was expressing the view held by the Consulta and the exponents of Italian foreign policy in general.
As regards ourselves, however, he showed that he understood our aims quite well. He promised assistance and asked me to visit him again. He also sanctioned the establishment of a branch office of the National Council in Rome with which, as in France, the Government would be officially in touch. In the same way he gave his consent for our organization to establish contact with the prisoners of war. This latter question, he said, was one which the Italian Government was then carefully considering, and it would decide to what extent it could adopt the same procedure as the French Government. He recommended me while in Paris to keep in direct touch with the Italian Embassy and military mission there, making any applications to the Italian Government through them.
My interview with De Morciere was similar in character. He was more guarded on the subject of the Jugoslavs, but more amenable to my arguments in their favour. He was greatly impressed by what I told him about our military plans, and about what we were already doing in France and Russia. He was also interested in the possibility of organizing our prisoners of war in Italy. He promised his support and assured me that he would give Sonnino a detailed account of the matter.
Such were my official negotiations. All the promises or agreements which I thus obtained were, in due course, carried out with the loyal co-operation of the Italian authorities. And so the result of my negotiations was by no means unsatisfactory, although it was clear that in Italy our task would not be an easy one. It would depend mainly upon tactics and the manner in which events took shape. The Press and public opinion had shown comprehension, sympathies, and good will to the fullest extent. Official circles were well-disposed as regards procedure, but were guarded in their attitude towards the cause itself.
The events of the year 1917 in France, Russia, and Italy, as well as the political and military progress of our movement in the Allied States, as we shall see, led the Italian Government, in September of the same year, during my second visit to Rome, to take further decisive steps on the subject of our cause.
On January 25, 1917, I received a telegram from Masaryk
