DIPLOMATIC TRUTH
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In view of the German Government's denial of an ultimatum to the late Chancellor of Austria, may I call attention to an article which appeared in the Viennese news- paper Der Reichspost on Saturday, March 12th, the day following the resignation of Dr. Schuschnigg and the assump- tion of power by the National Socialists ? It appears in the first column of the second page and is in bold type. The front page, presumably as the result of heavy censorship, contains nothing but the headlines announcing the abandonment of the plebiscite, the resignation of Dr. Schuschnigg and the succession of Herr von Seyss-Inquart. The last speech of the former is omitted entirely, while that of the latter, which followed it in point of time, is printed in full. So there can be no doubt that this issue received the scrutiny and approval of Dr. Schuschnigg's successors in office.
I append, in parallel columns, the relevant parts of the article to which I refer, and of the recent letter of Baron von Neurath to the British Ambassador in Berlin :
Circumstances in which resig- It is not true that forcible
nation took place—This after- pressure . . . was exercised by noon the Secretary of State the Reich—In particular, the Keppler, who had come by air un- statement subsequently spread by der instructions from the German the former Federal Chancellor— Government, appeared in the to the effect that the German Chancellery and communicated Government had delivered an the German Government's wish ultimatum with a time limit to in the form of an ultimatum, re- the Federal President, in accor- quiring the postponement of the dance with which he was to ap- plebiscite, the dismissal of the point as Federal Chancellor one Schuschnigg Government and of certain proposed candidates the appointment of a government and construct the Government in under Seyss-Inquart. President conformity with the proposals of Miklas refused to comply with the German Government, failing this request. Thereupon Gen- which the entry of German troops eral-lieutenant Muff, military into Austria would have to be attaché to the German Embassy contemplated—is pure imagina- in Vienna, came to the Chancel- tion.
lery and announced to the Chan- cellor and to the President an ultimatum to the same effect as the previous one, to expire at 7.30 p.m. General - lieutenant Muff explained that in the event of non-acceptance, zoo,000 Ger- man troops had instructions to cross the Austrian frontier.
—Yours faithfully, R. F. HEnam.
Travellers' Club, Pall Mall, S.W. i.
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