Germany when these letters were made public, a sto which was aroused and kept going factitiously by Pan-German party, and did more to shake the Habsb throne than any previous event. Quite wrongly, for Emperor's good intentions were obvious; and it ungrateful and foolish of the people, who never cea to wail for peace and to grumble at the unbeara burden of the war, to reward with reproaches & abuse their Emperor's efforts to obtain this peace them.

This was the first severe shock sustained by Habsburg throne. The second was not long in comi It was the failure of the offensive on the Piave June 1918. The foolish and disastrous system of dec tion in force in Austria shrouded this tragic catastrop in mysterious darkness, which, naturally, had far wo consequences than the truth, however sad, would ha brought in its train. For out of this darkness there cre sinister rumours which, encouraged by Pan-German a socialistic agents, crystallised into the legend that t Empress Zita, in league with her two brothers fighti in the opposite camp, had betrayed the offensive to t enemy. To this story an air of false probability was giv by the fact that the two Princes of Parma were real serving in a foreign army, and that the Empress came an Italian royal house and had been brought up as Italian. 'The Empress has betrayed us!'-such was t explanation found by the people for the defeat on t Piave, an explanation which, encouraged by the hatr of the Pan-Germans and Social-Democrats for t Habsburgs, and rooted in the ignorance of the masse became a smouldering fire which ate away the found tions of the Habsburg throne.

If the people-and this applies not only to th uneducated masses but also to the so-called intelliger classes-had not been deprived of all power of judgmen by this hypnosis, they would surely have realised the the Empress would not do anything so mad as to unde mine the throne occupied by herself and her husband, which her eldest son would presumably succeed. And, they had only known a little history, they would hav been aware that, although the Empress was an Italia yet she came of a royal house which had been deprived

its throne and country by the House of Savoy, and that there was absolutely no reason why she should assist this family, so hostile to her own, to triumph over Austria in general and the Habsburgs in particular. But the people were far from possessing such insight and historical knowledge; they adhered obstinately to their fable of treachery, and, led on by the German nationalists and Social-Democrats, they coupled this with the Emperor's supposed betrayal of Germany. Of these two calumnies they concocted an accusation against their own royal house which was eventually to become a bomb for its destruction.

The wrath of the German nationalists against the Emperor was of longer standing and had its origin in the amnesty granted by him to the Slav leaders, which had evoked vehement expressions of anger from the Germans, who considered that this action had put a premium on high treason. This point of view was erroneous, for, in acting thus, the Emperor's intentions had been good and, in themselves, by no means unwise; by this means he had hoped to conciliate the disloyal Slavs and win them back to allegiance to Austria. The worst thing about it was the clumsy, hasty manner in which the act of mercy had been carried out. Before putting it into force it should have been ascertained whether the Slavs were prepared to be conciliated by these means, and it should not have been undertaken until sufficient guarantee of this result had been given. As, however, these precautions were not taken and the Slavs continued to maintain a hostile attitude, this act of grace proved a vain attempt and merely roused the resentment of the Germans.

In order to win back the Germans, whose behaviour appeared to cause the Emperor no uneasiness, Dr von Seidler, the Austrian Prime Minister and the Emperor's most influential counsellor, hit on the naïve and unlucky idea of declaring solemnly that, henceforward, Austria would follow the lead of Germany. This declaration did indeed call forth the tempestuous approval of the Germans, who had always been Austria's most shortsighted politicians; but it naturally destroyed the last remnants of loyalty among the Slavs. Subservience to Germany in a kingdom inhabited by 10 million Germans and about 18 million Slavs (reckoning those in Cisleithania

alone), Slavs, moreover, who were on the point of forsa ing the country! A more unfortunate remedy could n well have been chosen. But the Emperor in his distre grasped at any and every means suggested by h counsellors; and, as he lacked experience and perhap like Franz Josef, did not possess the gift of judging m and making good use of them, he sought advice a support from inept and even frivolous persons, who l him to make one mistake after the other.

