and often inefficient translators and interpreters. Local government, even in practically purely non-Magyar districts, is monopolised by Magyars. The non-Magyars are strangers in their own country.

Numerically the most important non-Magyar race in Hungary are the Roumanians. According to the official statistics, they number 2,949,000. In reality their number is greater, and close to them live 275,000 Roumanians in the Austrian Bukovina.

A glance at the map shows that the kingdom of Roumania possesses a very awkward shape. It consists of two long and narrow strips of land which are joined together at a right angle. The land lying in the hollow of that angle consists of the Austrian Bukovina and of the Hungarian districts of Transylvania and the Banat. Owing to its awkward shape, the concentrated Roumanian army can defend the national territory only with great difficulty against an invader. The acquisition of the Austrian and Hungarian territories, inhabited nearly exclusively by Roumanians, would fill up the hollow and would convert Roumania into a shapely and easily defensible State.

The Roumanians in the kingdom of Roumania have during many years observed with sorrow and indignation the pitiful position of their brothers who live under Magyar rule, and their leaders have frequently and most emphatically warned the Hungarian Government that its anti-Roumanian policy might have very serious consequences to Hungary. When, in November, 1868, Count Andrassy intimated to King, then only Prince, Charles of Roumania that Roumania and Hungary should go hand in hand, King Charles replied, according to his Memoirs:

I recognise the advantages of a complete understanding between Hungary and Roumania. However, I must make this reservation-that I can work hand in hand with Hungary only when Hungary has changed her policy towards the Roumanians in Transylvania. I cannot abolish the natural sympathies which exist between the Roumanians on both

sides of the political boundary. I am therefore entitled to expect that the Hungarian Government will do everything that is right and fair in dealing with the real interests of its Roumanian subjects. In expressing this wish I do not intend to be guilty of political interference. I lay stress upon this point only because it is the principal condition for bringing about a good understanding between the two countries. Being a constitutional monarch, who owes his position to the election of the people, I am obliged to be guided by public opinion in as far as that opinion is reasonable. An open and sincere policy of kindness and goodwill on the part of the Hungarian Government towards its nonMagyar subjects would most ably support me in a policy which I am prepared to enter upon.

Hungary has disregarded the emphatic and frequent warnings of King Charles and of the leading Roumanian statesmen and publicists. Austria-Hungary was foolish enough to persecute her Italian and Roumanian citizens after the outbreak of the present War, believing that the taking of hostages and the execution of leaders would assure their fidelity. Fidelity cannot be secured by fear. If, as appears likely, Austria-Hungary should break up, Roumania will certainly see that the Roumanians on her border will be re-united to the motherland.

The subject nationalities in Austria-Hungary have been ruled by misrule, and most of them are profoundly dissatisfied. I have shown in these pages that some of the larger nations of the Dual Monarchy are likely to be absorbed by their neighbours. Galicia, with 8,000,000 people, is likely to be divided between Russia and Poland; the Roumanian districts, with 4,000,000 inhabitants, should fall to Roumania; the Serbian district, with 6,000,000. people, may go to the Serbs; and the Italian district, with nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, may become Italian. Bohemia may once more become an independent State. The smaller subject nations of Austria-Hungary may be expected to follow the example of the greater. Austria-Hungary seems

likely to disintegrate on racial lines. In the South-East of Europe may arise a Poland with 20,000,000 inhabitants, a Serbia with 10,000,000 inhabitants, a Hungary with 10,000,000 inhabitants, and an Austria with 10,000,000.

Many people, fearing the danger of Russia, advocate that Austria-Hungary should be preserved in its present state so as to act as an efficient counterpoise to the Russian colossus. The preservation of the Dual Monarchy is particularly strongly urged by those who fear the Pan-Slavonic danger, who believe that the Slavonic nations in the Balkan Peninsula and in Austria-Hungary will amalgamate with Russia, that Russia will, through Serbia and Bohemia, stretch out its arms as far as the Adriatic and Bavaria. That fear seems scarcely justified. The Slavonic nations outside Russia have looked to Russia as a deliverer when they were oppressed, but these nations have a strongly marked individuality of their own, and they have no desire, after having painfully acquired their freedom, to be merged into Russia and to disappear in that gigantic State. In the spring of 1908 representatives of the Austrian Slavs attended a great Slavonic Congress at Petrograd. Mr. Karel Kramarz, a prominent Czech politician, was at the head of the Austrian. delegation, and he made to the Congress the following declaration.

