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Bosworth, Richard
1983.
Italy and the Approach of the First World War.
p.
1.
Article contents
VI. The Entente and the Vatican during the Period of Italian Neutrality, August 1914–May 1915
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
Extract
Both the Entente and the Central Powers interpreted the ascension of Benedict XV to the papal throne in the fall of 1914 as signalling a reinvigoration of Vatican foreign policy. Indeed there was little reason to expect that Giacomo Delia Chiesa, elected successor to Pius X on the morning of 3 September, would be passive in a diplomatic sense. As Rennell Rodd, the British ambassador to the Italian court remarked a few days after Benedict's election, the new Pontiff's first acts gave promise of prefacing a ‘vigorous and interesting reign.’.
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References
1 Rodd to Grey, disp. 355, 6 September 1914, F[oreign] O[ffice]/371/2006, Public Record Office, London (hereafter cited as P.R.O.).
2 See Leslie, Shane, Cardinal Gasquet: A Memoir (New York [1953?]), p. 190.Google Scholar
3 Rodd to Grey, disp. 355, 6 September 1914, F.O./371/2006, P.R.O.; see also Peters, Walter H., The Life of Benedict XV (Milwaukee, 1959), p. 91.Google Scholar
4 Henry Howard, a prominent British Catholic who was to head a special diplomatic mission to the Holy See in December 1914, wrote that Benedict, ‘who has been brought up in the pronouncedly political school of Leo XIII and Cardinal Rampolla, has inherited all their traditions, and is bent on playing a great, if not sensational, part in the drama that is now being enacted [i.e. the war]’. Howard to Grey, disp. 5, 11 January 1915, F.O./371/2371, P.R.O. Mariano Rampolla had served as Leo XIII's secretary of state from 1887 to 1903.
5 Rodd to Balfour, private letter, 25 March 1917, Arthur BalfourMSS, F.O./800/202, P.R.O
6 On 7 September Rodd reported to Grey a conversation he had with Cardinal Francis Bourne:' His Eminence…told me that he understood that a story which I have heard mentioned here…was really true, namely, that considerable pressure had been exercised in vain by the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to the Vatican to obtain from the late Pope [Pius X] his pontifical blessing for the armies of the Dual Monarchy.’ Rodd to Grey, disp. 358, 7 September 1914, F.O./371/2008, P.R.O.
7 For Vatican foreign policy during the Sarajevo crisis, see Albertini, Luigi, The Origins of the War of 1914 (3 vols. New York, 1952–1957), III, 360–3,Google Scholar and Engel-Janosi, Friedrich, ‘The Roman Question in the First Years of Benedict XV’, The Catholic Historical Review, XL (October 1954), p. 270.Google Scholar
8 Martini, Ferdinando, Diario, 1914–1918 (Milan, 1966), p. 172;Google Scholar Howard to Grey, tel. 18, 16 March 1915, F.O./371/2375, P.R.O.; Gregory to Drummond, private letter, 31 March 1915, Edward Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
9 Rodd to Grey, disp. 438, 9 November 1914, F.O./371/2009, P.R.O.
10 Ibid.; also Gregory to Tyrell, private letter, 10 January 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
11 Howard to Grey, disp. 12, 17 February 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.; Britain, Great, Foreign Office, Italy (London, 1919), p. 26;Google Scholar Leslie, Gasquet, pp. 234–5.
12 See Charles-Roux, François, Souvenirs diplomatiques: Rome-Quirinale, février 1916—fevrier 1919 (Paris, 1958), p. 55.Google Scholar
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14 Korneev, A.S., ‘Iz Istorii Odnogo Zagovora: Delo Mussolini-Gedenshtroma’ (From the History of a Certain Conspiracy: The Mussolini-Gedenshtrom Case), Istorischeskii Arkhiv (09–10 1962), p. 100.Google Scholar
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17 Ibid.; also Britain, Italy, p. 26.
