our independence. A Germany which would take over the leading political and economic rôles in Warsaw, Kiew and Bukarest, would have placed us at a considerable disadvantage.
I was not conversant with the secrets of diplomacy except at the time when, in consequence of a decision of the Chamber of Deputies, Count Albert Apponyi, Stefan Rakovszky and I myself were informed of the exact position by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Burian. This period, however, was brought to a close when Burian declared that he did not feel justified in informing us of secrets of international policy which were not purely his own. (This took place from the 6th of July to the 23rd of August, 1916.)
Regarding the state of affairs from outside, I gained the impression that there was no real opportunity for concluding peace. It appears now, however, that negotiations took place which promised serious possibilities of peace. The negotiations referred to were those which Count Revertera conducted at Czernin's request with the French Count Armand in August, 1917, in Switzerland, and which Czernin made public in the last speech which he delivered as Minister for Foreign Affairs. It was the speech which contained an attack upon the French President Clemenceau. I understand that those negotiations led to a favourable result. Clemenceau was not as yet at the head of the French Government, and the defeat of the Russian front exercised a depressing effect upon the Allies, and in consequence there was a strong peace tendency in
