BURIAN VON RAJECZ, Baron Stefan, Austro-Hungarian diplomat and statesman : b. near Pressburg, Hungary,. 15 Jan. 1851, a Hun garian of Slovak extraction. Educated in his native town and Vienna, he served in various consular capacities at Alexandria, Bucharest, Belgrade, Sofia and Stuttgart. As Austro-Hun garian Consul-General at Moscow, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Russian language and country; later, as Ambassador to Greece, he became intimately acquainted with the com plexities of Balkan politics. He was also for a time Finance Minister of the Dual Monarchy, and in 1903 succeeded von Kallay as chief ad- ministrator of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which office he came into close touch with the vexed southern Slav question. On the resignation of Count Berchtold, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, in January 1915, Baron von Burian, known as a man of conciliatory tem perament and firm character, in addition to his wide experience, was called to succeed him. His appointment at that juncture was regarded as evidence of a desire to make some political changes at a moment when affairs had become extremely critical. The policy of Count Berch told (q.v.) had precipitated the great war; and Berchtold was now involved in a diplomatic duel with Baron Sonnino (q.v.), the Italian Foreign Minister, over the interpretation of Article VII of the Triple Alliance (q.v.), on
the strength of which Italy demanded certain territorial concessions. It was believed that Baron Burian would be more disposed than Count Berchtold to make the sacrifices neces sary to assure a continuance of Italian neutral ity. Almost from the beginning, however, he declared the cession of territory to be impos sible, though he afterward agreed, on the ad vice of Germany, to cede almost the whole of the Italian-speaking territory of Austria. The only important Italian demand he rejected was the cession of certain islands along the Dal matian coast. The negotiations, at which Prince Buelow assisted in Rome, broke down owing to the inflexible demand of Baron Sonnino that the transfer be effected immediately and not, as was proposed, after the end of the war. Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, 23 May 1915. The undiplomatic activity of the Austrian Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Dumba (q.v.), was revealed by the British seizure of a private letter addressed by him to Baron Burian, and resulted in the Ambassa dor's dismissal. In the Ancona and Arabic (q.v.) controversies with the American govern men, Baron Burian experienced further diplo matic reverses. Reports of his resignation were current on several occasions, the first appearing a few days after his acceptance of office.