18 Rodd to Grey, disp. 438, 9 November 1914, F.O./371/2009, P.R.O.
19 Ibid.
20 See Renzi, , ‘Italy's Neutrality and Entrance into the Great War: A Re-examination’, The American Historical Review, LXXIII (06 1968), esp. pp. 1423–30.Google Scholar
21 Epstein, Klaus, Matthias Erzberger and the Dilemma of German Democracy (Princeton, 1959), p. 122.Google Scholar On 29 May 1915, several days after Italy entered the conflict, the Osservatore Romano deprecated the fact that the Holy See ‘will no longer possess those means which contribute to its formation of an accurate notion and concept of the international situation’ since the representatives of the Central Powers accredited to the Curia had been obliged to leave Rome.
22 After a conversation with Merry del Val on 29 July 1914, the Austrian chargé d'affaires at the Vatican, Moriz Pálffy, wrote to Vienna: ‘In spite of all the explorations made in recent decades by the Curia, Austria-Hungary remains the Catholic state κατ’ έ¾οχήν [par excellence], the strongest bulwark of the faith remaining in our time to Christ's church.’ Österreich-ungarns Aussenpolitik von der bosnischen Krise 1908 bis zum Kriegsausbruch 1914 (8 vols. Vienna, 1930), VII, doc. 10993, 893–4.Google Scholar
23 Sonnino to Avarna, tel. I, 9 December 1914, carte Antonio Salandra, busta 5, fasc. 44, Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome (hereafter cited as ACS); Avarna to Sonnino, tel. 4/137, 12 December 1914, ibid.
24 See Renzi, ‘Italy's Neutrality and Entrance into the Great War’, esp. pp. 1423–9.
25 See Imperiali to Sonnino, tel. 43, 1 February 1915, tel[egrammi] ris[ervato] spec[iali] di gab[inetto] in arrivo, 1915, vol. CDXXIV, Archivio Storico, Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Rome (hereafter cited as AS); Avarna to Sonnino, tel. 47, 5 February 1915, ibid.; Avarna to Sonnino, tel. 68, 17 April 1915, ibid.; Torretta to Sonnino, tel. 542, 6 April 1915, carte Salandra, busta 2, fasc. 19, ACS; also Engel-Janosi, Friedrich, ‘Benedetto XV e l'Austria’ in Rossini, Giuseppe, ed., Benedetto XV, i cattolici e la prima guerra mondiale (Rome, 1963), esp. p. 345.Google Scholar
26 Howard to Grey, enclosing a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15, 1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
27 See esp. Gregory to Drummond, private letter, 12 May 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
28 Howard to Grey, transmitting a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15,1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
29 Ibid.
30 See Engel-Janosi, ‘The Roman Question in the First Years of Benedict XV’, esp. p. 278.
31 Grey to Rodd, disp. 266, 17 November 1914, F.O./371/2009, P.R.O.
32 Bonin to Sonnino, disp. 911/312, 27 December 1914, pacco 236, AS; Salandra, Antonio, L'intervento: Ricordi e pensieri (Milan, 1930), p. 205.Google Scholar
33 See for example Howard's report of a conversation with under-secretary of state Eugenio Pacelli (later Pius XII) which took place on 20 February and a second conversation between Pacelli and Gregory the next day in Howard to Tyrell, private letter, 21 February 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
34 Salandra, L'intervento, p. 160. See also Rudolfo Mosca, ‘La mancata revisione dell'art. 15 del patto di Londra’ in Benedetto XV, i cattolici e la guerra, pp. 400–12.
35 Interestingly enough it has been stated the papal treasury was also found to be empty after Benedict's death in 1922, and a loan was reputedly necessary to finance the cost of the conclave which elected his successor. Cianfarra, Camille M., The Vatican and the War (New York, 1944), p. 57.Google Scholar
36 Epstein, Erzberger, pp. 102–3, 408–9. Epstein had access to the Erzberger and Karl Bachem MSS, both of which contain convincing proof of Erzberger's financial aid to the Papacy.
