l it could be tested
by the same principle, which would be applied in the form of a
plebiscite. For self-determination was the cornerstone of the League of
Nations, the holiest boon for which the progressive peoples of the world
had been pouring out their life-blood and substance for nearly five
years. But when Italy invoked self-determination, she was promptly
non-suited. When Austria appealed to it she was put out of court. And to
crown all, the world was assured that the Fourteen Points had been
triumphantly upheld. This depravation of principles by the triumph of
the little prudences of the hour spurred some of the more impulsive
critics to ascribe it to influences less respectable than those to which
it may fairly be attributed.

The directing Powers were hypersensitive to the oft-repeated charge of
meddling in the internal affairs of other nations. They were never
tired of protesting their abhorrence of anything that smacked of
interference. Among the numerous facts, however, which they could
neither deny nor reconcile with their professions, the following was
brought forward by the Italians, who had a special interest to draw
public attention to it. It had to do with the abortive attempt to
restore the Hapsburg monarchy in Hungary as the first step toward the
formation of a Danubian federation. "It is certain," wrote the principal
Italian journal, "that the Archduke Joseph's _coup d'etat_ did not take
place, indeed (given the conditions in Budapest) could not take place,
without the Entente's connivance. The official _communiques_ of Budapest
and Vienna, dated August 9th, recount on this point precise details
which no one has hitherto troubled to deny. The Peidl government was
scarcely three days in power, and, therefore, was not in a position to
deserve either trust or distrust, when the heads of the 'order-loving
organizations' put forward, to justify the need of a new crisis, the
complaints of the heads of the Entente Missions as to the anarchy
prevailing in Hungary and the urgency of finding 'some one' who could
save the country from the abyss. Then a commission repaired to Alscuth,
where it easily persuaded the Archduke to come to Budapest. Here he at
once visited all the heads of missions and spent the whole day in
negotiations. '_As a result of negotiations with Entente
representatives, the Archduke Joseph undertook a solution of the
crisis_.' He then called together the old state police and a volunteer
a