The situation was equally simple in Italy where, however, the number of our fellow-countrymen was small, and also in the neutral States, where we were glad of the assistance offered by our people, but we were unable to permit their direct intervention in our political and military affairs in the Allied countries.
In France we succeeded in uniting our people, to the number of about 2,000, in the central organization at Paris. This organization attended to the civil protection of its members and also to their economic support. It brought together about 700 Czechoslovak volunteers serving in the Foreign Legion, over whose interest it carefully watched until the time when they were transferred to our national army. Its work received support from a number of our friends, such as Denis, Gaye, Senator Louis Martin, Sansbœuf, Regamey, later on, Lebon, and others. From the time when the leading members of the colony succeeded in gaining for the Czechs and Slovaks a special civil status as for the Alsatians and Poles, the colony exercised what may be regarded as consular duties.
As elsewhere, in this colony too there were disputes and factions. Just as in England, America, and Russia the leaders overestimated their powers at the outset, and tried their hand at high politics. They proclaimed the dethronement of Franz Josef and the establishment of a Czechoslovak Republic, they intervened in Ministries, etc. This was natural enough in the situation as it was then. As our movement progressed, what we had to do was gradually, and without causing offence, to replace these improvised measures on the part of political amateurs (who, it should be added, had the best of intentions and did excellent work) by the organized activity of political representatives from Prague, who were really proficient at work of this sort. After the establishment of the National Council in Paris a certain tension accordingly arose, but it never resulted in open disputes, as from the very start the colony in Paris had acknowledged the authority and leadership of Masaryk. There was a certain opposition to the secretariat of the National Council and to myself at the early stages, before the secretariat could confront the colony with the results of its work. I avoided conflicts, allowing the colony to carry on its previous activities in matters concerning volunteers, money grants, and consular functions, and waiting for a suitable occasion to adjust precisely the reciprocal relationship. In those early days my situation was not always an easy one. But the more influence the National