37 Bollati to Sonnino, tel. 2622/408, 13 April 1915, carte Salandra, busta 2, fasc. 17, ACS.
38 Avarnato Sonnino, tel. 242/67, 17 April 1915, tel. ris. spec, di gab. inarrivo, CDXXIV, AS.
39 Howard to Grey, disp. 20, 23 May 1915, F.O./371/2377, P.R.O.
40 Peters, Walter H., The Life of Benedict XV (Milwaukee, 1959), pp. 129–32;Google ScholarPatin, Wilhelm, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutsch-Vatikanischen Beziehungen in den letzten Jahrzehnten (Berlin, 1942), p. 244et passim.Google Scholar
41 Ada Apostolicae Sedis, 17 September 1914, p. 511.
42 See Engel-Janosi, Friedrich, ed., Die politische Korrespondenz der Päpste mit dem österreichischen Kaisern, 1804–1918 (Vienna, 1964), p. 381.Google Scholar
43 Howard to Grey, disp. 21, 27 May 1915, F.O./371/2377, P.R.O.
44 Ibid.; Wood, L.J.S., ‘Benedict XV: Pontiff of Peace’, The Dublin Review, CLXX (04–06 1922), p. 202.Google Scholar
45 Epstein, Erzberger, pp. 149, 163.
46 Howard to Drummond, private letter, 20 December 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.; Wood, ‘Benedict XV’, p. 202.
47 Hudal, Alois, Die österreichische Vatikanbotschaft, 1806–1918 (Munich, 1952), p. 299;Google Scholar Martini, Diario, p. 1069; Peters, Life of Benedict XV, pp. 126–3 8; Patin, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutsche-Vatikanischen Beziehungen, pp. 229–46; Wood, ‘Benedict XV’, pp. 201–3; The Tablet, CXXX (07 1917), 17–18;Google ScholarThe Times (London), 8 08 1917.Google Scholar
48 Dillon, , ‘Italy's New Birth’, The Fortnightly Review, DLXXXIII (07 1915), II.Google Scholar
49 Epstein, Erzberger, pp. 149–50.
50 Rumbold to Balfour, tel. 1120, 21 November 1917, F.O./371/2948, P.R.O.; Rumbold to Balfour.tel. 1320,31 December 1917, F.O./371/2480, P.R.O.; Calboli to Ministero deH'interno, ufficio centrale d'investigazione, disp. without number, 2 November 1917, pacco 177, AS; also pacco 177, passim. Briefly, the British inquiry established that large sums of German money were reaching the Vatican via Swiss banks. In addition, the Italian investigation suggests German funds had been reaching the Curia since the first year of the conflict. The papal representative in Bern, Francesco Marchetti, somehow learned of the Italian investigation, and in person or via an intermediary he actually spoke of the subject with Raniero Calboli, the Italian minister in Bern. While Marchetti did not admit the funds represented anything but normal church revenues and contributions, he attempted to allay fears they would affect Vatican policy by assuring Calboli the flow of money had been continuing ‘since the beginning of the war and thus does not constitute a new factor which could engender particular suspicion at the present moment’.
51 Leslie, Gasquet, p. 236.
52 Rodd to Grey, private letter, 5 October 1014, Grey MSS, F.O./800/65, P.R.O.
53 See for instance Errington to Granville, private letter, 9 November 1881, George Errington MSS, F.O./800/235, P.R.O.
54 Grey to Rodd, private letter, 20 November 1914, F.O./371/2007, P.R.O.; Grey to Rodd, tel. 497, 10 December 1914, ibid.
55 Leslie, Gasquet, p. 237. The British Foreign Office consistently employed the word mission rather than legation in describing their representation at the Vatican, hoping thereby to stress the temporary nature of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the Papacy.
