Count Czernin said, in regard to Italy and the Balkans,
that he would offer nothing. " I refuse to place a premium on the military adventures of our enemies." Italy might have gained a great terri- torial expansion without war ; she had now lost the advantage which she would have been able to gain. Count Czernin declared that he favoured the creation of an independent Polish State, " which should include all the territories the populations of which are indisputably Polish." He drew the bold inference that he and the President were " in agreement in the main," and suggested that a conversation would lead to enlightenment. The unofficial statement that he had sent a copy of his speech to Washington is untrue. Finally, he admitted that he was striving for peace with the Russian Anarchists and the Ukraine in order to obtain foodstuffs for Austria. It was as frank an admission as we shall get of the fact that Austria is on the verge of absolute starvation.
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