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       With regard to the Balkans, the Minister said I undoubtedly knew all that Italy had done to
 
 preserve peace in that region. He alone, he said, through his meeting with Count Caky in Venice
 
 had persuaded Hungary to refrain from provoking a conflict with Rumania so long as the present
 
 war continued, and Hungary had now agreed not only to postpone her claims for. the territorial
 
 readjustments she desired, but also go refrain from press attacks against Rumania.              
 
       Italy had definitely entered into an agreement with Rumania--and Count Ciano emphasized
 
 that this agreement was completely secret--that if Russia attacked Rumania, Italy would at once
 
 come to the assistance of Rumania, not through open declaration of war on Russia, but through 
 
the furnishing of every form of military assistance, including the furnishing of troops and 
 
airplanes.
 
     The Minister here interjected that while volunteers had not been permitted to go from Italy 
 
to Finland, Italian aviators had gone in some numbers, and that today Count Ciao's private pilot
 
was leaving to fly an Italian bomber on the Finnish front.
 
       Italy would keep Russia out of the Balkans, and would do her utmost to keep the Balkans 
 
out of war. Italy had no interest in the Balkans save the preservation of peace, and the fomenting 
 
of Italian trade interests in that region.
 
         At this point, Count Ciao reverted to Germany. He said, "No country would want to have
 
Germany as a neighbor. We now have her as a neighbor, and we must do the best we can to get 
 
on With her. "You will wonder why Italy did nothing, at the time of the Dollfuss assassination, 
 
and nothing later when Hitler occupied Austria. I will tell you, for there is a great
 
deal