'The head of the House of Habsburg Jgave a firm, quick handclasp. His Jclear complexion, dark brows, straight feyes, regular features, graceful figure, gave him looks that' would be too good if he were not Indifferent to them. s4is wavy hair brushed straight [back had changed from the ash bland Jot his boyhood to chestnut. He Jaressed in dark broadcloth' with a while soft shirt, attached collar and Toosely tied cravat, His manner we Jcomposed, mature, kindly, courteous.
'We sat' in wicker chairs. He asked Jauestions. He asked them with ardent, feritical curiosity. 'They revealed an Jexceptional grasp of the complicated European situation. His own remarks were candid, informed, discreet. Tt twas difficult' to remember that the Jspeaker was only twenty-one, "=the most important thing to be conserved in the world is of court peace," he declared, ervation of peace is europe even more important perhaps than for any other part of the con~ iment. Central Europe suffered more from the last war than any other section. "Not only by what happened ring 'e war As lone in men, and in economic goods, but also what happened after the war when the divsi€>ma Jot a great natural economic unit into number of smaller units resulted in tne impoverishment of the entire region.
"They Were Bled White"
"Central Europe cannot stand an~ Jother "war, Certainly Austria and Hungary cannot. They were bled white by their losses. Another war Jquite beyond their capacity to endure. JAs it was, how close they both came {to Bolshevism, latent in Austria, open Jin Hungary! So the preservation of peace in Central Europe is most easenial.
jut to preserve it the first condition lis the preservation of the indepen dence of Austria. "But when did JAustrian independence begin to be threatened? Only when the rulers Jwho for 6% years had guided the destinies of Austria were deposed by the catastrophic events following the of the war.
"We know that no restoration is possible of what has gone into Inistory. Restoration is only possible the sense that one begins to-day Jnot where one left off ten years ago or fifteen years ago, but where events have taken one to-day.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.