The Emperor of Austria stood exposed to the world as a liar. In those days Europe, even in its death throes, was not hardened to such violations of the gentleman’s code. Ambassadors prevaricated as a matter of course. Premiers falsified, and, like Bethmann-Holliveg, sometimes treated solemn covenants as scraps of paper. Monarchs themselves quibbled and cheated on occasion. But they did not put their signatures to a formal lie — least of all in writing to a brother monarch.
