AMAZING REVELATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 March 1916, Page 3

AMAZING REVELATIONS.

KAISER'S INTRIGUES IN THE BALKANS. London, February 4. The distinguished foreign editor of the Times, Mr. Steed, makes some astonishing revelations in a current number of one of the monthlies. And Mr. Steed knows more about the secret inside history of the Hapsburgs than anyone living outside the highest court circles in Berlin and Vienna. The theory that Mr. Steed submits about the German plan for this war is an interesting one, and it is supported,by a convincing wealth of evidence. A fortnight before the Austrian Archduke was assassinated at Sarajevo he and his ambitious consort were visited at their Arclulucal Palace by the German Kaiser and Admiral Von Tirpitz. The official explanation of the visit was that the Kaiser went to inspect the Archduke's rose gardens in their full and fragrant bloom. But there is sinister evidence that the real objects of his visit were to discuss and adopt a solemn pact for the partition of Europe. The Archduke's two sons were barred from the Austrian throne, according to the iron rule of the Austrian Empire, and for reasons that need not be discussed in jfublic. The proposal was that a quarrel should be provoked with Russia, that France should be smitten to the dust, and that new kingdoms should be carved out in Poland and in the Balkans, over which the Archduke's sons might reign. But the Balkan kingdom was to be incorporated in the German Empire, and Germany was to carve out new provinces for herself in the West. The assassination of the Archduke a fortnight later is said to have been due to the resentment of the Austrian court, who possibly got some wind of the secret compact. So far from destroying the Kaiser's plans, it was made the pretext for the upheaval that was meant to realise them. This may sound very like sheer melodrama, but there is not much doubt about its truth all the same. The tragedy of this war has come upon Europe as the direct result of Imperial family intrigues and vainglorious ambitions. It shows the folly of entrusting the destiny of great Empires to absolute monarchies and families tainted with serious mental disorder. j