At the very moment when it was of the utmost importance to maintain secrecy concerning the conditions of our Alliance the impression prevailed, and, naturally, the Entente welcomed the first signs of disruption in the Quadruple Alliance.
I do not know if the opportunity will ever occur of throwing a clear light on all the proceedings of those days.

To explain the further development it will suffice to confirm what follows here.

This is what happened.

In the spring of 1917 connecting links were established with Paris and London.

The first impressions received were that the Western Powers were ready to make use of us as a bridge to Germany and to a general peace.