Page:The New Europe - Volume 3.djvu/110

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THE NEW EUROPE

can only be explained by the excessive Westernism of those who cherish it and take no account of the essential features of the Habsburg Dynasty and the turpitude of its most distinguished servants. The New Europe has already proved how in this country the Magyarophils have operated by forgery; and the Austrian side is little better; it is essentially anti-democratic and distasteful to the British mind. In fine, any kind of Austria-Hungary, ruled by the Habsburgs, is the German vanguard for an advance into Asia and Africa. On these terms, Austrophilism, if conscious, is political perversity; if unconscious, political naïveté.

Bulgaria and Prussia—a Comparison and a Hope

The future reconciliation of the Entente Powers with Bulgaria, as with Germany, depends on the way in which both the ethical and political issues at stake are acknowledged and satisfied by our enemies. With Bulgaria, as with Prussia, we are at war for a very definite ethical reason, and the cause of democracy against militarism almost inevitably involved us in a clash with the “Prussians of the Balkans.” Over purely political questions—both internal and external—there is again a marked similarity between the situation in Germany and that in Bulgaria. The two Governments, and to some extent the two peoples, are linked not only by paper treaties but by similar interests and ideals. Their future “New Orientation” is for both the only hope of a lasting peace.

Let us briefly emphasise these considerations. In Bulgaria, as in Germany, almost the whole nation has acquiesced in the war. In the Reichstag only one deputy—Karl Liebknecht—voted against the first war credits. Thirty-two months of war passed before distrust of the Government’s aims and discontent with increasing economic hardships stirred the growing number of dissentient politicians to make a final break with the official Socialist party. Similarly in Bulgaria. The only group to vote against the first war credits and to protest consistently against Bulgaria’s participation in the war and the annexationist aims dear to both Government and Opposition leaders was the “Narrow” Socialist party. It is true that, in September, 1915, various

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