The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1917. POLITICS AND PEACE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3150, 31 July 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1917. POLITICS AND PEACE

The statement on the subject of peace which is credited to-day to Herr Erzuergek, leader of the Centre Party in tho German ltcichstag, is quite obviously intended to deceive.. No sane man could believe, as Herr Eiszberger pretends to believe, that if ho were enabled to meet M«. Lloyd George and Mr. Balfour, a few hours' conversation would result in sufficient progress being made to enable official negotiations to begin. It ia not many days since the- British Prime Minister ea-id in plain words that the Allies would make peace with a free Germany, but not with a Germany dominated by autocracy. Nothing has since occurred to in the slightest degree alter the position, and in professing to believe that a few nours' conversation would pave the way for negotiations Heer Erzbergee is manifestly acting a part. The most obvious explanation of his ostensibly frank avowal that every effort must bo made to avoid a winter campaign is that he is labouring as the faithful agent of the German autocracy to divide Eussia from, the rest of tho Allies, and perhaps to delude Germany's vassals and the growing peace party within her own borders. It would certainly be absurdly credulous to accept Herr Erzberqer in. his assumed character as tho bearer of a straightforward peace overture, but his statement is an interesting addition to other evidence that the German autocrats are seriously perturbed and perplexed, and arc looking without confidence to the future. It is not a fact of hopeful import for the exponents of Prussian militarism that they arc being driven to rely increasingly upon political intrigue in attempting to gain their ends. In spito of the fact that tho enemy has profited not a little in recent days by conspiracy and intriguo in Russia, it is possible k> hold very confidently that ho will deviso no political scheme which will materially improve his position and prospects in tho war. If the agents of German autocracy are devoting themselves with increased energy to political intrigue it is equally true, and much more important, that the German Government is confronted at home and in its dealings with vassal countries with political problems which threaten to get completely beyond control. Suggestive evidence has hee-ii afforded of late that even tlio German nation cannot be relied upon to submit indefinitely to its tyrants, but another and perhaps an oven more pressing problem for the War Lords appears in the existing relations between Germany and her principal ally. The Austro-Hungariiui Foreign Minister is quoted to-day as stating that there is complete agreement between Berlin and Vienna regarding peace. This may be true in the sense that both Governments desire to obtain favourable terms, but it is at the same time an attempt to put a false complexion upon wellestablished facts. German newspapers havo of late mado no secret of tho fact that they find in recent political developments in Austria occasion for serious disquiet. According to the Economist, tho matter has gone so far that a scarcely concealed anti-Austrian campaign has become a feature in certain sections of tho Gorman

Press, and n 10re moderate organs are now pointing to the dan-s'-'l' of a ''misunderstandiii"" with Austria, which would threaten to cut off llermany for good from its more Eastern allies, Bulgaria and Turkey. Tho root of the trouble: is the fear of the Gorman military parly that tho Empekor Karl may be driven to grant internal reforms which would mnk« an end of German hegemony in Central Europe. The fear does not lack foundation, for in his speech at the opening of the Austrian Reichsr.ith at the beginning of last month the young Emperor definitely proposed a grant of autonomy to tho racial groups within his monarchy at present subject to tho Germans and the Magyars:

I am, however, convinced (ho said on that occasion) (hat the happy development of constitutional life, utter the unfniitfiilncss of past years, and after the exceptional political conditions of war time—apart from the solution of tho Ualician question, for which my illustrious predecessor already indicated the ivny—is not possible without expanding the Constitution and the administrative foundations of the whole of our public life, hoth in the Ktnto and in the separate kingdoms ami countries, especially Bohemia.

It is practically certain that reform on these lines represents the only possible alternative to tho disruption of tho Dual Monarchy, but there will assuredly be no such reform if the ruling party in Germany has its way. As the German autocrats view the matter, the one essential necessity is that German domination of Central Europe should be maintained. This attitude was bluntly stated not long ago by the Vienna correspondent of the Frankfurter Zeituiig, who is said to be closely connected with tho propaganda service of the German Embassy in the Austrian capital. Ecviewing the early proceedings of tho Austrian Bcichsrath he wrote:

Germany has saved Austria on three most critical occasions (hiring this war; now anti-German nationalities in Austria would destroy Clermun predominance in the Austrian Empire. The abolition of Gorman as the sole Parliamentary language will convert the Keichsrath into an anti-Gca'man votinp machine. Those Austrians who, like the Czech deputy M. Kaliiia, say that Austria's natural place J7i the world struggle is on tho side of the Entente, not on that of Germany, will kcxmio wasters of the Monarchy. The correspondent further threatened a German Irredentist movement in Austria, declaring it inconsistent with the dignity of the German nation that, "whilst Germans in Germany belong to tho mightiest nation in tho world," Germans in Austria should form only an insignificant minority. The Dual Monarchy is shaken to its' foundations by internal dissensions, but so long as Germany is dominant in Central Europe there will bo no reform and no relief. These arc- tho facts which Count Czehnin has attempted to cloak with a few smooth phrases, and with tho general trend of the war and Germany's internal political problems, those facts assist to explain why the War Lords arc bringing despairing energy to bear upon their peace intrigues.