d.
Tolstoy predicted the great war, and he stated his belief that the torch
which would start the conflagration would be lighted in the Balkans
about 1913.

Tolstoy was not a friend of either Russian or German autocracy, hence
his seance may have been but a clever ruse to discover what was in the
minds of the two rulers. Germany probably was not ready to start the war
in 1913, but there is abundant warrant for the belief that she was
trimming the torch at that time, and, who knows, the deluded Prinzip may
have been the torch.

The old dotard Francis Joseph who occupied the throne of
Austria-Hungary, was completely under the domination of the Germans. He
could be relied upon to further any designs which the Kaiser and the
German war lords might have.

The younger man, Francis Ferdinand, was not so easy to handle as his
aged uncle. Accounts agree that he was arrogant, ambitious and had a
will of his own. He was unpopular in his country and probably unpopular
with the Germans. Being of the disposition he was, it is very likely
that the Kaiser found it difficult to bend him completely to his will.
Being a stumbling block in the way of German aims, is it not reasonably
probable that Germany desired to get rid of him, thus leaving
Austria-Hungary completely in the power of its tool and puppet, Francis
Joseph, and in the event of his death, in the power of the young and
suppliant Karl; another instrument easily bent to the German will?

The wife of the archduke, assassinated with him, was a Bohemian, her
maiden name being Sophie Chotek. She was not of noble blood as Bohemia
had no nobles. They had been driven out of the country centuries before
and their titles and estates conferred on indigent Spanish and Austrian
adventurers. Not being of noble birth, she was but the morgantic wife of
the Austrian heir. Titles were afterwards conferred upon her. She was
made a countess and then a duchess. Some say she had been an actress;
not unlikely, for actresses possessed an especial appeal to Austrian
royalty. The cruel Hapsburgs rendered dull witted and inefficient by
generations of inbreeding, were fascinated by the bright and handsome
women of the stage. At any rate, Sophie Chotek belonged to that virile,
practical race Bohemians, (also called Czechs) that gave to the world
John Huss, who lighted the fires of religious and civil liberty in
Central Europe, giving advent later to the work of Martin Luther.

Bohemians had always b