56 The Times (London), 12 12 1914;Google ScholarThe Foreign Office List, 1915 (London, 1915), pp. 324–5;Google Scholar Howard to Grey, disp. 3, 30 December 1914, F.O./371/2371, P.R.O.
57 The other members of the mission included John Wilson, who served as attaché, and John Gregory, who acted as secretary. As Grey had probably anticipated, the mission aroused considerable anxiety among British Protestants (see FO/371/2371, passim); despite this fact it eventually grew into a permanent legation.
58 Superseded version of Howard's address given as an enclosure in Howard to Grey, disp. I, 29 December 1914, ibid.
59 Ibid., The British government did not conceal the mission's purpose from the public. Howard's original address had closely followed his instructions from the King as approved Asquith, which were subsequently published as a parliamentary paper. Asquith to Howard, letter of instruction dated 16 December 1914, F.O./371/2007, P.R.O.; ‘Despatch to Sir Henry Howard Containing Instructions Respecting his Mission to the Vatican’, parliamentary paper Cd. 7736, 1915(vol. LXXXXIII); Imperiali to Sonnino, tel. 38/6, 2 January 1915, carte Salandra, busta 9, fasc. 73, ACS.
60 Leslie, Gasquet, p. 238.
61 Ibid. pp. 238–40.
62 During his first few weeks in Rome Howard committed a minor faux pas by residing in the Hotel Bavaria, which was frequented by a German-speaking clientele (Howard claimed in his defence that the management was Swiss). Gregory to Russell, private letter, 3 January 1915 Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
63 Leslie, Gasquet, p. 227.
64 Howard to Grey, disp. 16, 1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
65 Serra, Enrico, Camille Barrère e l'intesa italo-francese (Milan, 1950), pp. III,Google Scholar 294, 332–3. Rodd had earlier informed London that Barrère's ‘intimate relations with the Press’ were not appreciated by the Italian government. Rodd to Grey, disp. 14, 25 January 1910, F.O./371/916, P.R.O.
66 Poincaré, Raymond, Au service de la France (10 vols. Paris, 1926–1933), v, 469–70,Google Scholar 475.
67 Ibid.; Bertie, Francis, The Diary of Lord Bertie of Thame, 1914–1918 (2 vols. London, 1924), I, 72;Google Scholar Bertie to Grey, tel. 507, 28 November 1914, F.O./371/2009, P.R.O. Bertie to Grey, private letter, 1 December 1914, Grey MSS, F.O./800/56 a, P.R.O.; Leslie, Gasquet, p. 225.
68 Ibid.
69 Charles-Roux, Souvenirs diplomatiques: Rome-Quirinale, p. 60; Chaigne, Louis, Vie de Paul Claudel et genèse de son oeuvre (Paris, 1961), p. 145.Google Scholar
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71 Gregory to Tyrell, private letter, 10 January 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.; cf. Leslie, Gasquet, p. 229.
72 ‘Verax’, ‘Jules Cambon en 1914’, Revue des deux mondes, XXIX (10 1935), 909–12;Google ScholarTabouis, Genevieve, Jules Cambon par l'un des siens (Paris, 1938), pp. 283–5;Google Scholar Tittoni to Sonnino, tel. 331/47, 18 February 1915, carte Salandra, busta 6, fasc. 49, ACS.
73 Ibid.
74 Benoist, , Souvenirs (3 vols. Paris, 1932–1934), III, 266–71.Google Scholar
75 Howard to Drummond, private letter, 30 April 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
76 Besnard, Sous le del de Rome, p. 187.
77 Ibid. pp. 208–15; Lecompte, Georges, Albert Besnard, (Paris, 1925), p. 122;Google ScholarCochin, Henry, L'oeuvre de guerre du peintre Albert Besnard (Paris [1918?]), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar
78 Claudel, Paul, Jammes, Francis and Frizeau, Gabriel, Correspondence, 1897–1938 (Paris, 1952), pp. 279–80;Google Scholar Chaigne, Vie de Claudel, p. 145.
