It does not look as if the Austrians would be
able to give much help to their German allies against Russia. Things are not going well with them in Servia, and, what is worse, there seem signs that the Croat and Czech regiments are not proving trustworthy. Even if they do not mutiny, which is hardly to be expected, their sullenness may have a very damp- ing effect on the plans of the Austrian General Staff. Let us suppose an impossibility: that we had quantities of regi- ments into which we had forced Boers—Boers not recon- ciled by partnership in the Empire, but with their hearts filled with rage and bitterness—and that we then asked them to fight against men of Dutch blood. We can hardly imagine any- thing more likely to make our Generals uneasy than to have regiments of that kind in their commands. Moreover, it is not a case of just a few disaffected Slays. Half the rank- and-file of the Austrian Army belong to the Slavonic races. Another difficulty for the Austrian Army is the imperative need of watching Italy, and also of strengthening Dalmatia against the double attack which is now coming from the English and French Fleets and the Servian advance. Any day we may hear that the Servians have reached Serajevo.
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