Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/298

 During the night a council took place in the presence of the King. The conditions were accepted. The military leaders declared that it was impossible to continue the fight, every minute of the continuation of the battle might cost the lives of thousands and hundreds of thousands, and the retreating army might find herself in the most desperate position, as only a few lines of retreat were open to her. The new machinery of the Austrian state functioned slowly, and the newly created power was afraid of the responsibility, and although it wanted to bring about peace, it did not wish to accept the disgrace of accepting the severe conditions that were demanded. All of this cost time and blood. We were informed that the Hungarian and the South Slavonic sailors were fighting each other. The Admiralty insisted that, while preserving the rights of the other states, we should hand over to the South Slav states our men-of-war, and we should hand over the Danube monitors to the Hungarians. With a heavy heart we had to agree to the proposal, because we still believed that by this means the ships might yet be saved for the dynasty.

The tragic seriousness of our negotiations was interrupted again and again by the noise in the streets.

In the meantime I did everything I could without hesitation in order to materialize my original idea. It did not seem impossible to find a modus vivendi for Austria. Nobles and peasants, the plenipotentiaries of the German Austrians, all demanded recognition of their influence on the Ballhausplatz, and demanded the