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political questions in Europe.
 
       I replied that I was not empowered to give him such 
 
authorization, and that I would require a specific instruction 
 
from the President of the United States before I could make a
 
reply. I said that I would be glad to telephohe the President 
 
and communicate the President's decision to Mussolini through 
 
Count Ciano later in the evening.
 
     The Duce said that he agreed with me that the question
 
security was paramount, but that he did not agree that it could
 
be settled prior to an agreement upon political and territorial
 
readjustments. He said that he felt that the two things must be
 
handled simultaneously, and that if that were done, the economic 
 
problems should likewise be considered simultaneously. He said that
 
with regard to the independence of the Polish people he
 
believed it imperative that the new Poland should no longer
 
contain within its boundaries peoples who were not Polish, and
 
that in any determination of new boundaries for Poland the
 
adjustments of populations as recently undertaken by the Germans 
 
must be taken as definitive. He said that for example one 
 
million Poles had been removed from former German Poland to
 
Warsaw and other purely Polish areas. It would be inconceivable
 
as a basis for agreement that such adjustments should not be
 
take into account.
 
     With regard to a new Czech state, he said he believed
 
that not only must the new Czech state be neutralized,
 
but that also should have special economic relations with the
 
German Reich.
 
     He said that in a new general settlement the just claims
 
of Hungary for fair treatment of her minorities and for the 
 
readjustment of her frontiers must be taken into account, and 
 
that the claims of Italy must be given a satisfactory solution.
 
     He expressed the very positive belief that if a
 
                                             settlement