EUROPE’S LITTLE NATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 April 1921, Page 12

EUROPE’S LITTLE NATIONS.

■RACIAL HATRED AND JEALOUSIES.

It is becoming obvious that the principle of self-determination for small nations, which was one of the most important of President Wilson’s '“fourteen points,” on which the peace treaties with Germany and Austria were based, is not going to prove a factor in maintaining peace ih Europe, though Presi- • dent Wilson and other idealists repeatedly declared that permanent peace in i Europe could never be achieved except through the operation of self-determina-tion to those nations which had been oppressed (writes the London correspondent or the Melbourne Age). The small nations which have been given self-de-termination and political freedom by the dismemberment of the ramshackle Austro-Hungarian Empire do not seem inclined to settle down and live in harmony with one another and their neighbors. Their racial hatreds, which were kept under control in the days of their political unity in Austria-Hun-gary, are now finding full expression in the days of freedom; and the dis-, trust, dissension and jealousy expressed in their political policies are augmented by the foreign policy of France. POSITION IN THE BALKANS. Before the war the small nations of Rumania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece were a disturbing factor in the peace of Europe, for they forgot their mutual distrust only when uniting against the Turk as the common enemy of all. Today there are the three additional small nations of Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, caused by the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and a fourth in the re-establishment of the Poles as a united nation. The territorial boundaries of Rumania and Serbia (which has become a Greater Serbia, under the name of Yugo-Slavia, by the union of the Southern Slavs) have been extended as the result of acquisitions of territory under the peace treaties drawn up by the Allies, and this geographical growth has developed the political ambitions of these countries and the distrust which their neighbors entertain for them. The Germans of Austria and the Magyars of Hungary, who were the dominating races in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, have increased \their mutual hatred and distrust by their separation and freedom. FRANCE’S EUROPEAN POLICY.' The dominating factor in France’s European policy is to keep Germany in a state of subordination —political and economic subordination, as well as military. That aim is expressed in many sections of the Allies’ peace treaty with Germany. In spite of the reluctance of Great Britain, and America to subscribe to France’s policy, France, conscious of the great suffering and sacrifices that she has been compelled to endure because of German militarism in the past, is determined that there shall be no repetition of these sufferings and sacrifices. She has to live with Germany as her neighbor, but she is determined that Germany shall never again be a menace to the other countries of Europe, and, most important of all, that she shall never again be a menace to France. Great Britain believes that the industrial and economic recovery of Germany is an essential factor in the recovery and prosperity of Europe, and for that reason Mr. Lloyd George has been trying to dissociate Great Britainb from France’s policy against Germany. SEPARATING BAVARIA FROM GERMANY. France’s policy towards Germany is illustrated in her policy towards the little nations of Europe. She has supported Poland in her policy of aggrandisement because a strong Polish republic on Germany’s eastern frontier is a menace to Germany, and an important factor in thwarting Germany’s economic exploitation of the great resources of Russia. She secured in the peace treaties the insertion of clauses preventing the union of Austria with Germany, because such a union, though essential to the economic life of Austria as it exists to-day, with a population almost exclusively German in origin and language, would add to the military resources of Germany. She has established at Munich, the capital of Bavaria (which was th?, second largest kingdom of the German Empire),'a French Minister, who is virtually an ambassador. . The object of this diplomatic manoeuvre is to encourage among the reactionary conservative sections of the Bavarians the agitation for the re-establishment of the monarchy, as this would mean the re-creation of the kingdom of Bavaria and its separation from the German Republic. Such a separation cannot be accomplished without a renewal of internal warfare in between the monarchists and the republicans who wish to remain a part of the German Republic. AN OFFER TO EX-EMPEROR CARL. The monarchist movement in Hungary is also being supported by France, because a Hungarian monarchy is less likely to ally itself with a German republic than is a Hungarian republic. The foreign policy of the kingdom of Hungary would be more stable and more amenable to French influence than the foreign policy of a Hungarian republic, which would’ be subject to changes incidental to the changes in the fortunes of political parties at parliamentary elections.

A monarchy could probably be established in Hungary without bloodshed, as the conservative forces which favor a monarchy hold the reins of power iy Hungary. Negotiations have been in progress with Carl the dethroned and exiled Emperor of Austria-Hungary, who is living with his family at Prangins, in Switzerland. It has been proposed that Carl should resume the throne of Hungary if he gives an undertaking to relinquish his royal and imperial right to the throne of Austria, as the Allies would not consent to the re-union of Austria and Hungary under a monarchy or in any other form. The exemperor has refused to renounce his rights to the throne of Austria, and as long as he refuses he will not regain the throne of Hungary. FRANCE LOOKING AHEAD. France is supporting the Hungarian hatred and distrust of Austria in order that Hungary may be a menace to the movement in Austria for re-union with Germany. As has been stated, the peace treaties expressly forbid this union, unless sanctioned by the Council of the League of Nations, on which the voting strength of the Allies is dominant; but France is looking ahead to * W be

willing to support her policy of preventing this union. Then, if France went _.to war with Germany and Austria on the question she would bid for the sup. port of Hungary against Austria. THE LITTLE ENTENTE. Efforts are being made to form an alliance between Rumania, Jugo-Slavia, Czecho-Slavia, Greece and Poland, and as the adhesion of these countries is assured the formation of the alliance is only a matter of a few months. This alliance will be known as the Little Entente. It is announced that it will be purely defensive, and will prove an important factor in the preservation of the peace of Europe. But the neighbors of these countries regard the Little Entente as a menace to their safety. Its formation will isolate Hungary, and surround her on three sides with enemies united in alliance. On the other side she has Austria, with whom she is also on terms of racial enmity. Bulgaria also will be surrounded on three sides with united enemies. Hungary and Bulgaria nurse hopes of revenge against the countries of the Little Entent, who, under the terms of the peace treaties drawn up by the Allies, have despoiled them of extensivd territories. The outlook for the future among the little tions oi Europe is not one oi jpeac®-