLARATION OF CORFU, clearly expressed the wish of the whole Jugoslav race: that all Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, wherever they live in compact and continuous masses, be united in one free and democratic State.

The principle of self-determination of nations, which you, Mr. President, in the name of American democracy so solemnly proclaimed to the whole world, is on its victorious march, and there is no force that could prevent its complete triumph. In the victory of this principle our nation sees its salvation. Encouraged by the strong and indomitable will of the United States to fight under your leadership for this lofty principle to the bitter end, our people, within and without Austria-Hungary are ready to sacrifice all for their liberty and for the victory of democracy over autocracy.

Our nation, exhausted after centuries of bloody struggle against German imperialism, and after countless sacrifices for liberty, but still unbroken in spirit, is looking to you, Mr. President, to lead it into the final battle. For this struggle our nation is offering without reserve all its energies, its life and wealth.

To His Excellency
Honorable Woodrow Wilson
President of the United States
The White House,
Washington, D. C.