For the last twenty-five years the development and improvement of the telephone have vastly increased its use between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and its representatives abroad. For reasons of convenience and rapidity, instructions or information transmitted by telegraph are frequently preceded or confirmed by a telephone communication.
No mention or analysis of these communications, a note of which is preserved on the records, usually appears in an official publication of a documentary character. Moreover, it would in most cases duplicate needlessly the telegrams which, without using the exact terms of the conversations, officially determine their significance.
By way of exception, for the days of August 31 and September 1 and 2, during which telephone conversations exchanged by the Minister with our Ambassadors and with the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Great Britain and Italy had a particular importance, notes summarizing the essential parts of these communications are included among the appendices to this publication.
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