“It would seem that the unpleasant case had long since been prejudged by the Germans.

“On January 22 the Council was held which was to determine the issue of the Ukrainian question.  The Emperor opened the proceedings, and then called on me to speak.  I described first of all the difficulties that lay in the way of a peace with Petersburg, which will be apparent from the foregoing entries in this diary.  I expressed my doubt as to whether our group would succeed in concluding general peace with Petersburg.  I then sketched the course of the negotiations with the Ukrainians.  I reported that the Ukrainians had originally demanded the cession of East Galicia, but that I had refused this.  With regard to the Ruthenian districts of Hungary also they had made demands which had been refused by me.  At present, they demanded the division of Galicia into two parts, and the formation of an independent Austrian province from East Galicia and Bukovina.  I pointed out the serious consequences which the acceptance of the Ukrainian demands would have upon the further development of the Austro-Polish question.  The concessions made by the Ukrainians on their part were to consist in the inclusion in the peace treaty of a commercial agreement which should enable us to cover our immediate needs in the matter of grain supplies.  Furthermore, Austria-Hungary would insist on full reciprocity for the Poles resident in Ukraine.

“I pointed out emphatically that I considered it my duty to state the position of the peace negotiations; that the decision could not lie with me, but with the Ministry as a whole, in particular with the Austrian Prime Minister.  The Austrian Government would have to decide whether these sacrifices could be made or not, and here I could leave them in no doubt that if we declined the Ukrainian demands we should probably come to no result with that country, and should thus be compelled to return from Brest-Litovsk without having achieved any peace settlement at all.

“When I had finished, the Prime Minister, Dr. von Seidler, rose to speak.  He pointed out first of all the necessity of an immediate peace, and then discussed the question of establishing a Ukrainian crown land, especially from the parliamentary point of view.  Seidler believed that despite the active opposition which was to be expected from the Poles, he would still have a majority of two-thirds in the House for the acceptance of the bill on the subject.  He was not blind to the fact that arrangement would give rise to violent parliamentary conflicts, but repeated his hope that a two-thirds majority could be obtained despite the opposition of the Polish Delegation.  After Seidler came the Hungarian Prime Minister, Dr. Wekerle.  He was particularly pleased to note that no concessions had been made to the Ukrainians with regard to the Ruthenians resident in Hungary.  A clear division of the nationalities in Hungary was impracticable.  The Hungarian Ruthenians were