79 Quoted in Cladel, Judith, Rodin: Sa vie glorieuse et inconnue (Paris, 1936), pp. 305–10;Google Scholar see also Frisch, Victor and Shipley, Joseph T., Auguste Rodin: A Biography (New York, 1939), pp. 383,Google Scholar 386–7, 440; de Castellane, Boni, L'art d'être pauvre (Paris, 1925), pp. 215–16;Google ScholarTirel, Marcelle, The Last Years of Rodin (New York, 1925), pp. 143–4;Google ScholarElsen, Albert E., Rodin (New York, 1963), pp. 130–1,Google Scholar 213.
80 See Luchaire, Julien, Confession d'un français moyen (2 vols. Florence, 1965), II, 14–39;Google ScholarDestrée, Jules, En Italie avant la guerre, 1914–1915 (Brussels, 1915),Google Scholarpassim; Rodd, Socialand Diplomatic Memories, pp. 216–17; Serra, Barrère e l–intesa, pp. 321–36.
81 American ambassador Thomas Nelson Page in Rome told Washington on 8 September 1914 that ‘reports of German brutality in Belgium have produced generally a very painful impression [in Italy].’ Page to Bryan, decimal files 763.72/903, National Archives, Washington; also Luchaire, Confession, II, 30 ff.; Bülow, Bernhard, Denkwürdigkeiten (4 vols. Berlin, 1930–1931), III, 223;Google ScholarMaugain, Gabriel, L'opinion italienne et l'intervention de l'Italie (Paris, 1916), pp. 33–41;Google ScholarTrevelyan, G.M., Scenes from Italy's War (Boston, 1919), p. 9;Google ScholarCochin, Henry, Les deux guerres, 1870–1871, 1914–1917; Images et souvenirs (Paris, 1917), p. 284;Google ScholarAlazard, Jean, L'Italie et le conflit européen, 1914–1916 (Paris, 1916), pp. 68–9.Google Scholar
82 Epstein, Erzberger, p. 122; see also Engel-Janosi, ‘The Roman Question in the First Years of Benedict XV’, p. 276, including note 21
83 Howard to Grey, disp. 5, 25 January 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O. The passage reads in Latin: ‘Liceat hoc loco eorum, qui in alienos fines pugnando transierint, obtestari humanitatem, ne iis regionibus plus vastationis inferatur, quam ad easdem occupandas necesse sit…’
84 Howard to Grey, enclosing a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15, 1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
85 See Leslie, Gasquet, p. 226.
86 Howard to Grey, enclosing a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15,1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
87 Both the French and German embassies accredited to the Italian court subsidized the Italian press. In contrast, Rodd told Grey during the spring of 1915: ‘It has been of great value to me to be able to say that we have never subventioned the press here—and I am told the fact is generally known and appreciated.’ Rodd to Grey, private letter, 22 March 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/65, P.R.O.
88 See Leslie, Gasquet, p. 232.
89 Rodd to Grey, disp. 438, 9 November 1914, F.O./371/2009, P.R.O.
90 Howard to Grey, tel. 18, 16 March 1915, F.O./371/2375, P.R.O.; Gregory to Drummond, private letter, 31 March 1915, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
91 The decision to impose this restriction had been taken by Sonnino more than a month before Italy entered the conflict. See Riccio to Salandra, private letter, 30 March 1915, pacco 177, AS; Salandra to Sonnino, private letter, 31 March 1915, ibid.; Sonnino to Salandra, private letter, 1 April 1915, ibid.; also Howard to Grey, disp. 21, 27 May 1915, F.O./371/2377, P.R.O.; Howard to Grey, disp. 74, 9 December 1915, ibid.
