New-York tribune., 1919-03-29
The Seraievo Mystery

Count Czernin's secret correspond
ence, soon to be published in English by
the Committee on Public information,
will probably throw some light on the
mystery of the Serajevo assassination
An Austrian priest wrote a pamphlet
the other day charging that the murder
of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and
his Czech wife was the result of plot
Matched by representatives of the war
party in Austria and Hungary. It is
announced that the Czcrnin documents
furnish no positive proof of the exist
ence of such a conspiracy. But they are
said to be full of details indicating
bitter hostility to the Archduke on the
part of the Hungarian and German gov
crnments and the pro-German military
clique in Vienna.
There was reason for this enmity.
Francis Ferdinand had become in a sense
partisan of the Czechs and the South
Slavs. He had in mind the creation Of
triple Hapsburg monarchy A Slav
state was to be erected and admitted
on an equality with Austria and Hun
gary This project earned the heir ap-
parent the hatred of the Hungarian oil
garchy 1t was obvious that Hungarys
power would be destroyed by such re-
casting of the empire The Slavs loathcd
the Hungarians even moro than they
loathed the Austrians And the creation
of Slav state would strip Hungary of
Croatia and Slavonia and her access to
the Adratic. The Magyars would be-
come weak minority in the new triple
combination
Hungary had therefore turned to Ger
many for protection. 1t was an open
secret before the war that the Magyar
oligarchy was intriguing with Berlin and
holding out promises of the election. of
one Of William IFS sons as King
of Hungary. Francis Ferdinand knew
OF these negotiations. He distrusted
William II and was openly at odds with
him, just as he was at odds with the
Vienna clique which controlled the
senlle Francis Joseph. He opposed war
with Serbia and the fermentation of
causes of dispute with the Serbians. He
was consequently a most dangerous OBJ
stacle in the path of German policy in
Southern Europe, a policy eagerly sup
ported by Austro-H Hungarian military
men and statesmen.
1t has been reported that in the spring
OF 1914, when Germany was already
planning to precipitate European war,
William III sought personal conference
with Francis Ferdinand and tried to win
him over to a programme of aggression
in the Balkans. The Austrian heir an
parent stood firm. Did he thereby sign
his own death warrant?
Following this conference he was ner-
sistently urged to visit Serajevo. While
there he received practically no protec-
ton from the police. Two attempts on
his life were made on the same dav-
the second being successful. The assas
SIN turned out to be Bosnian Slav.
and on evidence which could easily have
been, Fabricated the Vienna government
charged that he was influenced to com
nit the crime by anti-Austrian propa-
gandlst organizations in Serbia. The
secrecy surrounding his trial and the
leniency Of his sentence excited grave
suspicious. The heir apparent and his
wl1e were contcmptuousy and hvpo-
critically mourned in Vienna and Buda-
pest. But their murder was >iovouslv
selzed upon as / pretext for humblinp
and penalizing Serbia.
The Serajevo assassination has manv
OF the earmarkS Of - Machiava1lio, ,o,,
splracy. 1t subtly served the purposes
OF those who wanted to start a world
war Were they responsible for it?
No detective story ever contained
elements more dramatic in complication.
And no other murder ever had such
Worldwide and intellectually tragic con-
sequences.