neously, Dr. Osuský was appointed Minister in London, Dr. Sychrava in Paris, Dr. Borksý in Rome, Pergler in Washington and Pavlu in Russia. The French Foreign Minister, M. Pichon, recognized the Provisional Government next day and the other Allied Governments soon afterwards. Thus we were independent and free de facto and de jure. The Emperor Charles’s manifesto came too late.
It came too late also in another respect. Though Vienna had continually sought to influence pro-Austrian circles in Allied countries and in Switzerland, Holland and Sweden, and though some French politicians would have been disposed to recompense Austria had she, even at the twelfth hour, turned her back upon Germany decisively, Austria feared Germany and the Austrian Germans. Therefore she hesitated. Consequently the Emperor’s manifesto, the Cabinet of Dr. Lammasch, and Count Andrássy’s acceptance of President Wilson’s new Austrian programme were all belated. “Toujours en retard.”
The Last Hours of Austria.
German and Austrian writers, military as well as political, agree that President Wilson’s answer on October 18 to Austria’s offer of peace, sealed her fate and settled likewise the question of our freedom. Both personally and as the representative of the United States, Wilson had become a great moral and political figure in Europe. His words carried the greater weight because America had entered the war without territorial ambitions; and the American army was a decisive factor in the Allied forces. As I have said, the German military command requested the German Government on September 29 to offer the Allies an armistice and peace. The German generals had grasped the position and acted promptly in order to forestall a capitulation of their troops. On October 5 the German Government asked President Wilson for an armistice; and following suit, Austria and Turkey sent a similar request on the same day. On October 8 Germany received a preliminary answer in the form of a question as to the real meaning of her proposal which was finally declined on October 14. But it was not until October 18 that President Wilson answered Austria-Hungary who, in her offer, had expressly accepted Wilson’s Fourteen Points and his other declarations, particularly his speeches of February 12 and September 27. In the former of these speeches President Wilson had reported
