As a result of the publication of the letter, whose existence it is claimed was unknown to him, Count Czernin on April 15 resigned his portfolio as Foreign Minister and Premier, and accepted appointment as a Major General in the Austrian Army. He was succeeded by Baron Burian, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs from Sept. 15, 1914, to Dec. 23, 1916, when he was succeeded by Count Czernin. It was authoritatively announced that the letter was communicated to the British, French, and Italian Premiers at a meeting which took place at St. Jean de Maurienne, April 19, 1917, and unanimously judged as insincere and intended to mask some subtle manoeuvre for stirring up friction between the Allies. The day before the letter was published Emperor Charles sent a telegram to Emperor William, in which he said: I accuse M. Clemenceau of piling up lies to escape the web of lies in which he is involved, making the false assertion that I in some manner recognized France's claim to Alsace-Lorraine as just. I indignantly repel the assertion. To this the German Emperor replied as follows: Accept my heartiest thanks for the letter in which you repudiate the assertion of the French Premier regarding your attitude toward the French claims on Alsace-Lorraine as entirely baseless and once again accentuate the solidarity of the interests which exist between us and our empires. I hasten to tell you that in my eyes there is no need whatever for such assurance on your part, for I have not for a moment been in doubt. You have made our cause your own; in like measure we stand for the rights of your monarchy. The heavy battles in these years clearly demonstrate this for every one who will see. They have only drawn the bond closer. Our enemies, who are unable to do anything against us in honorable battle, do not recoil from the most sordid and lowest means. We must put up with that, but all the more it is our duty ruthlessly to grapple with and beat the enemy in all the war theatres. After the publication of the letter the Austrian Government announced that it was "garbled" and intimated that portions of it were forged before it reached Prince Sixtus. The German press accepted the letter as genuine with caustic and hostile criticism. It was announced April 18 that the original letter of the Emperor was in the possession of Prince Sixtus, who sent a copy of it to President Poincaré. WHEN AUSTRIA RULED PRUSSIA