Part IV.—The END.
CHAPTER I.
My Ministry at the Foreign Office and the October Revolution.
The Bulgarian news reached me on my estate in Siebenburgen during the shooting season. Bitter reality robbed me of the enjoyment of nature in one of the most beautiful mountainous and wooded districts. As soon as I heard of the secession of Bulgaria, I did not doubt for a moment that we ought to make peace at any price because, if we failed to do so now, the revolution would be inevitable. The internal situation in Hungary was particularly critical at this time. The administration was conducted by the Minority Cabinet of Wekerle, which had gone to pieces internally, was under the influence of its opponents, failed to carry through its programme, and was also not supported by the Crown. The Social Democrats were in touch only with the most extreme Radical Party, and in consequence of the competition between them they were incited to outdo each other rather than to exercise a restraining influence. The platform of electoral reform was substituted in an ever-increasing degree by a pacifist and anti-militarist programme. The weakness of the
