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Show Present War a Settlement of Old Quarrels - -til ww Natural Endin? ot Lena Standing III Feeling Between Austria and the Slavic Nations. Ling HUtory of Intrigue Washington, Aug. 7. Russian dlp-lomacy. dlp-lomacy. Intriguing In tho Italians, may largely be blamed for tho present pres-ent Austro Servian or Austro-Slavlc situation, for while It in npymrur.co Is n quarrel between tho llttlo Slavic Slav-ic stato of Servla and tho great empire em-pire of Austrla-Hungary, In fact It is a quarrel of long stnndlng betw;rn Austria nnd all the Elnv nations, rot excluding Russia. ,nosnlii and Herzegovlnn, onoo Servian Ser-vian provinces, In 1900 belonged to Turkey, nlthough they were occupied by Austrian troops nnd In every voy but on paper wore parts of tho Austrian Aus-trian empire. Austria had bi-en quietly planning to annex tho cno little lit-tle Slavic provinces for some time, but could not quite see her way cliar to do it without arousing the strenuous stren-uous protest from tho powers. When the Turkish constitutional revolution took place In 1000 Austria saw her opportunity and took advantage of It. She malnthlned Itat because Roanla nnd Herzegovina under tho new Turkish regime would havo to send delegates to tho Turkish Parliament Parlia-ment It wero better that Austria annex an-nex them, which sao promptly proceeded pro-ceeded to do in fnco of tho protest of I Russia, Franco nndtOreat Britain. Bowed to Superior Force It was maintained by tho powers that Austria's act In nnnolng tho Slavic provinces was a violation of tho agreement made at tho general European Congress which met at Her-H,i Her-H,i shortly nfter the Russo Turkish war. Austria remained firm, however, howev-er, and when tho powers became threatening Germany came to Aus tria's aid. Germany was prepared tor war. as was Austria. Great Britain, Bri-tain, Franco and Russia wero nol prepared for war, and with both Aus-trla Aus-trla nnd Germany facing them they we-o compelled to submit to Austria's seizure of Bosnia and Herzegovina and accopt their humiliating defeat with as good grace as possible. What Russia could not do by force of arms Bho then proceeded to do by Intrigue and diplomacy. Secret agents were sent Into all ot tho Balkan Bal-kan states and Into thoso provinces of Austria and Germany populated thickly with Slavs. Ever slnco that time a constnnt campaign to arouse tho Austrian and German Slavs has been maintained by Russian seciet agents. Dissatisfaction and revolution wts fermented among tho Slavs of Austria Aus-tria by Russian agents, and It even said that Russian secn-t aptmts ubled In the formation of SUvonlc societies In Austria and Germany '.in ob;rrts of which wero the freelns if tho SKivIs provinces now under T.itonlc rulo and thi formation of " fe'''"1 lEue was to bo tho foundation Russian diplomacy brti.ight about the alllanco ot Balkan nations for the war with Turkey, In which war ll'tlo ?crv!a greatly distinguished herself. ' Tho flno Jiand of tho Austrian ijp , elgn ofTlco was scon In tho Balkan plo however, soon after tho dete.it of Turkey. Tur-key. Both Autrla and German' lmd confidently expected to too Turkey the victor, nnd It Is 6a)d that tno Ton-'tonic Ton-'tonic diplomats wero sadly disappointed disap-pointed nt tho outcome. Austrli bUBlcd herself Immed'ntoly. and b tho oxerclflo of cither llutr or moro subtle brand of diplomacy than -hat oxo-clscd by Russia. suwrMW t-l "" vlnrlng tho powers that Albnitlu which hud been taken possession ( by tho Servians, should bo made an independent kingdom, hut 1.1 rcnll" under Austrian and uornii"i ........... tlon. Consequently tho Sorb were rollovcl ot part of tho 'inlU ot vlct ory nnd n German prlnoo. William of Albania with tho coscnt of .lie poweis In tho fnco of tho diploma I j cnpn.il tlon of nuasln Unable to help thorn-selves, thorn-selves, Servla nnd tho Balkan tuitions wero compelled to ncinletsce. In tho Balkan lenguo, hovovor, the trlplo nlllance, composed of A.islilo, Germany nnd Italy, found a valuable adjunct of tho opposing powers, tho trlplo Piitento, compojod of RiiBla Great Britain and Fra-Ko. slnco tho Balkan lcoguo had been 'ha outcome of Russian diplomacy. Austlti then I set about to smash un tho IWlknn alliance. Tho result of this was the second IJalltnn war, In vliljh Soil la and Oreeco with Montenegro, wcro pitted against Bulgaria. The latltr country was given nil possible assist-itiico assist-itiico by Austria, but Austria wns a-gain a-gain duo to bo disappointed, for Bulgaria Bul-garia was sorely defeated. Besides her troubles abroad, Austria Aus-tria was having difficulties at home. Nearly half ot Austria's population Is Slavic, although of course, the ruling forces aro Teutonic and Magvar, or Hungarian. The Serbs of tUe various vari-ous Slavic provinces of Austria were fomenting revolution. Servla woe dreaming of regaining Bosnia and Herzegovlnln, Russia Intriguing wan making trouble, and Austria's nid ot Bulgaria had allenatd the affections of Roumanlu, which hitherto 1 ad been friendly to the triple alliance, but which now practically became a part of tho triple entente. As a result of It all, Austria famed fam-ed but one small victory. Dy causing tho formation of tho Albanian kingdom, king-dom, Austria had prevented Servla from obtaining n seaport, the principal princi-pal ambition of tho Slaylc monarchy. But In doing this Austria brought herself her-self Into complications with Italy, which had cast envious eyes on Al bania and It looked for a while ns It thero would bo serious clashes between be-tween tho two nations. Austria then found .herself in n somowhnt precnrlons situation. She was threatened with destruction. Intrigue diplomacy and revolution. On her border sho was threatened by Serb nnd Roumanian. Russia was a serious danger In the north. Austria's only salvation was Germany, and if Germany would stand by Austria, It was tho opinion of Austrian statesmen states-men that It would bo better for Austria Aus-tria to settlo tho Slav question at once with her armies rather than wait and perhaps bo destroyed In the long run. A demand for war beenme strong. Newspapers and public men' wero practically demanding n test of strength between the triple hlllanco nnd tho trlplo entente when the Archduke Arch-duke Ferdinnnd was slain as tho alios ed result ot a Serb" plot, hatched, It was claimed In Servla. Austria promptly seized upon this as a pretext pre-text for demanding a show down. The situation had changed slnco 1900. Russia was prepared for war, and It was believed would welcome It. France war preparing for war, as also was Great Britain. If IUisIa came to tho aid of Servla. It was certain that Germany would mobilize her armies In support ot Austria. Germany In the field would bo certain to bring France Into tho situation, wmi a v. to avenging herself for tho Franco-Pruslan Franco-Pruslan war. Great Britain then would bo expected to stand by her allies al-lies of the trlplo entente. Diplomats also argued that Great Britain would consider that Austria and Germany opposing Russia, France nnd tho Balkan Bal-kan states might trlynph. leaving England alone to face tho question of German expansion, and that therefore It would bo better for Great Britain to tako part lu the war and aid Russia, Rus-sia, Franco and tho Balkans In putting put-ting n final end to German and Austrian Aus-trian power In Europe. |