partitioned by strangers, and treated for centuries as a _res nullius.
The firm resolve of the Bohemian people to revive the glorious kingdom
which has so valiantly stemmed the onset of the Germans is the same
resolve which moved our ancestors and our fathers to conspiracy and
revolt, that Italy might become a united state_. The impetuous and
vigorous character of the Southern Slavs and the Rumanians of
Transylvania already has led to the making of heroes and martyrs; and
here they are met by the endless stream of our heroes and martyrs; who
across time and space fraternise on the scaffold erected by their
common enemy.

"For your nations 'To be or not to be' is the inexorable choice at this
moment. Here cautious subtleties are of no avail, nor the adroit
reservations borrowed from diplomacy, nor discussions more or less
Byzantine, 'while the Turk is at the gates.' The necessities are Faith
and Work; it is thus that nations are formed."

We have already mentioned that the U.S. Government identified themselves
with the resolutions adopted by the Rome Conference. As regards Great
Britain, Lord Robert Cecil made the following declaration on May 23, 1918:

"Above all _I welcome especially the recent congress at Rome_, which
has done so much to strengthen the Alliance of which Italy is a part. I
believe that the congress was valuable for its wisdom and its
moderation. I believe that it was valuable for the spirit of
brotherhood which it displayed. But above all I welcome it because it
showed that the Italian Government, as expressed by the speech of the
Italian Prime Minister (Signor Orlando), recognise to the full that the
principles on which the kingdom of Italy was founded were not only of
local application, but extend to international relations. (Cheers)