On that occasion Dr. Sychrava gave me, in addition to Masaryk’s concise report, a very detailed account of Masaryk’s journey, and of what Masaryk had told him and Svatkovsky at Geneva. On the whole it was a great disappointment. The Allies were ill-informed about Austria-Hungary, they scarcely knew anything about us at all and therefore had no definite intention with regard to our cause. The policy of Russia was appalling, and the reports of what had been said by Izvolsky, Delcassé, Trumbić, and Vesnić about their plans with Dalmatia and the Catholic Jugoslavs made him despair. At that juncture I refrained from telling the “Maffia” the whole truth because I did not want to discourage the members from continuing their work.
In the meanwhile, Dürich had left for Switzerland, and I was making vain attempts to arrange for journalists to be sent abroad. At Masaryk’s urgent request I removed a number of books from his library, together with his notes on politics and other matters, partly in order to send them to him and partly to save them from being seized by the police whenever he might take action openly. I had them transferred to the cellar of my house where, however, after my escape they were discovered and confiscated. It was on this occasion that Dr. Alice Masaryk, with whose knowledge and assistance the protection of the books had been undertaken, was arrested.
After Dürich had gone, the “Maffia” dealt with the question of sending Soukup, Habrman, Borský, and Dyk abroad. None of them, however, managed to escape. In July and August 1915 Masaryk was extremely impatient because nothing had yet been settled about the arrival of further helpers or the definite consent to his open action. At a meeting of the “Maffia” in the second half of August it was decided that at least one of the above-mentioned persons should leave the country, but that open action should be delayed just a little longer until the necessary political preparations for this purpose had been completed at home. As I have said, however, nobody succeeded in getting away, and it was I myself who brought Masaryk the consent to his taking open action, when two weeks later I escaped to Switzerland. Rašín’s arrest occasioned us some anxious moments, for there were a number of symptoms which indicated that more arrests were going to be made. We again went through our belongings and removed or destroyed all documents, messages, keys to ciphers, lists of
