Instead of seizing the opportunity for this united and strong pronouncement which presented itself at a meeting of the Prime Ministers of Great Britain, France, and Italy, held at Versailles, on June 3, 1918, the following declarations were made:—
(1) The creation of a united and independent Polish State with free access to the sea constitutes one of the conditions of a solid and just peace and of the rule of right in Europe.
(2) The Allied Governments have noted with pleasure the declaration made by the Secretary of State of the United States Government (in referring to the resolutions of the Rome Congress of Austro-Hungarian nationalities), and desire to associate themselves in an expression of earnest sympathy for the nationalistic aspirations towards freedom of the Czecho-Slovak and Jugo (Southern)-Slav peoples.
The regrettable weakness of the second declaration, which followed very closely the wording of Mr. Lansing's earlier announcement on behalf of the United States Government, was entirely due to the opposition of Baron Sonnino (Italian Foreign Minister),
