I was unable to finish this letter yesterday, and now add this to-day. Yesterday another attempt was made, from a quarter which you will guess, to point out to me the advantage of a separate peace. I spoke to the Emperor about it, and told him that this would simply be shooting oneself for fear of death; that I could not take such a step myself, but would be willing to resign under some pretext or other, when he would certainly find men ready to make the attempt. The conference of London has determined on a division of the Monarchy, and no separate peace on our part would avail to alter that. The Roumanians, Serbians and Italians are to receive enormous compensation, we are to lose Trieste, and the remainder is to be broken up into separate states--Czechish, Polish, Hungarian and German. There will be very slight contact between these new states; in other words, a separate peace would mean that the Monarchy, having first been mutilated, would then be hacked to pieces. But until we arrive at this result, we must fight on, and that, moreover, _against_ Germany, which will, of course, make peace with Russia at once and occupy the Monarchy. The German generals will not be so foolish as to wait until the Entente has invaded Germany through Austria, but will take care to make _Austria itself the theatre of war_. So that instead of bringing the war to an end, we should be merely changing one opponent for another and delivering up provinces hitherto spared--such as Bohemia and Tyrol--to the fury of battle, only to be wrecked completely in the end. On the other hand, we might perhaps, in a few months' time, secure peace all round, with Germany as well--a tolerable peace of mutual understanding--always provided the German offensive turns out successful. The Emperor was more silent then. Among his entourage, one pulls this way, another that--and we gain nothing in that manner among the Entente, while we are constantly losing the confidence of Berlin. If a man wishes to go over to the enemy, then let him do it--_le remede sera pire que le mal_--but to be for ever dallying with the idea of treachery and adopting the pose without carrying it out in reality--this I cannot regard as prudent policy.