The Washington herald., 1917-07-29
Germans Count on Diplomacy
To Win Them Final Victory

are not prosecuted" by the allies.
the German people may be expected
to revolt IN the early days Of peace
and sweep the whole system into OBJ
! hvion.
According as this argument Is iudg-
ed good or bad by the allies, they
will reply to the first serious German
peace overtures by declining to ne
gotiate with the Kaiser's government.
as the allies refused IN 1915 to nego-
tiate with Napoleon, or they will de-
eide to abandon the war aim OF mo
peace with the Hohenz 1uea:s."
The other two questions given sug-
gest the two solutions OF the Austrian
problem, which different schools OF
thought among the allies are willing
10 accept. Whether Austria must be
broken up and a nucleus ot independ-
ent states erected around q free Po-
and, to act as a barrier against Ger
many. or whether the j 'esen. real or
sham democratic moveClcut In Aus
! tiia-Hunsary can be trusted to end
the oppression Of subject races by
Magyars and Germans, Is q dilemma
I which has not yet been solved.
The allied war aims, a. set forward
! in the note to President WI ion in
January, do not put forward a solu-
ton Of the Austrian problem, beyond
tupulating for the liberation of The
Czecho-Slovaks and other oppressed
peoples.
Oppose Breaking Up Austria.
Adherents Of both schools claim
that the note supports their argu-
ments. In England, for instance, the
Manchester Guardian, the Nation and
the Daily News, the advanced Liberal
! organs. oppose any attempt to break
up Austria, and say that the allied
war aim will be attained when justice
Is done Bohemians, Bosnlans, Croats,
Slovenes, RumaniAns and the others
at the expense OF the Magyar and Ger
man castles. This aim. they contend,
| can be attained by internal reform.
On the other hand most politicians
| in England, France and Italy believe
Austria must be divided, and read
the note in this sense. 1t is probable
that the diplomats who drew 1t up
designedly left the issue open to the
double Interpretation. Within a short
| time the whole question of continuing
the war may center around which OF
| these solutions Is adopted. The Haps-
burgs will fight to the last. IL threat
ened with extinction. II the milder
course Of insisting upon internal re-
forms is adopted, they might refuse
to gon on with the war in Germany's
interests.
The existence OF even a reformed
Austrian Empire, ostensibly divorced
from Germany would mean, however,
in the opinion of most authorities
on eastern questions. that Prussia
( would again regain an ascendency
that tshe only pretended to lose, that
the Central European Empire, from
Berlin to Bagdad, would become a
reality and that Germany would be
able again to attempt, after q period
OF recuperation. to conquer the
world.
Would shorten War.
| Which course towards Austria the
United States will favor is not known
here. The milder solution would
shorten the war. perhaps by a long
period; its opponents contend that II
would mean, whatever the paper
| terms of settlement, that Germany
had won the war.
Even into the desperate complexi-
ties and tangles OF the Eastern prob
\ lem an element of comedy enters
This Is furnished by the Czar of Bull
/ garia, the notorious Ferdinand, king
| Fox" whose personal cowardlce Il
| such that according to his chief OF
stan in the Balkan war of 1912, Gen.
Savof, he trembled and turned pale
in the imperial train miles behind the
front at the sound of the cannon; he
has always refused to go where an
enemy shell might reach him at the
most extreme range.
King Fox" has a personal solution
OF this war He hates Germany and
hates Russia. He wants Germany
! forced to disgorge not only Alsace-
Lorraine but the Rhenish provinces
! and forced to pay full compensation
! for the damage she has done in the
! East. He dreams of a "Danubian
! Federation to be made up of Ger
many, the separate states OF a split
up Austrh-Hungary, Poland, Ruma-
MIA and Bulgaria. The emperor OF
| president of this all-powerful feder-
| alton is to be, not the Kaiser or the
Emperor Charles, but king Fox"
himself His seat OF rule cannot be
tho humble capital of Sofia. He
dreams OF donning the imperial purple
In the historic shrine of the Byzantine
empire. the Church of St. Sophia in
Constantinople.
Personal Ambition of Ferdinand.
This sounds like a weird romance,
for though Ferdinand may be the
most despicable monarch in Europe,
nobody has ever accused him OF
being a fool. But 1 put the story
forward on the authority of one OF
the leading diplomatic authorities in
Europe, Joseph Reinach, editor OF
the Paris Figaro. NJ. Reinach is an
old personal friend of King Fox" ,"
and as Is natural their personal rela-
tions must have been severed during
the war. The story OF Ferdinand 5
little scheme was related by NJ.
Reinach. however, as told him by a
| Swiss who knnRs the RnlRarian r,,ln-