File No. 763.72119/8266

The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

5714. Since my 5665, February 11,1 I have seen the Prime Minister three times. He has discussed the subject with some of his associates as he promised me that he would and modified his first views and recommendations. He has just told me and authorized me to telegraph you that if you formally submit a peace commission proposal on behalf of Austria-Hungary his Government will be glad to receive it formally and to consider it on its merits, on condition that every precaution be taken to insure the utmost secrecy, as if the Germans realize it they will stop. I reminded him of what he had said about his willingness not to disrupt the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the [Page 56] loss of its older units Hungary and Bohemia, He repeated what I reported in my above-mentioned telegram on that subject.

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  1. Ante, p. 41.