ts in the
administration, and anyone acquainted with life at court will know
that such differences between the highest individuals are quickly
raked together and exaggerated. At every court there are men who seek
to gain their master's favour by pouring oil on the flames, and who,
by gossip and stories of all kinds, add to the antipathy that
prevails. Thus it was in this case, and, instead of being drawn closer
together, the two became more and more estranged.

The Archduke had but few friends, and under the old monarch
practically none at all. That was one of the reasons for the advances
he made to the Emperor William. In reality, they were men of such a
different type that there could be no question of friendship in the
true sense of the word, or any real understanding between him and the
Emperor William, and the question was never mooted practically. The
only point common to both their characters was a strongly defined
autocratic trait. The Archduke had no sympathy with the speeches of
the Emperor William, nor yet with his obvious desire for popularity,
which the Archduke could not understand. The Emperor William, on his
part, undoubtedly grew more attached to the Archduke during his latter
years than he had been originally. Franz Ferdinand was not on such
good terms with the Crown Prince of Germany. They spent some weeks
together at St. Moritz in Switzerland, without learning to know each
other any better; but this can readily be explained by the difference
in age and also by the much more serious views of life held by the
Archduke.

The isolation and retirement in which the Archduke lived, and the
regrettably restricted intercourse he had with other circles, gave
rise to the circulation of some true, besides numerous false, rumours.
One of these rumours, which is still obstinately kept up, was to the
effect that the Archduke was a fanatic for war and looked upon war as
a necessary aid to the realisation of his plans for the future.
Nothing could be more untrue, and, although the Archduke never openly
admitted it to me, I am convinced that he had an instinctive feeling
that the Monarchy would never be able to bear the terrible test of
strength of a war, and the fact is that, instead of working to
encourage war, his activities lay all in the opposite direction. I
recollect an extremely symptomatic episode: I do not remember the
exact date, but it was some time before the death of the Archduke. One
of the well-know