A DISILLUSIONED PARTNER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3053, 14 April 1917, Page 8

A DISILLUSIONED PARTNER

■ "A feature of current reports and rumours-relating-' to enemy peace overtures which-has some claim to attention is the statement emanating from Borne that Austria is takingaction on her own account with a view to obtaining peace. There are no means of testing ' the actual worth of this report, and quite possibly it runs somewhat ahead of the facts, but it would not be at all surprising 'if Austria, now or. later, took action on the lines, suggested. Austria has so little to hope and so much to fear from continuing as Germany's: war partner that an attempt to escape .from.the partnership is' her ' natural and obvious ■course; assuming that she has / not lost will and power'to act on her Own behalf.. 'In its'essentials, tho position is' not altered by trio that of.-being a coherent, and united.nation tho.Dual Monarchy is' a loose-strung confederation of conflicting elements.! ; Sharplv as the Germans of Austria are'.divided from tho Magyars-of -Hungary and both, from the subject races they have united to oppress, the whole popu : lation of the Dual Monarchy, is suffering on Germany's account in a degree that will be intensified as tho war- develops. Ample evidence has 6een.-supplied that the spirit of re-volt--against.tho-.evils of war and the Prussian domination, which is responsible for these evils has already' reached such heights in Hungary that it threatens to get out of hand, and that brutal methods of repression have been employed to quell disaffection in the Czccho-Slovak territories of the Monarchy. In Bohemia, for instance, all the leading politicians, and writers ariH thousands of men and women of all classes have been imprisoned and many sentenced to death'. As yet the new Emperor, though it is said that'he'wholly 'favours' peace, hasmade no bold departure from the policy of his predecessor, which was to yield blind obedience to his Prussian overlords, and to enforce a like obedience on the part of all his subjects. But indications have been afforded that this policy is not to his liking, and that- he would gladly escape from Prussian toils. One consideration which may seem to forbid.an attempt by Austria'to break the -partnership with Germany and come to terms with the Entente is that the Entente is pledged'.to a policy which involves the dismemberment of tho Dual Monarchy.' Meeting President. Wilson's request for a statement of tho ■ conditions on which they ..would conclude peace; the Allies enumerated, amongst other things, the liberation of Italians, of Slavs, of- Rumanians, and of Czecho-Slovaks from foreign domination, and endorsed the declaration of tho Emperor of Russia that tho divided Polish provinces would be brought together in a single autonomous State. These are not terms whioh the Hapsbukq Emperor and the dominant racos in tho motley population over whom he rules would, consider if any otljer courso were open, but their choice is a choice of evils, _and of these acceptance of the Allied terms is not the-worst. It has been said, and no doubt with truth, that if Austria"Hungary is not dismembered by the Allies in the interests of European security', she will ho transformed and directed by- Germany in tho interests of Pan-Germanism... This policy, is

openly advocated in Austria.it-self as well as in Germany.. The German '.'Liberals" in Austria demand that the country".should.be Germanised by the creation of an artificial German majority in the Reichsratb, and the suppression of minority opposition. ■ Their programme is designed practically to incorporate Austria-Hungary in the German Empire. The resignation of Dr. Sylvester, who leads the German "Liberals," from' the position of President of the Austrian Reichsrath, is one of the "significant political ■ events of the hew Emperor' s reign. It suggests that strong opposition to the Pan-German propaganda is not wanting in Austria, and it is, of course, upon this opposition that the Emperor must depend in strengthening his own position. While the pan-Germans aim at incorporating Austria-Hungary in the German Empire, and are not without hope of accomplishing that aim even if the Teutonic alliance should be.defeated, other forces are operating to the very different end ot bringing together the . German population-of Austria and the people of the South.German States under a common- rule. Time must show what weight _is behind this movement, but it is already clear that the ', Hapsburg Emperor and those of his subjects who desire to maintain a national existence separate from Germany have much to set against what they find distasteful in the Entente terms. Submission to the Entente would entail a heavy loss of territory and the liberation of populations whom the Hapsburgs have long'oppressed, but to continue as Germany's partner will be only to defer this loss, and at the same timo.to invite the' last evils of war, and possibly lead'to division of the Empiro through internal forces as well.

Misery, privation, and internal dissension are the factors visibly operating to set limits to Austria's participation in the war, but whatever of opposition to Pan-German ideas exists in the Dual Monarchy will operate potently to the' same end. In the position reached it is interesting to ' recall a statement made by Bismarck, in explaining to the Reichstag the. scope of the Aus-tro-German alliance, the_ text oi which had just been published:—

No great Power (lie-said) can, for any length of time be tied by the wording of a treaty which is opposed to the interests of the people, and if it has done so it will eventually be compelled openly to declare: ."The times have altered. I cannot do it." And it..must justify its action before, the people and before its ally as best it can. But to ruin its own. people by fulfilling one's : treaty duties to the letter, that is an action no great' Power can assent to. However, this is by no means demanded -in. any [AustroGermaji] treaty.

Tho Allies are in arms to uphold a very different view of. treaty obligations than that enunciated by Bismarck and since acted on and carried to the limits of criminality by Germany, but the latter country would certainly have no reason to complain if she were deserted by the ally whom she has led to disaster, and hopes ultimately to reward by extinguishing her. separate national existence. ' ' : :