But there were still some independent forces left within the Central Powers.  Hungary was not content to do the bidding of Prussia.  Hungarians were not ready to live under orders from Berlin.  Even as late as a few months ago when the German Minister of the Interior called a conference in Berlin to mobilise all the food within the Central Powers, the Hungarians refused to join a scheme which would rob them of food they had jealously guarded and saved since the beginning of the war.

In the Dual Monarchy there are many freedom loving people who are longing for a deliverer.  Hungary at one time feared Russia but only because of the Czar.  The real and most powerful democratic force among the Teutonic allies is located there in Budapest.  I know of no city outside of the United States where the people have such love of freedom and where public opinion plays such a big role.  Budapest, even in war times, is one of the most delightful cities in Europe and Hungary, even as late as last December, was not contaminated by Prussian ideas.  I saw Russian prisoners of war walking through the streets and mingling with the Hungarian soldiers and people.  American Consul General Coffin informed me that there were seven thousand Allied subjects in Budapest who were undisturbed.  English and French are much more popular than Germans.  One day on my first visit in Budapest I asked a policeman in front of the Hotel Ritz in German, “Where is the Reichstag?” He shook his head and went on about his business regulating the traffic at the street corner.  Then I asked him half in English and half in French where the Parliament was.

With a broad smile he said:  “Ah, Monsieur, voila, this street your right, vis a vis.”  Not a word of German would he speak.

After the Allied offensive began on the Somme the old friends of von Tirpitz, assisted by Prince von Buelow, started an offensive against the Chancellor, with renewed vigour.  This time they were determined to oust him at all costs.  They sent emissaries to the Rhine Valley, which is dominated by the Krupp ammunition factories.  These emissaries began by attacking the Chancellor’s attitude towards the United States.  They pointed out that Germany could not possibly win the war unless she defeated England, and it was easy for any German to see that the only way England could be attacked was from the seas; that as long as England had her fleet or her merchant ships she could continue the war and continue to supply the Allies.  It was pointed out to the ammunition makers, also, that they were already fighting the United States; that the United States was sending such enormous supplies to the Entente, that unless the submarines were used to stop these supplies Germany would most certainly be defeated on land.  And, it was explained that a defeat on land meant not only the defeat of the German army but the defeat of the ammunition interests.