burg Empire was moving towards ruin with redoubled speed. At the time when I had secured our recognition by Great Britain, it was clear to the Government at Vienna that a catastrophe was inevitable unless peace could be made at the earliest possible moment. At a meeting between the two Emperors and their Ministers at Spa on August 14, 1918, Burian expressly declared that if the war were not ended within two months, the Habsburg Empire, being exhausted in every respect, would be unable to hold out. On his return to Vienna, Burian, just like Czernin at an earlier period, clutched at every opportunity for bringing peace negotiations within reach of the Empire. Burian’s official peace proposal was made on September 15th in a note which he sent not only to the neutral States and to the Papal See, but also to Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Ukraine. In it he proposed that the competent States should, at the earliest possible date, meet together for an exchange of views as to the basic principles of the coming peace. It would not be in the nature of actual peace negotiations, nor would it denote a suspension of hostilities, but it would merely be a rapprochement for elucidating a number of points at issue and thus accelerating the arrival of the peace negotiations themselves.
The Allied Press immediately rejected this proposal, which it unanimously interpreted as a fresh proof of the chaos and exhaustion prevailing in the Habsburg Empire. At that time I was negotiating with the French Government on the subject of our agreement, and I at once saw that Burian’s proposal was not viewed with any great favour. What a great contrast there was between this and the reception accorded to the first attempt of this character in December 1916 and also to Czernin’s attempts in 1917.
At first a certain amount of surprise was occasioned by the fact that the note was dispatched by Vienna alone, without the other members of the Quadruple Alliance; and a number of Austrophiles in Allied circles endeavoured to show that this was a fresh symptom of conflict with Berlin, so that it would be a good opportunity to make another attempt to separate Vienna from Berlin. It soon appeared, however, that this was a preconcerted manœuvre, and the Allied answers, which were not long in making their appearance, came as a severe blow to the Habsburg Empire. As early as September 16th Balfour replied that any conversations, such as those suggested
