The external conditions of these tribes entirely prevent the practical realisation of a federation, even though Austria would not constitute any particular obstacle to this, as she is old and weak and merely awaits future developments in trepidation. The real obstacles are, on the one side, the Germans, on the other the Italians, with the Magyars in the centre. Can the federalists be so absolutely naive as to imagine that all of these nations will just look on calmly, awaiting the completion of their theoretical construction? In the meantime, will the Germans not fall upon the Slavs in Bohemia, Moravia, Krajina, Carinthia, Styria and Istria, those Germans belonging to the German Confederation? Will they not fall upon Poznań, too, while they’re at it? Will the Magyars not attack Slovakia, C
