Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/151

 Austria-Hungary than resort for her sake to such a means the detriment of which was subject to no doubt. One must not destroy a nation for the sake of the wrong calculation and the strong-headedness of a friendly statesman and military leaders who have been entrusted with the care of Government.

With regard to the questions of foreign policy which were raised during the war, it was the Polish question that engaged my attention most. I was the first to bring this question before the public in the article which I wrote for the Neue Freie Presse in September, 1915. And it was I who started the discussion on this problem in the Hungarian Parliament on December 17, 1915. I considered it one of the most urgent and most important of all our problems. Justice, our own interests, instinct and calculation, all urged us on in the same direction. The only right policy was to make every effort to gain the Polish nation for ourselves. Our enemies delight in accusing us that we intended to ruin the small nations. It was almost a battle cry that the Entente had to protect all weak nations against us. The fate of Serbia and of Belgium made such an agitation easy. A just solution of the Polish question and the liberation of a subjugated nation, together with making amends for an old crime, would have been a brilliant refutation of the accusations that were made against us. There was an admirable opportunity to improve our compromised position before the public opinion of the whole world. Moreover, we were in a position to gain a friend in one of the main theatres