Why Austria Hates Germany.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17075, 31 August 1917, Page 6

Why Austria Hates Germany.

FEAR MAKES THE BOND.

WHEN WILL IT SNAP.

Although cabled stories of -Austria's growing feeling of revolt against German dominance must not be taken at tlioir lace value they are gravely significant of tilings that must not be overlooked or under-es-timated As a fact indisputably in evidence it may be stated that Austia hates Prussia. The alliance holds, but inclination has no place in the bond on Austria's side In-the New York Times a writer marked as Lucius \erus explains'wh,y this is so. He makes it plain that Austria would cut oit from Germany to-morrow J she dared.

TMMEDIATELY after Maria Theresa's -^ Jieension to the throne of Austria October 10, 1740, Frederick, ' himself Aing or Prussia since May 31 of the same year, in a letter to the yoimQueen's husband, Francis, Duke of Lorraine and Grand Duke of Tuscany, proposed an alliance with the house of Hapsburg. This proposal was regardsd m Vienna rather as an expression,• tv good-will than as a serious overture. Maria Theresa dispatched Marquis Botta to Berlin to ascertain the truth. The. Austrian diplomat found the highways blocked wih troops marching, indeed to the Silesian border. The King tried to put him off with the statement that tno real purpose of the move was to protect Austrian territory against menaced interference of Maria- Theresa's enemies. The Italian was not so easily taken in by the Tartuffe of Potsdam. 110 sent wo'-d to Vienna that no faith should be', put in- Frederick, and that the Prussian troops were expected to be in Silesia within a fortnight or so On December 8 Frederick dispatched Count. -Getter to Vienna, offering his support for the election of Francis to the imperial throne of Germany, and; the military and financial help of Prussia against Austria's enemies. In exchange for his services he insisted upon ths cession of the greater part of Silesia.

The young Queen, still in mourning ior her father, and expecting an increase in her family, refused to receive Irederick's ambassador or to treat with, the King unless he withdrew forthwith his troops from her province of Silesia. But the_ Bohenzollern Prince, having before him a weak woman, laughed ;a his sleeve and, without even waiting for his ambassador's arrival in Vienna, «n December 16, crossed over to Silesia '.n person to take supreme command of his army.

THE "GREAT" FREDERICK

We now come to the second villainy of the-great Frederick, the partition of Poland, throughout a mean Teutonic game of treachery, in which th e Hohen-i zollern Prince, with unenviable master- \ ship, played the part of Judas Isoariot. When challenged by the ambassador of Austria at the time of the conclusion of Prussia's treaty with Russia in 1764, Frederick calmly saul: "I am sure that your court is alarmed about th'-s •treaty, and that at Vienna it is believed .tha^ we have already decided on the .partition of Poland, hut you will see that the contrary is the ease." Frederick's imperial spy and relative, Catherin 11., nee Sophie . Auguste, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, gave out the same dementi in almost identical terms. But not even she wiio, as we know, was, neither, in. her public nor her private life, -overtormented by moral scruples, was quite easily won over to Frederick's partition scheme. He met, "of course, with still greater difficulties in Vienna. Direct negotiations between the lattar city and St. Petersburg were impossible since the two Empresses hated on another. Marie Theresa spoke of Catherine contemptuously as "that woman." Frederick tho Great, the hero of the Prussian people, humbly acted as the: honest broker between the. two ladies. Frederick William 11. cheerfully engineered the second partition of Poland (1792) forgetting his solemn treaty •with Austria, of which the ink was hardly-diy, and where he had guaranteed the integrity iof tho Poland of 1772.

