to alter that. The Roumanians, Serbians and Italians are to
receive enormous compensation, we are to lose Trieste, and the
remainder is to be broken up into separate states--Czechish,
Polish, Hungarian and German. There will be very slight contact
between these new states; in other words, a separate peace would
mean that the Monarchy, having first been mutilated, would then be
hacked to pieces. But until we arrive at this result, we must
fight on, and that, moreover, _against_ Germany, which will, of
course, make peace with Russia at once and occupy the Monarchy.
The German generals will not be so foolish as to wait until the
Entente has invaded Germany through Austria, but will take care to
make _Austria itself the theatre of war_. So that instead of
bringing the war to an end, we should be merely changing one
opponent for another and delivering up provinces hitherto
spared--such as Bohemia and Tyrol--to the fury of battle, only to
be wrecked completely in the end.

On the other hand, we might perhaps, in a few months' time, secure
peace all round, with Germany as well--a tolerable peace of mutual
understanding--always provided the German offensive turns out
successful. The Emperor was more silent then. Among his entourage,
one pulls this way, another that--and we gain nothing in that
manner among the Entente, while we are constantly losing the
confidence of Berlin. If a man wishes to go over to the enemy,
then let him do it--_le remede sera pire que le mal_--but to be
for ever dallying with the idea of treachery and adopting the
pose without carrying it out in reality--this I cannot regard as
prudent policy.

I believe we could arrive at a tolerable peace of understanding;
we should lose something to Italy, and should, of course, gain
nothing in exchange. Furthermore, we should have to alter the
entire structure of the Monarchy--after the fashion of the
_federation Danubienne_ proposed in France--and I am certainly
rather at a loss to see how this can be done in face of the
Germans and Hungarians. But I hope we may survive the war, and I
hope also that they will ultimately revise the conditions of the
London conference. Let but old Hindenburg once make his entry into
Paris, and then the Entente _must_ utter the decisive word that
they are willing to treat. But when that moment comes, I am firmly
determined to do the utmost possible, to appe