THE NEW EUROPE
he should make such a definite declaration to me at our first meeting, and in the midst of a crowd which jostled us at every turn. It merely confirmed my former opinion of Austrian diplomatists. In course of time it became obvious, even to Count Czernin, that the story of Magyar concessions to the Roumanians of Hungary would remain a mere Arabian Night's Entertainment, and he spoke of it less and less whenever I met him. . . .
In the early days of the war . . . I often met Count Czernin at Sinaia. . . . He stopped me once in the street to ask whether it was true that Talaat and Zaimis were both coming to Roumania in order to try and adjust the Turko-Greek differences with regard to the Islands. When I answered that it was quite true, he asked me, with a malicious smile, whether I really thought that it was merely for that that Talaat was coming? I answered him bluntly: No. Talaat had stopped in Sofia on the way, and it was obvious to me that he was coming to Roumania in order to try and conclude a Turko-Roumano-Bulgar alliance against Russia.
"Well," said Czernin, "if they make a proposition of this sort to you, what will you answer?"
"I am not the Government." I said, "but if I were, and if they made me any such proposition, I should simply reply that in the event of wishing to ally myself with Austria I should prefer to discuss the matter with her and not with her servants.". . . . Some days after the fall of Lemberg, Czernin asked me, by telephone, if I could receive him. Naturally I said yes. . . . This was our last conversation. . . . The Austrian Minister began by saying that he had a favour to ask of me: "We shall soon be at war with each other," he said. "But after the war there will be the peace. Promise me, that when I have the pleasure of meeting you after the war we shall be friends again, as we have been." . . . Then, when I answered that the issues of war and peace did not rest with me, he declared:
"You will go to war with us. That is an understood thing. It is both your interest and your duty. Why, if I were a Roumanian I should attack Austria, and I do not see why you should not do what I would do in your place. It certainly is not a noble action to turn against an Ally, but history is full of such villainies, that of Austria as well as of other States, and I do not see why Roumania should be the only exception. . . . Only," he went on, "I ask you one thing. Wait two weeks longer. In two weeks' time the whole military situation will be changed in our favour; and whatever interest you may have in making war on us, you will see then that it would be a mistake."
I smiled, and Czernin continued: "No, not two weeks, but three. That's all that I ask. If in three weeks' time the situation is unchanged, then attack us, I repeat. I should do it in your place." "But I insist upon these three weeks. For, you see, this will be a war of extermination. If we win, we shall suppress Roumania. If we are beaten, there will be no more Austria-Hungary." I repeated that our entry into the war did not depend on me, and
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