by Burian, could serve no useful purpose, and that the proposal made by Vienna would not mean peace, but an armistice leading soon to a new war. Immediately afterwards Lansing replied on behalf of President Wilson in terms which left no doubt that the latter, having publicly entered on a commitment to destroy the Hohenzollern autocracy, meant this to include all that the Habsburgs stood for. “The American Government,” declared Lansing, “has already on several occasions most precisely defined the conditions which would allow it to discuss peace. It therefore does not intend to deal with any proposal whatever for a meeting in a matter on which it has already indicated its point of view and made so plain and sincere a decision.”
Finally, Clemenceau delivered his answer, which was couched in the most emphatic terms, and was thus typical of his activity throughout the war. On the assumption that the Austrian offer had been made with the consent of Berlin—as was actually the case—he first of all turned his attention to Germany. He recalled various objections which the Allies had raised to her policy, diplomacy, and conduct of the war, and he concluded with the drastic declaration:
Germany desired to enforce the end of the war by military power. Let her wish be therefore fulfilled. The most fearful account is tendered from nation to nation. It will be paid.
We now realized how we were situated. We saw that our cause was in no danger when such replies as these were made to the Austrian offer. We understood, too, that such replies would inflict a further severe blow on the Habsburg Empire, the inner disruption of which would thus be accelerated. The Austrian Government would certainly be compelled to take further steps, involving possibly constitutional reform in agreement with the various nationalities inhabiting the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The series of replies to Burian were completed two days later by Sonnino’s reply, which was of a special character. In a simple communiqué, issued by the Stefanio Agency, Sonnino laconically stated that as the other Allies had already explained in detail the condition upon which the future peace must depend, any kind of negotiations would be superfluous.
Rarely has any diplomatic action ended in such material and moral failure. And the further course of events resembled more a tragi-comedy than a politico-diplomatic attempt to secure
