Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-02

lectures given at the Ecole des Sciences
Politiques in Paris, a great French his
torian INDUCED in a daring flight of
speculation. Should the Austro- Hun
garian empire ever be dissolved, said
NJ Albert Sorel TO his students, the con-
sequences to be anticipated would de-
stroy the stability of the British En-
pire.
The prosperous solidarity Of Austro-
Hungary in 1885, let alone that Of Vic
toria's far-flung realm on the eve Of her
50th anniversary as Empress, must have
made the observation of the French
professor fantastic for most of his
listeners. But among them was one
young Englishman who was afterwe I'd
to say that he never forgot Sorel's warn
ing, This youth was Austen Cha mber-
lain, destined, ironically enough to be-
come member of the British COVE. n
ment which, in 1919, presided over the
enforced disruption of Austro- Hun
earian political and economic unity.
Sir Austen Chamberlain never was
happy about the disappearance of the
dual monarchy and the consequent
"Balkanization" of the rich Danubian
Basin which followed the last war.
He would have experienced even more
doubts on the subject had he lived a
year longer and thus witnessed that
Nazi annexation OF Austria which opened
the door for German expansion through
all of what has been called Danubia.
Curiously enough, Sir Austen's half
brother Neville was Prime Minister of
Great Britain when Hitler moved into
Vienna in March. 1888 And it was
Neville Chamberlain who, on September
20 of that year, put his signature on the
agreement at Munich which made a
German satellite state of Czechoslo-
vakia.
Would Destroy Balance.
Albert Sorel did not foresee Munich.
But he did foresee that If either Ger
many or Russia should assume control
Of Danubia it would be for England
much more than a mater of diplomatic
humiliation Sorel foresaw that such
development would destroy the stability
of that European balance of power on
which the security of the British EN-
pire Is thought to depend.
Sorel foresaw. indeed, what the edi-
tor of THE Nineteenth Century has in
mind when, in the September. 1943,
issue of that famous English review he
states: England has no one perma-
nent foe in Europe. . = Her only foe is
that Power, or that coalition of Powers,
which may endeavor to dominate Eu-
rope. Against that foe she must always
be ready, always be strong and always
have allies. AS hersfoe varies. 50 her
allies vary. The foe of yesterday may
be the ally of tomorrow and the ally of
yesterday the foe of tomorrow (
Whoever is master of Bohemia said
Bismarck-who cid not want it's
master of Europe
At Munich, with Anglo French acoui-
essence, the control of Bohemia and the
territory southeast of it passed into
German hands. At Teheran, with
Anglo-American approval. the pendu-
lum was swung the other way. The fu-
ture Of Danubia was apparently ear
marked for Russia. whose opinion on the
subject in 1888 was neither invited nor
desired.
The evidence as to this tremendous
change OF emphasis is still largely cir
cumstantial. Illness has as yet pre-
vented Winston Churchill from making
any report to Parliament on the dis
cusslons with Stain. Lacking the
same reason, President Roosevelt has
been equally uncommunicative The
President returned to Washington in
time to share his information on Tehe-
ran discreetly with the Congress. But
Congress was allowed to adjourn for the
holidays without the representatives of
the public receiving any authoritative