WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

THE AUSTRIAN PEACE MOVE 257
"secret diplomacy" in the French Chamber, and the French
journals. It accounts also for the faltering M. Ribot.
The British Government were helpless. We were entirely
in the hands of France. The offer had been made to her, and
the confidential intermediary, Prince Sixte, was a Frenchman;
although he was devoted to the Empress Zita, he was
mainly concerned with what he felt to be French interests.
M. Paul Cambon's assurance to him that he would really be
doing France no service if he carried the negotiations through
successfully must have cooled his zeal and checked his
activities. A French Royalist Prince could not face an insinuation
that he had bargained away the interests of France
to serve an enemy relative.
In the matter of the invitation to the King of Italy we
were again in the hands of the French. Whatever the terms
of the invitation sent, they were not effective in persuading
Sonnino to come to France with his monarch. On May 30th,
Prince Sixte returned to London, eager to complete his mission
by securing our answer to the Emperor's letter, and
then get back to his guns on the Belgian Front. But no reply
had as yet come to hand. I persuaded him to stay on a few
days longer until the Italian reply had been received. A first
answer turned up a few hours later, but it was of an evasive
nature. Baron Sonnino said that he saw no need for a meeting
of the Allies at present. I thereupon sent off a letter to
him by special courier, emphasising the fact that the proposed
meeting was of real importance.
No answer to this had arrived by June 5th, when Prince
Sixte called on me for a final interview before returning to
the Continent. But in the meantime, on June 3rd the Italian
Government had proclaimed a protectorate over Albania.
This action may have been inspired by the comparative
failure of the offensive which Cadorna had launched on the
Isonzo on the 12 th of May. A measure of advance had been