that the Baron was
a futile Mrs. Partington, an isolated antagonist of the inevitable,
and only mentioned here for the sake of dramatic effect. Not at all!
So far from being laughed at everywhere as an absurd reactionary he
was held in the highest Buda-Pest circles to be a perilous innovator.
He actually spoke about conciliating the Austro-Hungarian Slavs: not
so Count Tisza. "What is happening in Austria," exclaimed the grim
Calvinist a few months before, "are strange, grotesque displays of the
ridiculous symptoms of the presumptuous mentality of people of no
importance."

(b) IN SLOVENIA

One further example of Southern Slav activity may be given, as it will
show us what was happening among the pious and industrious Slovenes.
It would have been unnatural if the Clerical party had longed for
Austria's downfall, and a large number of priests would still have
been Austrophil[105] if Dr. Jegli['c], the eminent Prince-Bishop of
Ljubljana, had not summoned all the political parties and caused them
to adopt a patriotic Yugoslav attitude. (His retirement was in
consequence demanded; but the Pope, who asked him for an explanation
of the whole movement, was quite satisfied. Nor would Vienna have been
able to take any serious steps against the Bishop, seeing that most of
the Slovenes were behind him.) But the small Slovene people could,
until November 1, 1918, offer nothing more than a passive resistance
to their masters. They did not dare to speak Slovene in public. "What
is the easiest language in the world?" was being asked in Maribor on
the 1st of November. It was the language which so many people had
apparently learned in a single night. The people were Slovenes, the
officials were Austrian--though one or two of the officials were
Slovenes and a minority of the people claimed to be Austrians, this
being more marked in the town of Maribor (where the German-Austrians
were as many as 35 per cent.) than in the surrounding district (where
95 per cent. are Yugoslav). Dr. Jegli['c] had prepared the forces that
were going to break their bonds on that fateful day. At 7 a.m. Dr.
Sre[vc]ko Lajn[vs]i['c]--one of the rare Slovene officials--he had
been denounced by two of his colleagues and imprisoned at the
beginning of the War, for having, as they said, "laughed maliciously"
at Great Britain resolving to fight--Dr. Lajn[vs]i['c] and his friend
General Maister took over the administration in the name of the
Yugoslav State. Genera