COPY
 
      
 
 
Enclosure 1 in despatch No.206 of April 19, 1938, from the 
      Embassy in London. 
 
      As to your investigation about some rumors concerning the attitude 
      of the church towards the new rulers in Austria and the possibility 
      of an agreement in this regard between the Holy See and the Nazi 
      Government, I am happy that you brought up this matter so as 
      to allow me to give you my personal views which of course cannot 
      reflect any positive information from the official circles and 
      are just delivered to your confidential use.
 
      
 
 
The sudden statement of the Austrian Catholic Hierarchy in 
      reference to the new Government, as it was given to the Press, 
      was evidently the result of some compulsory influences. Their 
      unexpected declaration immediately after the military invasion 
      of the country, did not receive any approval either previously 
      or afterwards from the Holy See, as the official Vatican organ, 
      the "Osservatore Romano", stated immediately after 
      the issue of such declaration. One is rather inclined to think 
      that the text of this statement might have been prepared, at 
      least in its main points, by a Governmental Press Bureau, if 
      not by the Government Commissioner Buerckel himself, and that 
      the signing thereof by the Bishops might have been the result 
      of a political pressure rather than of their free initiative 
      and intention. Under this pressure as a matter of fact the Bishops 
      have overlooked to quote in the text of the declaration the fundamental 
      principles of the freedom of the practice of Christian religion, 
      of the respect of the rights of the Church and of