FRANCIS JOSEPH, CHRISTIAN

Prussia almost si,d(lpn.]y changed hpv.i ; hostile attitude tbward' Austrija with the outbreak of the French Revolution. The, common danger to the undisturbed continuation of the rule by-Divine grace submerged the petty jealousies between Court and the greedy appetite for un- . ending territorial aggrandisement. But only for a, while; in 1795 Prussia withdrew altogether from the struggle against the French' Republic. The doublo motive was: return of the old land hunger and the almost instinctive desire again to stab Austria in the back. FRANCE AND PRUSSIA. France offered to Prussia in exchange for her left Rhine territory, the arcubisihotprics of Cologne, Mayence, .:md Treves. Berlin couldi not resist. The Hohenzollerns chuckled at the thought of the loss of moral prestige this detachment of the three historic archiepiscopal sees must mean for Catholic Austria. And thus autocratic Prussia entered a treaty with the French Jacobins, while th.o, Emperor of Germany was left to fight single-handed for the existence of "the empire, and malicious joy reigned in Potsdam when Austria had to give up her Italian provinces. Emperor Francis humbled himself by making, in -Berlin, overtures for an alliance. The intermediary was the young dinlomatist, the later Austrian Chancellor, Count Metternich. Prussia, at that time, had.her eyes on. Hanover, which she hoped to obtain as a bribe from Napoleon. But Cz.ir Alexander I. knew how to treat his Brandenburg cousin. He threatened to march through Berlin. We are at the eve of the battle oi Austerlitz. Austria w. n.s in a ten-ibl? olight. Francis bes?£red, in a pathetis letter, Frederick William 111. to come to his aid. The haughty Elector ot Brandenburg remained deaf. He contented himself with dispatching H-i.ug-witz to Napolpon as mediator, but obeying secret orders, the Prussian envoy

tarried until after th c humiliating deteat of the Austrians and Russians near tbejittle Moravian town, December 9, 1805. Now the courageous Count Haugwitz, who prudently failed to reveal the contents of liis original message, banie forward and . Prussia concluded an open treaty of alliance with Bonaparte—the latter maliciously insisted upon the term open —Prussia receiving as reward for her treachery the long-coveted province of Hanover. " ■ " I ■ . j ■. NEMESIS. i But tills time Nemesis came on the quickstep. Prussia was beaten to a frazzle.-in the battle of Jena, October 14, 1806. The mirth in Vienna over I the discomfiture of the Hohenzollerns was, however, only of short duration— for that terrible Corsican adventurer put it into his head to piny cannon with the renowned heads of Europe. On the sth and 6th of July, 1809, at Wagram, near Vienna, he inflicted a. terrible thrashing upon Archduke Charles and the gayety restarted Unterden Linden. This game of Court and diplomatic intrigues went on until the batila■of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) winch marked the end of th c . French .Revolution and inaugurated a new epoch m the history of Europe. Bismarck fought with all his power for the hegemony of Prussia. Always afraid of Russia, he told the French Ambassador at Berlin, Marquis. de Moustier, that his country ought o make an alliance with France, and Russia against Austria. These utterances came to the ear of the Vienna Government. When the Prussian. Premier, Mantenffel, informed him. of til?, remonstrances of the Vienna Court, Bismarck haughtily i eplied:

When I went to Frankfort in 1813 I was not, in principle, opposed to Austria; but I should have to behr. every drop of Prussian blood in me had I desired to preserve even the smallest affection for the Austria which has been called into being by her present rulers.

In 1857 Wilila.ni I. appeared on the stage of European politics in his quality of Prince Regent—bis brother, King Freedrick "William IV.. having become an incurable maniac. He was then 60 years old; the reactionary, blood-thirs L .v temperament of his early • youth gave way to the quiet wisdom 0f ripe age. Francis Joseph, the 29-year-old ruler, stung in his dynastic pride, preferred to conclude a 'disadvantageous peace with France, thereby losing Lombaray,. rather than to accept help from' Prussia, and to allow her to assume military leadership of Germany.

William gradually' reached the conclusion that there was no room in uetiriany for two leading powers. Count Albert yon Bernstorff (ISO 9-1873), father of Count Johanil Heiiirich yon Bernstorff, late German Ambassador at Washington, was Minister for Foreign Affairs in King William's Liberal Cabinet (1861-1862). He induced his sovereign to come out openly with his programme (December 20, 1861.)

