that most sensitive of political
weathercocks, Matthias Erzberger, which was designed to take political
control out of the hands of the military clique. That crisis, however,
was safely survived by Ludendorff, who remained supreme. President Wilson
then returned to the attack in his reply to the Pope's peace proposals of
August. "The object of this war is to deliver the free peoples of the
world from the menace and the actual power of a vast military
establishment controlled by an irresponsible government.... This power is
not the German people. It is the ruthless master of the German people....
We cannot take the word of the present rulers of Germany as a guarantee
of anything that is to endure, unless explicitly supported by such
conclusive evidence of the will and purpose of the German people
themselves as the other peoples of the world would be justified in
accepting."

There was serpentine wisdom in these words, for their very vagueness
attracted German liberals. Wilson did not demand a republic; he did not
insist upon the Kaiser's abdication, for which Germany was not then
prepared; all that he asked was a government responsible to the people,
and more and more the Germans were demanding that themselves.
Furthermore, he again laid stress upon the fact that the Germans need not
fear vengeance such as the Allies had threatened. "Punitive damages, the
dismemberment of empires, the establishment of selfish and exclusive
economic leagues, we deem inexpedient." The appeal was fruitless in its
immediate effects, for the political party leaders were still dominated
by the military; but ultimately, in conjunction with a dozen other
appeals, its influence acted like a subtle corrosive upon the German will
to conquer.

Still less successful were the attempts to win Austria away from her ally
by secret diplomatic conversations. In these neither President Wilson nor
his personal adviser, Colonel House, placed great confidence. They had
been undertaken by the French through Prince Sixtus of Bourbon, and in
August, 1917, Major Armand of France discussed with the Austrian emissary,
Revertata, possible means of bringing about peace between Austria and the
Allies. Lloyd George enthusiastically approved this attempt to drive a
wedge between Austria and Germany, was anxious to send Lord Reading as
intermediary, and, upon the refusal of the latter to undertake the
mission, actually dispatched General Smuts to Switzerland. The Emperor