ng to
his numerous disputes with Franz Ferdinand. On Stuergkh mentioning my
name as a candidate for the Herrenhaus, the Emperor hesitated a moment
and then said: "Ah, yes. That is the man who is to be Minister for
Foreign Affairs when I am dead. Let him go to the Herrenhaus that he
may learn a little more."

Political discussions with the Emperor Francis Joseph were often very
difficult, as he kept strictly to the Government department in
question and only discussed what referred thereto. While I was
ambassador the Emperor would discourse to me on Roumania and the
Balkans, but on nothing else. Meanwhile, the different questions were
often so closely interwoven that it was impossible to separate them. I
remember at one audience where I submitted to the Emperor the
Roumanian plans for a closer connection with the Monarchy--plans which
I shall allude to in a later chapter--and in doing so I was naturally
bound to state what the Roumanians proposed respecting the closer
connection with Hungary, and also what changes would be necessitated
thereby in the Hungarian administration. The Emperor at once broke off
the conversation, saying that it was a matter of Hungarian internal
policy.

The old Emperor was almost invariably kind and friendly, and to the
very last his knowledge of the smallest details was astonishing. He
never spoke of the different Roumanian Ministers as the Minister of
Agriculture, of Trade, or whatever it might be, but mentioned them all
by name and never made a mistake.

I saw him for the last time in October, 1916, after my definite return
from Roumania, and found him then quite clear and sound mentally,
though failing in bodily health.

The Emperor Francis Joseph was a "Grand Seigneur" in the true sense of
the word. He was an Emperor and remained always unapproachable.
Everyone left his presence feeling he had stood before an Emperor. His
dignity in representing the monarchical idea was unsurpassed by any
sovereign in Europe.

He was borne to his grave at a time of great military successes for
the Central Powers. He lies now in the Imperial vault, and a century
seems to have elapsed since his death; the world is changed.

Day by day streams of people pass by the little church, but no one
probably gives a thought to him who lies in peace and forgotten, and
yet he, through many long years, embodied Austria, and his person was
a common centre for the State that so rapidly was falling asunder.

He is