Austria and the Hapsburgs The decision of the Austrian Government
to lift the ban on the return of members of the Hapsburg family to Austria, and to restore their confiscated property or its equivalent, means at the moment no more than it purports to mean, but. it obviously brings nearer the possibility of the elevation of the Archduke Otto to the Austrian throne; treaty prohibitions are at a discount today and the veto on re-establishment of a Hapsburg monarchy has no actual treaty sanction behind it. The Archduke Otto has many attractive qualities, as an article in another column by a writer who knows him well indicates, and in itself his accession might have good results in supplying the people of Austria with a new rallying-point. Austria under a monarchy, moreover, would be much less likely to welcome the idea of union with a Nazi Germany. For that reason a monarchist move might rouse Hei r Hitler incalculably. The reactions elsewhere are less easy to gauge. Czechoslovakia apparently views the prospect with equanimity, but Rumania and Jugoslavia, alarmed at the possible effect on some of their minorities who were once subjects of the Dual Monarchy, arc already concerting a protest.
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