or in
the autumn an end must be put to the war at all costs.

Without a doubt, it will be most important to begin peace
negotiations at a moment when the enemy has not yet grasped the
fact of our waning strength. If we approach the Entente at a
moment when disturbances in the interior of the Empire reveal the
coming breakdown every step will have been in vain, and the
Entente will agree to no terms except such as would mean the
absolute destruction of the Central Powers. To begin at the right
time is, therefore, of extreme importance.

I cannot here ignore the subject on which lies the crux of the
whole argument. That is, the danger of revolution which is rising
on the horizon of all Europe and which, supported by England, is
demonstrating a new mode of fighting. Five monarchs have been
dethroned in this war, and the amazing facility with which the
strongest Monarchy in the world was overthrown may help to make us
feel anxious and call to our memory the saying: _exempla trahunt_.
Let it not be said that in Germany or Austria-Hungary the
conditions are different; let it not be contested that the firmly
rooted monarchist tendencies in Berlin and Vienna exclude the
possibility of such an event. This war has opened a new era in the
history of the world; it is without example and without precedent.
The world is no longer what it was three years ago, and it will be
vain to seek in the history of the world a parallel to the
happenings that have now become daily occurrences.

The statesman who is neither blind nor deaf must be aware how the
dull despair of the population increases day by day; he is bound
to hear the sullen grumbling of the great masses, and if he be
conscious of his own responsibility he must pay due regard to that
factor.

Your Majesty has seen the secret reports from the governor of the
town. Two things are obvious. The Russian Revolution affects our
Slavs more than it does the Germans, and the responsibility for
the continuation of the war is a far greater one for the Monarch
whose country is only united through the dynasty than for the one
where the people themselves are fighting for their national
independence. Your Majesty knows that the burden laid upon the
population has assumed proportions that are unbearable; Your
Majesty knows that the bow is strained to such a point that any
day it may be expected to snap. But should