Herr von Payer said that Prince Lichnowsky had meanwhile tendered his
resignation of his present rank, which had been accepted, and, as he had
doubtless no bad intention, but had simply been guilty of imprudence, no
further steps would be taken against him. The Vice Chancellor proceeded:
Some assertions in his document must, however, be contradicted,
especially his assertions about political events in the last
months preceding the war. Prince Lichnowsky was not of his own
knowledge acquainted with these events, but he apparently
received from a third and wrongly informed quarter inaccurate
information. The key to mistakes and false conclusions may also
be the Prince's overestimation of his own services, which are
accompanied by hatred against those who do not recognize his
achievements as he expected. The entire memorandum is penetrated
by a striking veneration for foreign diplomats, especially the
British, who are described in a truly affectionate manner, and
on the other hand by an equally striking irritation against
almost all German statesmen. The result was that the Prince
frequently regarded Germany's most zealous enemies as her best
friends because they were personally on good terms with him. The
fact that, as he admits, he attached at first no great
importance to the assassination of the heir to the Austrian
throne, and was displeased that the situation was judged
otherwise in Berlin, makes it plain that the Prince had no clear
judgment for the events that followed and their import.