The Austrian Government is trying to persuade the world that
it is quite ready to fight. About 150,000 men are massed in the Tyrol, reports are spread of difficulties in the negotiations, and the army is alleged to be furious at the peace. All this while Moravia and Bohemia are bare, Hungary is not conciliated, nearly five hundred prosecutions for treason have been commenced in Vienna, and crowds insult the Emperor wherever he moves. Moreover, when Count Maroicic, the Austrian Envoy, attempted to claim in his discussions with the Italians a bit of Venetia, and threatened war as the alternative, a telegram from Berlin reminding the Kaiser that the cession was contained in the Prussian treaty caused an instantaneous change of tone, and the only discussion now is whether, as Austria has a right to blow up the Quadrilateral, she has not a right to ransom for the fortresses. The Austrian Government has no intention of risking the destruc- tion which would follow another defeat, and only employs these menaces to make the terms as light as possible.
