- Austria's Recovery As more details of the revolutionary conspiracy in
Austria come to light the failure of the attempt becomes more striking. Plans had been fully worked out, largely .on the German side of the- frontier, and the full apparently authentic—of the proposed Rintelen Cabinet included the name of the notorious Herr Habicht, of Munich broadcasting fame, who is, of course, a German, not an Austrian. But except in regard to the seizure of the Chancellery and the risings in Styria and Corinthia, the plans miscarried and the situation was never out of hand. The execution of the ringleaders after the promise of safe-conduct in consideration of which they surrendered is an unpleasant episode, but there is some conflict of evidence about the terms of the pledge, and even civil war, it may be argued, is war. Any prospect of a peaceful assimilation of Austria by Germany is shattered, and Herr Hitler has not improved matters by the language he employed, though probably with the best of intentions, in his invitation to Herr von l'apen to become Germany's representative in Austria. The Austrian Government can only accept a German envoy as an ordinary diplomatist. Herr von Papen is Special Commissioner for the Saar. He can hold no analagous position in Austria, which is not, like the Saargebiet, a piece of Germania irredenta.
