Comert. Through them I was introduced to members of the French Embassy, such as de Fleuriau, and later to Paul Cambon himself. Steed was a devoted adviser and friend to our people. He has, and always will have, a place of honour in the history of our liberation.
The same applies to Dr. Seton Watson, who had done valuable work on behalf of the Slovaks before the war, and to this now added his extensive activities on our behalf during the war. In October 1916, after consulting with Masaryk and Steed, he founded the New Europe, a monthly review which championed our programme and, in fact, the programme for liberating all the oppressed nations of Central Europe. Seton Watson gathered round him a group of collaborators, such as A. F. Whyte, M.P., Sir Arthur Evans, the brothers Leeper, Sir Bernard Pares, R. F. Young, L. B. Namier, and others, who wrote on Central European matters. A number of others were associated with this work on our behalf, and of them I should refer in particular to the late H. M. Hyndman, with his paper Justice; the late Ronald Burrows, Principal of King’s College; Lord Bryce; Dr. Harold Williams; Professor Sarolea, who at that time was editing the paper Everyman; the late Dr. Dillon; Mrs. Rosa Newmarch; and the Rev. Hunter Boyd. With the assistance of this group, and in co-operation with the Jugoslavs, Poles, Rumanians, Lithuanians, etc., public demonstrations and lectures were arranged.
Very valuable services were rendered to our cause later on by a new institution which came into existence at the initiative of Steed and Lord Northcliffe, and was located at Crewe House. This was a well-organized office for collecting detailed information about the political, economic, and military position of the Central Powers. This information was then used for propaganda, and for the assistance of both official and unofficial circles. Its work was carried on not only in England, but also in France, and from the spring of 1918 very widely in Italy as well. It operated by means of the distribution of pamphlets at the front among the Slav troops in the Austro-Hungarian armies. At first it was an institution for propaganda pure and simple, but under the influence of Northcliffe and Steed it became a powerful political factor, and played an important part in the movement for the destruction of Austria-Hungary. There is no doubt that in this respect it did much to change the orientation of British policy. I
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