William was ready to appeal to the sword. This time Francis Joseph playea the part of the meek Christian. He invited all German Princes to the historical Fuerstentag at Frankfurt. Even King William doubted the wisdom of absenting himself. But Bismarck threatened with his resignation—a wenpon of intimidation he knew' how to use with great success throughout hi-s political career. So excited was he that on leaving the study of the King he broke the knob of the door.

Francis Joseph's entry into the old Gorman Coronation town was brilliant. All four German Kings (Saxony, Wurttemberg, Bavaria and Hanover) clung to Austria.

January 30, 1864, the question ot an Austro-Prussian alliance for the purpose of a common procedure against the Scandinavian Belgium of fifty years ago came up in the Austrian Parliament. In spite of the- appeals of the Caibi.net Rcchberg, the Austrian representatives remained obstinate in their refusal to approve the un-warranted act. The following sentence from «\ memorable speech delivered b,y Deputy Schindler summarises the feelings of the Austrian people: •

Hardly has Prussia digested and assimilated our poor Silesia, and already she is stretching out her fangs toward the. unfortunate duchies of Schleswig-Holsteiu.

When Francis Joseph received King William and Bismarck, yielding finally to the persuasive power of thp Prussian statesman, he then hardly thought that he was turning the first sod of the grave of his dynasty. A secret alliance of Prussia with Cavour gave the latter time to conquer Austria and deprive her of her last Italian province, Venice. It was easy after this to overpower the exhausted quarry. ICoeniggraetz -was

THE BERLIN CONGRESS

the result. Hapsburg monarchy was definitely eliminated from Germany, and Prussia was ready to throw herself on prey No. 3, France.

On June "28, 1878, at the Berlin Congress, Austria received the BosniaHerzegovina mandate (curiouslyenough, on the same day, thirty-si's years later,' Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated in Serajevo). St. Petersburg was dumbfounded at that move of Bismarck. At the risk of losing Russia's friendship he stood firmly by Austria. This was the beginning of the rupture between Germany and Russia, which culminated in tlie declaration of war on August 1, 1914.' . No time was then to be lost, for there was danger that Germany would remain isolated.- Bismarck hurried to Vienna, and when he became convinced that no secret treaty had yet beeu signed by Andrassy with' France and England, he came out with his alliance proposal. Here is Bismarck's own tale :

Francis Joseph favoured my plan eyen more than Andrassy. But not so my King. He. heaped objection upon objection in spite of the perfidious and shameless behaviour of the Russian Court. I wrote, at that time, in my own hand, more than 1000 foolscap sheets, day and night, memoranda, letters, despatches, an I so on. I begged him, almost on my knees, to give in. In vain!

At last, owing mainly to the skilf-il intervention of Count 'Stollberg, the German Emperor yielded. Thus the chain is complete. In 1701 the Margrave of Brandenburg appeared as supplicant in the Hofburg of.Vienna to obtain th a ro.vat Crown from the hands of Emperor Leopold I. ; September 21-2-1, 1879,, Prince Bis-m-we!; kow-towed in the same Imperial Palace to obtain the precious parchment sup. ranteemp; the safety of the German Empire, wherefrom lie had chased- the ■Hapsburgs, they who wore the crown of tne Holy Empire from 1437 to 1806. Both William 11. and Archduke Francis ierdinand arc said to have dreamed of -eing crowned one day in Rome with the crown of Charlemagne, which to this day is jealously guarded in the xinpenal Treasury at Vienna. Both are said to have promised to the Pope for his service as Crown-Marshal the reestablishinent of the temporal power More than once in his sleepless nights the spirit, of Marie Theresa and his' other Imperial ancestors may have ap-peared-to Charles I. with the anxious qi^stion on their bloodless lips: Quo