Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-12
WAS. SURE WITH
 AMERICA IN
Former Foreign Minister of Austria Tells of Desire for Separate Peace with Entente.

Vienna, Monday, Dec. II (By The ate efforts m 1917 to withdraw from the war were described in a state ment to the Associated Press by Count CZernin, primer AustrO-Iungarian foreign minister. General Ludendorf, the German chief quartermaster gen. eral was the great stumbling block and Austria feared in undertaking a separate peace with the entente that Germany would declare war on her
 I never thought it possible to beat the entente, particularly after America entered the war said Count Czernin. 'There were two ways to arrange peace. One was a separate peace with the entente, the other a general peace together with Germany. l have eX plained how both ways were impos- sible
 "A separate peace would have meant war with Germany since thereby, we, because of our Geographical position would have cut off from Germany her Turco-Bulgarian allies and it would have been impossible for Germany | with allies interests in Turkey and Bulgaria, to allow us to pull out of tn. war. I have proof Germany at once would have made war on us.
 Consider that two months ago, when she was beaten, with a revolu- tion in her own country she was then strong enough to sent troops to defend Bavaria, when Andrassy the last imperial foreign minister, offered
 President Wilson separate peace,
 What would Germany have been able to do six months before, when she
 was almost victorious in France?
 "Consider what war with Germany
 meant for us-first, civil war, because of our ten million German population and also the possibility of the Hun garians turning against us, with Tisza
 a pro-German and in addition, the un-
 certainty of the actions of the Poles
 and the Czechs, who were already dealing with the entente.
 "Even supposing we had turned to
 the entente and had succeeded in win ming the war-there never would have been any winning side for us, because
 the entente, by the conference of Lon-
 don in 1916 promised freedom to the
 various peoples of the empire, leaving
 us in the divideds condition we are al
 the present time"
 Referring to German, Count Czern in, said there was not only one group bent upon victorious peace and de \ claring that England must be crush. ed.
 This was the military party" he . went on, headed by Ludendorff Blu it was our misfortune that he was toe ! strong and too popular with the sold {, iers; so the emperor needed him an( could not send him away.
 \ 'I sent Emperor Charles a letter , a copy of which l have at your dis 1 position, declaring to him that thu submarine warfare surely would afil I that we never would win and that w \ must force Germany to conclud' peace. l told him a revolution Wal coming; that Emperor William woult | lose his throne and he himself would lose his throne and every governmen ' head must see we were the losers. {, "I urgd upon him that we must tr.
 for peace before we were crushed \ that Germany's situation was the sam z as ours and that only military mel believed it possible to win the war 1 America's entrance, l pointed out meant our ruin; her influence woul' \ be felt within few months in spit 1 of the belief in Germany that Amer
 ica would never be able to arrive il 1 time"
 Count Czernin, the former AustrO N Hungarian foreign minister, discusse 1 today his efforts and those of the Aus trian government to end the war an ' outline what in his estimation wer 7 the problems to be settled befor
 peace can be made secure. He eX 1 pressed hope for an agreement anon
 the nations to disarm.
 \ Count Czernin declared the BreSt Litovsk peace treaty was the work ( A the German military leaders an A painter General Ludendorff, the qual
 termaster.
 ~ LudendOrif Was Adamant. N LudendOrff was general of the Gel man army and virtual dictator of tn
 empires military policy in the las
 days of the conflict as the man Wl
 stood between the Central Empire \ and peace on numerous occasions. E forts to induce the German govern
 ment to make concessions 0 fan impOl A tant nature seemed at times to - near success, but Ludendorff wa A adamant.
 Accounting the desperate efforts o D the part of Austria to reach some sol N of peace before the final and absOlut 1 collapse of both the Austrian and Gel
 man Empires, Count Czernin said: "The German people wanted peat
 long ago and even Emperor Willial N wanted to see the end fthe war. bl the attitude of Enlgand prevente
 steps being taken. Emperor Willia
 said to me on one occasion. U "How can we get peace with Enl
 land declaring that we must be de
 troyed?'
 D Nothing is more dangerous in pol N tics than to see things as you wis U to see them, not as they are. We u
 derstOod that the only way to arran.
 matters was to get England and Ge
 many to agree.
 M with the knowledge of Enper
 Charles, I proposed to Emperor w
 liam that Austria would give German 0 the province of Galicia and permit h
 no1a