740.00/641: Telegram
The Minister in Yugoslavia (Lane) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 21—2:47 a.m.]
35. Prince Paul40 expressed himself to me this evening as being very pessimistic regarding outlook for peace, stating that apparently only means by which France and Great Britain can stop Hitler is by force of arms. Speaking of popular resentment in Italy against Germany he said that democracies place undue importance on popular feeling in dictatorships; but that only question of importance in Italy is what Mussolini thinks.
As to Croatia the Prince said it has been most difficult to deal with Macek41 who never lives tip to his promises and who has time and again agreed on certain points only to repudiate his agreement the following day. Negotiations are nevertheless proceeding for a settlement. He expressed pessimism as to satisfactory and permanent nature of settlement due to idiosyncracies of Slavs “who have intelligence but no character”, whether they be in Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia or Russia. He expressed doubt that Croatia would be taken by Germany but remarked cynically that Italy, which had always fomented trouble in Croatia, was now endeavoring to bring the Serbs and Croats together.
I have never seen the Prince in such a depressed state of mind; Government officials likewise show their pessimism, one official of the Foreign Office having today told us that his Government does not now consider that war is avoidable. Even in the darkest days of last September there was some optimism which now seems entirely lacking.
Meily42 reports that Kosutic, Macek’s first lieutenant, has gone to Praha “for personal reasons”. There is local apprehension that his trip is for purpose of implementing himself with the technique of becoming a German protectorate. Apprehension is increased by establishment of German Consulate at Maribor, increased German political activity in Slovenia and Croatia and by reports that airplane landing field and military barracks are now being constructed between Villach and Klagenfurt.
A responsible Italian official expressed to me yesterday his fear lest Germany would take Croatia and thus gain access to the Adriatic. He likewise said that Hitler, in incorporating non-Germans from [Page 83] Czechoslovakia into the Reich, “had at last taken off his mask” and shown that his policy is not one of Germanization but of imperialism.
Despatch follows.43