The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-27
THE BIRMINGHAM AGEHERALD SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 27 1919

tions to the new Chancellor. Prince
 Max of Baden. did not result in any
 more propaganda work being done, al
 though it was particularly necessary
 in so serious a situation.
 NO CHANGE OF A VICTORY | Tension was high on the western front. It had increased since our first | peace suggestions of the middle of | August. We still had reason to hope i that We would maintain our position: | in Italy and Macedonia our Hanks and
 rear were covered
 There was. however, no longer any
 chance of vfctorious issue. On Sep 1 tember . we answered to this effect an inquiry from the Chancellor, which was | prompted by his representatives at l G. H. o.. Count Limburg-Stirum, after
 he had been informed of our intention . Count Limburg-Stirum was invariably kept informed of all events The inquiry rather surprised me. be- ! cause, ever since August Is the Chan ! cellor must have been fully acquainted with the situation; the Explanation was,
 however. that Count Limburg- -Stirum | knew nothing of the discussion of
 August 13 and 14.
 | G. H. Q. had no news from Secretary
 von Hintze; all they knew was that | he was to go to Vienna at the begln- l ming of September to confer with | Count Burian about peace I consider | ed that a further discussion with him and the Chancellor was urgently
 required. It would have to be held in
 the first days of September, immedi- ately after our return to Spa. Secre- | tary of State, von Hintze arranged to | attend as soon as he should return
 from Vienna, but his great age pro hibited the Chancellor's attendance. | DISAGREES WITH AUSTRIA The discussion in Spa with Secretary von Hintze was held on September s ! or 5. He informed us that Count Buran intended to dispatch a note to
 all the bellgerents, inviting them to a | peace discussion; he added that, ac-
 cording to accounts received in Vienna
 the Austro-Hungarian army could
 only hold out until the winter. The | need for peace there was growing more urgent.
 As regards his own efforts, von
 Hintze said that he confidently hoped | for mediation through the Queen of 1 Holland; could not ascertain from | his statements on what ground he base d l his hope.
 l He had no expectati ton that the vague move to be taken by Count Bu-
 rian would lead to any result and fear | ed, that they would make the media l ton of the Queen of Holland more diff
 ficult;~ he considered a definite step,
 such as he intended to take at The | Hague. to be better
 On that point I quite agreed with him; Count Burian's proposals, of
 which I had only recently heard, were much too shapeless.
 It was probably on the Counts ad- vice that the Emperor Charles had re-
 gently had certain questions put to the
 Field Marshal through General von Cra-
 mon, concerning our strategic aims and
 ouN views as to the making of peace
 proposal General von Cramon asked me on the telephone to answer him as accurately as possible, as the Elm i peror Charles attached great import l ance to it.
 CAUTIOUS WITH EMPEROR ! Of course my replies had to be cau- | tiously worded because there was a proved by the Emperor Charles's Parma letters. Gle refers to Empress | Zita and her family. She had a brother | in the Belgian army.)
 l We replied that the German army would hold itN pre- tent line in the west 1 in particular the Siegfried line. but that we were in favor of immediate peace proposals; we did, however, ad- wise against those of Count Burian. drafted this reply, and it was discussed at our converse ton with Secretary yon Hintze before being dispatched. Secretary von Hentze was informed in detail of the military, situation. As a result of the discussbn of Septem- Der g. he wired from Spa to the Minis try of Foreign Affairs, stating that His Majesty and q. H. 9. agreed to an im- mediate appeal to the Queen Of the Netherlands. and requesting that our allies should be einvited to approve this step and to join in it.
 Austria Hungary did not abandon Count Burian's plan in favor of ours, and his note was published on Septem- Der 14. I don't know whether our pro- posal appeared to them too distant. or what other reasons guided the Dual Monarchy I do not know.
 The Emperor Charles explained in a letter to His Majesty that the telegram he had received from G. H. Q. had in- duced him to take early steps for peace. | remarked to Colonel Heye that 1t was perhaps as we'll that Count Burian had taken the step he did, and it was thus with my approval that we did not as-
 sume an attitude of opposition to it.
 DUTCH INCIDENT A MYSTERY cannot agree with the diplomatlsts
 that Count Burian's peace note rem,
 dered mediation by the Queen of the
 Netherlands impossible. It made it
 more difficult. but did not exclude 1t by any means Above all, l cannot under
 stand why Dutch mediation was not
 sought before the publication of Count
 Burian's note, for which there would
 have been timo enough.
 don't believe that Secretary von
 Hintze seriously discussed the matter
 with the Dutch Ambassador in Berlin.
 In those days I no longer concerned
 myself to any extent with military
 political questions.
 Secretary von Hintze discussed the
 Polish question with c. Fl. e. on fine
 laid down by the Chancellor. I replied,