WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

THE AUSTRIAN PEACE MOVE 259
taking up energetically the idea of negotiations with Austria,
whereas the French were not too eager to press these
forward rapidly. But the Allied Premiers would be meeting
in mid-July for a conference. The French President shared
Cambon's view that Italy could not be allowed to get the
Trentino until France had secured possession of Alsace-
Lorraine — an attitude which really made it impossible for
the prospective terms of a separate peace with Austria to
be executed until Germany was defeated. In view of this
conversation, Prince Sixte returned to his regiment and
abandoned his efforts at peace-making.
Meantime in France, where, throughout the War, it
seemed all but impossible to keep a secret, some kind of rumour
appears to have leaked out about these negotiations. In
a debate in the Chamber on June 5th, charges about "secret
diplomacy" were levelled at the Premier, M. Ribot, who
repudiated them with virtuous indignation. "Secret diplomacy
has been mentioned: there can be no secret diplomacy!
The fullest publicity should be and shall be given here I"
The denial may not have been more than diplomatically
truthful, but the attack doubtless scared Ribot away from
any attempts to press further with negotiations.
The Italians did not come into conference until July
25th, when an Inter-Allied Conference was held in Paris.
By this time M. Ribot felt it too late to challenge Cadorna
about the alleged Italian peace approach to Austria. But
he took the course of showing Sonnino all the correspondence.
If he felt entitled thus for reasons of overriding public interest
to break his solemn promise to Prince Sixte, it surely
ought to have been done in April. I never urged it. In April
I entreated Prince Sixte to release the French Government
from its bond, but when he firmly declined, I felt we were
bound to keep faith at all costs. This revelation did not penetrate
Baron Sonnino's resistance. By this time the question