The Slavonic movement and Slavonic policy must be based on the principle that all Slavonic nations are equal, and their aim must consist not in an endeavour to form all Slavs into a single nation, but to develop the individual character of each of the Slavonic peoples. The aim of all Slavs should be in the first instance to increase their own national consciousness and strength, and in the second to secure their mutual co-operation for promoting their common welfare, ensuring their progress in every way and defending themselves against German aggression.

This declaration is characteristic of the Slavs not only in Bohemia but elsewhere. The Bulgarians and Serbians

differ greatly, although they are neighbours, and they are not likely to amalgamate. Democratic Serbia will merge itself neither in Bulgaria nor in Russia. The Czechs also have a nationality and individuality of which they are proud. A number of small and medium-sized Slav States are likely to arise in the South-East of Europe. Those who desire to re-build Austria-Hungary after its downfall are insufficiently acquainted with the difficulty of such an undertaking. Besides, they should remember that diplomacy can correct, but must not outrage, Nature; that a lasting peace cannot be re-established in Europe by perpetuating Austria's tyranny over her unhappy subject nations. After all, Europe's security and peace are more important than a mechanical balance of power. We have no reason to fear Russia's aggression. There is no reason to believe that she intends to swamp her Western neighbours. After the present War, Russia will be exhausted for decades. Her task for the future consists in organising and developing her colossal territories, providing them with roads and railways, and improving the conditions of the people. Besides, if in twenty or thirty years Russia should embark upon a great war of conquest in the West, she would have to fight nations which will be much stronger than they are at present. The prevention of the actual German danger is far more important than the prevention of a highly problematical Slav peril of the future.

Austria-Hungary has outlived her usefulness. She has always been a bad master to the unfortunate nations who have come under her sway. Since 1307, the year when William Tell raised the Swiss in revolution against the Habsburgs, the history of Austria is a long history of the revolts of their subject nations. The dissolution of Austria-Hungary is merely the last incident in its recent evolution. In 1859 Austria-Hungary lost her supremacy over Italy. In 1866 she lost her supremacy over Germany. By the present War she will probably lose her supremacy over the Slavs. A nation may rule over other nations only

if it treats them with justice. Austria has always ruled with barbaric methods. The atrocious acts of which Germany has been guilty in Belgium and France were taught by Austria. In her campaign against Serbia she has, as usual, taken thousands of hostages among her own peoples in order to prevent their rising against the tyranny of Vienna, and she has, as usual, made barbarous war upon the weak and the helpless. Austria-Hungary is an anachronism in a modern world. The Dual Monarchy is, and has always been, only a factor for evil. In Germany's crime Austria-Hungary has been an accomplice and an accessory before the fact. Austria-Hungary has existed during many years, not owing to its own strength, but owing to Europe's toleration. Austria-Hungary is another Turkey. Her hour has struck. The Empire of the Habsburgs in its present form is likely to disappear. In its place will arise a number of independent States possessing a national basis which in time may federate for mutual protection.

The present War has a twofold object. It is a war waged to destroy the curse of militarism and to free the subject nations from their bondage. Many people have asked by what name the present War should be known to history. It might fittingly be called the War of Liberation. Small nations, whether they are called Belgium and Holland, or Bosnia and Bohemia, are entitled to life and liberty. We need not deny the small nations which should take the place of Austria-Hungary their inborn right to life and prosperity. It is true that small States, especially if they have no outlet to the sea, are greatly hampered. The future, and especially the economic future, probably belongs to the great nations. Still, the small nations can survive, and if they cannot survive singly they can live and prosper by voluntary co-operation. The small nations which are arising in the Balkan Peninsula and in that part of Europe which is now called AustriaHungary, may be expected to conclude arrangements with their friends and sympathisers for mutual defence. A