92 Epstein, Erzberger, p. 137. Rumours circulated among members of the German government in May 1915 that Benedict desired to seek refuge in Switzerland. The following passage is found in the diary of Admiral Georg von Muller, chief of the German naval cabinet during the war, under the date of 20 May 1915: ‘This evening Cardinal [Felix] von Hartmann, Archbishop of Cologne, arrived [at the Kaiser's headquarters in Galicia] with request from the Pope that in future the cathedral of Rheims should be spared. The Cardinal revealed something far more important—the Pope's secret intention in the event of war against the Central Powers to move to the Abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland. The Pope is frankly Germanophile.’ Müller, , The Kaiser and his Court, ed. Görlitz, Walter (New York, 1964), p. 79.Google Scholar
93 Bonin to Sonnino, tel. 700/8,28 May 1915, carte Salandra, busta 3, fasc. 29, ACS; Bonin to Sonnino, tel. 712/9, 2 June 1915, ibid.; Hardinge to Grey, disp. 130, 20 May 1915, F.O./ 371/2376, P.R.O.; Howard to Grey, disp. 28, 19 June 1915, ibid.; Renato Mori, ‘L'offerta spagnola di ospitalita a Benedetto XV’ in Benedetto XV, i cattolici e la guerra, pp. 389–99.
94 See Howard to Grey, transmitting a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15, 1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
95 Howard to Grey, disp. 7, 31 January 1915, ibid.
96 Quoted in Leslie, Gasquet, p. 232. For a differing estimate of Pacelli by Howard dating from 1917, see Deutsch, Harold C., The Conspiracy Against Hitler in the Twilight War (Minneapolis, 1968), p. 109,Google Scholar including notes 14–15.
97 See Rodd to Grey, disp. 63, 19 February 1914, F.O./371/2004, P.R.O.; Johnson, Humphrey, Vatican Diplomacy in the World War (Oxford, 1933), p. 7.Google Scholar
98 Howard to Grey, enclosing a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15, 1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O. A Serbian minister subsequently arrived at the Vatican during the summer of 1915.
99 The offending passage read: ‘According to the Kölnische Volkszeitung, the new Belgian minister is the former Minister of Justice, von [sic] den Heuvel. In his pamphlet The Violation of Belgian Neutrality, which has been translated into Italian and widely distributed among political and religious circles, he deals with well-known events from his own point of view, from the tone and passion with which it was written as well as from the judgements found therein one can deduce the sentiments with which this Belgian diplomat will fulfil his mission.’
100 Howard to Grey, disp. 14, 20 March 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
101 Ibid.; Gregory to Drummond, private letter, 14 March 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
102 Quoted in Howard to Grey, disp. 14, 20 March 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
103 Howard to Grey, tel. 21, 18 March 1915, ibid.
104 The programme, which consisted primarily of territorial requests, is given with a few minor errors in Salandra, L'intervento, pp. 156–60.
105 Grey to Buchanan and Bertie, tel. 41/28; 10 March 1915, F.O./371/2507, P.R.O.; Raymond Recouly, ‘Les heures tragiques d'avant-guerre: ix, à Rome', La revue de France, x September 1922), 33.
106 See Rodd to Balfour, private letter, 11 February 1917, Balfour MSS, F.O./800/202, P.R.O. Thus by December 1915 the Papacy had learned that the Pact of London contained a stipulation forbidding the admission of a papal representative to the peace conference. Engel-Janosi, ‘The Roman Question in the First Years of Benedict XV’, p. 282, including note 41; Howard to Grey, disp. 3, 10 January 1916, F.O./371/2684, P.R.O.
