for our national army among the Czechs and Slovaks there. As a matter of fact, all of us in Paris felt confident that among the one and a half millions of our fellow-countrymen in America, we should find several thousand volunteers, and the reports from those who were working for us in America tended to confirm this view. Štefánik also thought that he would be able to win over the United States Government to our cause.
After discussing matters with Štefánik we adopted the same procedure as in the previous year when dealing with Štefánik’s mission to Russia. On behalf of the National Council, I asked the French Government to entrust Štefánik with a mission involving negotiations with the American authorities for the purpose of obtaining the consent of the latter to the proposed volunteer movement on behalf of our army in France.
The consent of Ribot, as Foreign Minister, was again secured through the help of Berthelot, who even at that early period was a sincere friend to Štefánik and myself, and a supporter of all our undertakings. We secured the consent of the War Minister by means of direct interventions with M. Painlevé, the Minister of War, and through the help of Franklin-Bouillon. This was the first occasion on which I got into touch with Painlevé, and I maintained this personal contact until the end of the war. He was a sincere and devoted friend to us, and it is to him that we owe a settlement of the many questions relating to our army. Under his regime also a definite agreement was reached with regard to our army in France, although in a formal respect a number of documents were not actually signed until his successor, Clemenceau, came into power. Štefánik was also on good personal terms with Painlevé.
It would not, however, be quite correct to attribute the initiative in this matter to us alone. It was facilitated by the fact that the possibility of securing volunteers in America had already been brought to the notice of the French Government from other quarters. At this very moment M. Jusserand, the French Ambassador in the United States, and André Tardieu, the French High Commissioner there, were working in a similar way for the organization of the Polish Army in France. In this they were supported to a considerable extent both by the Government and the public opinion in the United States.
The Polish National Committee in Paris had, like ourselves,
