One of the main reasons why he took this point of view—so Sonnino explained to me—was his regard for internal politics, and particularly his delicate position towards the followers of Gioliti, towards the Socialists, and also the extreme nationalists, who would seize every opportunity for defeating the Government then in power. The Government, therefore, must not, of its own accord, increase the difficulties it already had, by creating fresh difficulties. And if Austria were to apply such reprisals towards the Italian prisoners of war, it would certainly cause Italy fresh embarrassments as soon as the relatives of the prisoners heard about it.
The manner in which Sonnino laid his arguments before me convinced me immediately that Italy would not permit any wholesale transfer of our troops to France. From what he said, I also felt that in addition to the arguments which he brought forward, there were others, perhaps still stronger, which he did not mention. As a matter of fact, Sonnino himself told me what they were later on during the discussions with regard to the recognition of our independence. It seems that he had two further special reasons: He judged that Italy must preserve all her prisoners for the peace negotiations, in case Austria-Hungary should be saved, and then, too, he was unwilling in this form to assist France in extending her political influence upon our affairs.
I accordingly at once changed the plan, and asked Sonnino for permission to liberate the prisoners and establish our national army on Italian soil, as had been done in France. In particular, I gave him a detailed account of what had already been done in this respect by France, Russia, and the United States, all of whom, unlike Sonnino, had not taken into account any considerations of international law. Sonnino did not oppose these arguments, and after some hesitation he replied that he would look into the matter from a juridical point of view. He declared that he would be willing to grant the establishment of our army in Italy, if a convenient formula could be found for this purpose. In such a case it would be necessary to discuss the details with Demartino, the general secretary of his department, and also with General Montanari and Colonel Vacchelli, of the Ministry of War. He added that Demartino, after investigating the whole scheme from a legal and technical point of view, would, within a few days, let me have Sonnino’s definite answer.