One such mistake was the unlucky Manifesto Oct. 17, 1918, in which he announced to his people t reconstruction of Austria on a national basis. This w a most superficial piece of work which, apart from t fact that it came much too late, was rendered valuele because it only took into consideration the nations Austria and not those of Hungary, who were to continu to suffer under the Magyar knout. This Manifesto ha therefore, only one result, in direct contradiction to th effect intended; and this was to cause the people Austria to find in it a welcome summons to brea asunder, a summons which they obeyed with alacrity.

All the unhappy young Emperor's efforts to maintai his crumbling Empire and tottering throne were in vai In such hopeless conditions as these a continuation the war was not to be thought of, and he was forced t plead with the Entente for peace. But this merely gav the Germans in Austria and Germany another oppo tunity to cry 'Treason' and to heap hatred and abuse c him and his house. Once more the crazy and revoltin scene was enacted in which the very same starvin people who were longing for peace showed thei gratitude to the man who was endeavouring to procur it by branding him as 'Traitor.' There could, indeed, b no question of treachery on his part, for so early as th spring of 1917 he had informed Germany that he coul not hold out after the autumn of that year. The fac that, in spite of this, he had continued to fight besid Germany for a whole year beyond that period, wa sufficient evidence of his loyalty as an ally.

Many a ruler has had to learn the lesson of th uncertainty of popular favour by personal experienceis only necessary to recall the classic example of Loui XVI-but never has the change been brought about s

suddenly; no monarch has ever been hurled so suddenly as was the Emperor Karl from the summit of popularity to the depths of ostracism and execration; no one, perhaps, has experienced mankind's shameful lack of principle in so crude a form. Surrounded by servile, fawning courtiers as he was, he found himself, when the storm broke out, almost entirely deserted, and not one raised a hand to help him. In his need he recalled the days of rejoicing at Budapest at the time of his coronation and sought refuge with the Magyars, who had taken every opportunity of assuring him of their 'intense love' and 'humble loyalty.' There, in the midst of this devoted people, he hoped to find a refuge for himself and his family. But he had scarcely arrived before a retreat was forced upon him, which in truth was a flight, a flight from the fate of Tisza. He remained for a short time in Austria, not at Vienna or Schönbrunn, but at a lonely castle called Eckartsau, cut off from all intercourse. When he left Schönbrunn for the last time the sentries did not even salute him! But neither was he to remain at Eckartsau; even there his life was in danger. Under British protection, and pursued by the vilest accusations, he left Austria, which was engulfed behind him in the seething, crimson morass of anarchy.

THEODORE VON SOSNOSKY.

Art. 5.-THE AGRARIAN MOVEMENT IN CANADA.

1. Deep Furrows. By Hopkins Moorhouse. Toronto an Winnipeg McLeod, 1918.

2. Wake up, Canada! Reflexions on Vital National Issue By C. W. Peterson. Toronto: Macmillan, 1919. 3. Profitable Grain-growing. By Seager Wheele Winnipeg: Grain Growers' Guide, Ltd., 1919.

4. Farm and Ranch Review. Calgary.

5. Grain Grmoers' Guide. Winnipeg.

THE prosperity of Canada must always be a subject c vital interest to residents of Great Britain in severɛ respects, firstly, because of the close ties between th Mother-Country and the Dominion, both in peace and i. war; secondly, because of the importance of the Canadia farms as a source of food supply; thirdly, because o the wide-open field for emigration and development b personal exertion or capital investment, provided by the varied and to a large extent unexplored natural re sources of British North America.

There is no good reason why the history of the agrarian movement in Canada should not be discussed in a purely English publication. England, indeed, i full of potential Canadian citizens. The man who ha thought of emigrating, the man who might emigrate some day, the man who intends to emigrate soon-al these should know as much as possible about matter under discussion in the country of which they may become actual citizens. Moreover, since the whole movement represents an attempt by the newe citizens of Canada-by those who have settled and pioneered within the last thirty years-to drive from power the old Canadians of the eastern provinces (whose Canadian citizenship dates from thirty to three hundred years further back), and, since it has its root in economic conditions which official propaganda has always been careful to conceal, the struggle is bound to be the personal concern of the Canadians of to-morrow.

There was an old saying in British Columbia that a mine is a hole in the ground the owner whereof is a liar.' It is assuredly not in this sense that Mr Moorhouse's book 'Deep Furrows' is hereby recommended to