Two days later, on July 28, 1916, Štefánik left for Russia. From Paris he proceeded via Brest to Archangelsk. I accompanied him by train as far as Laval. Two days after that I went to London, as I wanted to give Masaryk an account of what we had been doing in Paris, and also to confer with him on our future work. It seemed reasonable to infer from recent events that the National Council was now entering upon a period of very important political and military activity. From the negotiations of the French authorities with the National Council and with myself as its secretary, I saw that they were beginning to assign to us a genuine political significance.
I remained in London two weeks. We discussed in detail all our problems, needs, and further plans. With Voska’s help we sent an envoy, Miss Kvíčal, from London to Prague. She was returning from America to Austria, and at Masaryk’s request the English authorities detained her and brought her to see us in London.(20) On August 10th I gave her a message which she learnt by heart and faithfully delivered to Dr. Šámal in Prague. The contents of this message give a very striking indication of the stage which our movement reached at that time, and also of our views, plans, hopes, and needs.
While in London with Masaryk I met Supilo and Milyukov. Supilo gave us a very frank account of his disputes with Pašić, of his experiences in Russia with Sazonov, of his discussions with Giers, and of his negotiations with the English authorities. He was impetuous and resolute, but he possessed also political instinct and sound intelligence. In London he was regarded favourably. He took an adverse view of Russia. He was convinced that Petrograd had consciously and deliberately betrayed the idea of Jugoslav unity by assenting to the London Pact with Italy, and by opposing the scheme for joining the Croats and Slovenes with the Serbs. Altogether he considered that Russia had no political policy of a Slav and anti-Austrian character. In my presence Masaryk discussed in detail with Milyukov the whole of our political plan for reorganizing Central Europe.(21) Milyukov agreed with it. He, too, criticized Russia severely. Masaryk and I paid a visit to Oxford, partly to interview English professors there—notably Dr. J. Holland Rose—partly also to have another meeting with Dmowski and Milyukov, who were then lecturing at Oxford on the problems of the war, with special reference to Russia and Italy.
Our visit to Oxford is associated with memories which I
