Dynamics Of European Alliances

If the aid of the Ottoman Turks is not forthcoming, our courage and our armed forces will be unequal to winning our next campaign, let alone recapturing our territory. Quite simply, we are lost without the Turks’ help. It seems to me that we ought to open peace negotiations with our enemies, so as to rescue all we can from the wreckage of my cause. I therefore leave it to your judgment to decide whether to embark on these negotiations through the British, or whether the situation is so urgent that you must address yourself directly to France, Austria, or Russia.