107 Howard to Grey, tel. 14, 9 March 1915, F.O./371/2375, P.R.O.; Howard to Grey, tel. 16, 11 March 1915, ibid.
108 See Gregory to Drummond, private letter, 14 March 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
109 The Entente powers attached special value to Italian intervention because they believed her entrance into the conflict might influence the Balkan states to intervene. Thus on 23 March 1915 Grey personally composed a telegram for ambassador George Buchanan in Petrograd which stated: ‘Italian cooperation will decide that of Roumania and probably of some other neutral states. It will be the turning point of the war and will very greatly hasten a successful conclusion [of the conflict].’ Tel. 413, F.O./371/2507, P.R.O. See also Steed, Henry Wickham, Through Thirty Years (2 vols. New York, 1924), II, 66.Google Scholar
110 See Valiani, Leo, La dissoluzione dell'Austria-Ungheria (Milan, 1966), p. 124.Google Scholar Despite conflicts of interest and policy the Italian government and the Vatican remained on relatively friendly terms during the period of Italy's neutrality. See Broglio, Francesco, Italia e Santa Sede dalla grandeguerra alia condliazione (Bari, 1966), pp. 13–23.Google Scholar In the spring of 1915 ‘one member of the papal household', quite possibly Gerlach, commented: ‘Since 1870 no Pope [has] had such good relations with the Italian government circles as the present one.’ See Engel-Janosi, ‘The Roman Question in the First Years of Benedict XV’, p. 277, including note 26.
111 Gregory to Drummond, private letter, including an added minute, 12 May 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O. Gregory's communication does not appear unusual when taken in context, for he was the most active member of the British mission and Howard delegated a substantial amount of responsibility to him.
112 Rodd to Grey, disp. 69,4 March 1915, F.O./37i/2372, P.R.O.; Corriere d'ltalia, 13 May 1915.
113 Howard to Grey, disp. 12, 17 February 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.; Howard to Drummond, private letter, 17 May 1915, Grey MSS, F.O./800/67, P.R.O.
114 Howard to Grey, enclosing a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15,1 April 1915, F.O./371/ 2372, P.R.O.
115 Johnson, Vatican Diplomacy, pp. 14–15; Buchanan to Grey, tel. 761, 8 December 1914, FO/371/2176, PRO; Grey to Howard, disp. without number, 14 December 1914, ibid.; also Engel-Janosi, ‘Benedetto XV e l'Austria’, pp. 346–7. Sazonov declined to accept the truce because Orthodox Christmas fell on a different day from that celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, while he also argued Germany could not be trusted to abide by the terms of a truce.
116 Gregory to Drummond, private letter, 11 May 1915, F.O./371/2445, P.R.O.
117 Howard to Grey, disp. 17, 1 May 1915, ibid. Gregory carried Howard's remarks to their logical conclusion when he commented that ‘ dread of the Orthodox Colossus…has produced a conviction that the cardinal point of Papal policy must be to preserve the European block [sic for bloc] that bars its advance'. Howard to Grey, enclosing a memorandum by Gregory, disp. 15, 1 April 1915, F.O./371/2372, P.R.O.
118 See ibid.
119 Howard to Grey, tel. 31,3 March 1915, F.O./371/2481, P.R.O.; also Howard to Grey, disp. 13, 6 March 1915, ibid. In the first instance the Papacy may have been alerted on the Straits question by discussion of it in the Entente press following Sazonov's allusion to the subject before the Duma on 9 February 1915. Sazonov had told the Duma Russia's recent victory over Turkey would ‘bring Russia nearer to the realization of the political and economic problems bound up with the question of Russia's access to the open sea.’ Quoted inThe Times (London), 11 02 1915.Google Scholar
120 Howard to Grey, disp. 13, 6 March 1915, F.O./371/2481, P.R.O. After reading Howard's dispatch a Foreign Office clerk minuted that ‘the Vatican must indeed be frightened if they wish to see France established at Santa Sophia…’. Minute sheet 28247, 11 March 1915, ibid.
121 Howard to Grey, tel. 31, 3 March 1915, ibid.
122 Howard to Grey, disp. 24, 29 May 1915, F.O./371/2377, P.R.O.
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