The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 28, 1917. A SIGNIFICANT EVENT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3095, 28 May 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 28, 1917. A SIGNIFICANT EVENT

The designation of Count Tisza is one of the most important and sigmricant political events that has Occurred in Middle Europe since tile war began. Whatever else it may imply, , the fall of the Hungarian statesman is most certainly a blow to the Pan-German party. Ivo fact is better established than, that, Count Tisza, ' throughout his period in office, has acted as Pnis- ' sia's obedient servant. Responsibility for starting the war rests on Germany, bu,b Tisza was her selected ' instrument in actually forcing the issue. He was the chief author of the 'Note to Serbia which made war inevitable. There is littlo doubt that history will brand him as a . statesman who was shortsighted as ■well as unscrupulous in his choice of policy. Realisation .of Pan-Ger-man ideals would open no brilliant future for the Magyar race. The part offered to Hungary in the PanGerman schemo was that of a very junior partner in crime, and the Magyars under Tisza's leadership accepted this ignoble role because in doing so they" gained what 'they thought was a favourable opportunity of attacking the Slavs outside 'their borders and hoped in this way to maintain a hold upon the Slavs within their borders. Under a just arrangement the Slavs would be politically, as well as numerically, the strongest of the three main racial groups in what is. now the Dual Monarchy; In fact they are, and have been for many years, the victims of a ruthless tyranny. Oppressors always fear and hate the victims of their injustice, and it was upon these sentiments, which seem to have taken even deeper root in the Magyars than in the other ruling race of the Dual Monarchy, that Tisza played in shaping his policy. As an English writer remarked recently ; "The _ Scrajevo ■■ assassination, and tho view which Germany was willing to take of it for German ends, gave the Magyars their chance of a 'preventive' war, and they snatched at it as eagerly as an ill-bred dog snatches at a bono, being as determined to make use of Germany as Germany was to make use of them. Their only disappointment was that Germany' inveigled them into a world war, whereas they only wanted her to keep the ring, 'in shining armour,' for an AustroHungarian punitive and predatory expedition." , Count Tisza's fall is undoubtedly indicative of changed views, though not necessarily of a change of heart, in Hungary and in the Dual Monarchy as a whole. To the extent that the change reflects the rising prospects of the Aljies in the war it is to be welcomed, but there is a good, deal in the circumstances to warrant suspicion' as well, as a measure of hope. Falling hopes where the war is'concerned no doubt had a great deal to do with the collapse of Tisza's power, but the immediate cause evidently was a new nolitical adjustment' in tho Dual Monarchy—very probably prompted by the Emperor Carl—and such an adjustment may even more seriously endanger the'prospects of a just and lasting settlement at tho close of the war than would an absolutely determined and uncompromising staDd by the ruling races of the Dual Monarchy against the Allies arid against their oppressed countrymen. Any attempt to unravel tho Austro-Hungarian. political situation must depend to an extent on conjecture, but it seems to be _ a feasible explanation of existing circumstances that tho Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary has determined upon a policy of conciliation, towards his Slav subjects, and that Count Tisza has been discarded because he is too deeply committed as the herichman I of the Pan-Germans to take any part in such a VfWTho young Emperor is no doubt strongly inclined to the plan which was favoured by his uncle, Franz Ferdinand, of granting autonomy to the Slavs and reorganising the Empire as a federation of three main elements. A hint of the direction matters are taking is given in the report that an influential body of Czechs have addressed a manifesto to their deputies in regard to the necessity of obtaining constitutional guarantees. Considering tho treatment meted out to them before and since the war, the Czechs are more likely to. look for liberation and relief to tho Allies than to the races by whom they have been oppressed and victimised. According to a recent article by Mr. Francis Cribble in tho Nineteenth Cenluni, though their geographical position and. their lack of a suitable organisation made it impossible for them to take the field on our side, the Czechs have done a great deal more than passively disassociate themselves from the ambitions of the Central Powers, and have suffered martyrdom in consequence of their attitude. Estimates as to the number of Czechs executed for high treason in tho course of the war vary from 1200 to 4000. The victims include many members of tho. licichsra.th and

muliy women. A vast number of others, Mr. Gniimi.u states, have endured imprisonment and tho confiscation of their property or lied the country. 11. is said that not a singlo Czech or Slovak subject of Austria-Hungary, ( residing abroad, has returned to rejoin the colours, while- innumerable Czech and Slovak volunteers have everywhere offered their services to the Entente Towers. Workmen of these races havo done much to frustrate tho Gorman campaign of outrage in American mnnition factories, and the wholesale defection of Czech soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian army was an important factor in the Riussian successes and in the ghastly failure of Poti'oeek's Serbian expedition.

The movement reported to-day is very possibly being organised by the Austro-Hungarian Government in pursuance of the ohango of policy of which the fall of Count Tisza is as yet the most striking indication. It shows, at all events, that tho question of constitutional reforms benefiting the Czechs_ is being raised. There are obvious reasons for regarding any such death-bed repentance on tho part of the ruling races'in tho Dual Monarchy with suspicion. Honestly carried out years ago, the reorganisation of the Empire on the lines of grafting political autonomy and equally of treatment to the Slavs Vi'tfuld have gone far to avert the present war. Proposals ostensibly to this end made in existing circumstances are likely to be little more than an attempt on the part of the Germans and Magyars in the Dual Monarchy to retain by trickery tho. political ascendancy they are no longer oapablo of maintaining by force of arms. The young Emperor may be well-meaning, but to assume that ho is capable- of radically reforming the conditions which have made hitherto for the ruthless oppression of the Slavs and other subject races would probably be to exaggerate the power he wields. The removal of Count Tisza is an encouraging indication of failing vigour in the forces which have obviously made for oppression and misrule in the Dual I Monarchy. As a factor in the war it niay prove to possess serious significance, especially in the opportunity it may open up for intercourse with Russia, which is regarded as tho champion and protector of the Slavs.