The New Europe/Volume 6/Number 70/The Smuts Mission
The Smuts Mission
On 7 February Justice published a note, entitled “Secret Diplomacy and Secret Betrayal,” in which the writer revealed the fact of General Smuts’ recent mission to Switzerland in the following sentence: “We have known for the past two weeks and more that General Smuts was engaged, as a member of our War Cabinet, in negotiations for peace with Austria, who was represented by Count Mensdorff.” The result of these conversations must have been disconcerting to the Government. And we hope that Downing Street has now learned, what is evident to all well-informed people, that a separate peace with Austria is not only undesirable, but unobtainable except on impossible terms. Rumour has it that General Smuts offered inducements to Count Mensdorff which were a flagrant violation of German rights: and we are not surprised that, in consequence, Counts Hertling and Czernin addressed their subsequent speeches over the head of the British Government to President Wilson. The only result of the Smuts’ mission has been to suggest to Germany that Great Britain is more ready to give up the struggle than she thought. Count Hertling’s arrogant tone is the measure of the ineptitude of this latest adventure in secret diplomacy.
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This work was published in 1918 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 105 years or less since publication.
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