in the foreground, all competent
circles in the Monarchy were agreed that the annexation of Poland
to the Monarchy must on no account affect its _dualistic
structure_.

This principle was distinctly recognised by the then leaders in
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, as also by both Prime Ministers;
it was also recognised and sanctioned by His late Majesty the
Emperor and King Francis Joseph. I trust I may assume that this
view is shared by Your Excellency; in any case, and to avoid
misunderstanding, I must state that the Royal Hungarian Government
considers this to be the ground-pillar of its entire political
system, from which, in no circumstances, would it be in a position
to deviate.

It would, in our opinion, be fatal for the whole Monarchy. The
uncertainty of the situation lies in the Austrian State, where the
German element, after the separation of Galicia, would be in a
very unsafe position, confronted by powerful tendencies that
easily might gain the upper hand should a relatively small number
of the Germans, whether from social-democratic,
political-reactionary or doctrinary reasons, separate from the
other German parties. The establishment of the new Polish element
as a third factor with Austria-Hungary in our constitutional
organism would represent an element so unsafe, and would be
combined with such risks for the further development of the policy
of the Habsburg Great Power, that, in view of the position of the
Monarchy as such, I should feel the greatest anxiety lest the new
and unreliable Russian-Polish element, so different from us in
many respects, should play too predominant a part.

The firm retention of dualism, according to which half the
political influence on general subjects rests with Hungary, and
_the Hungarian and German element in common furnish a safe
majority_ in the delegation, alone can secure for the dynasty and
the two States under its sceptre an adequate guarantee for the
future.

There is no other factor in the Monarchy whose every vital
interest is so bound up in the dynasty and in the position of the
Monarchy as a Great Power, as Hungary. The few people whose clear
perception of that fact may have become dulled during the last
peaceful decade must have been brought to a keener realisation of
it by the present war.

The preservation of the Danube Monarchy as a vigorous and active
Great Power is