I was impelled thereto by the conviction that we were adhering strictly to the programme as it had been planned for the Monarchy.
I will give fuller details respecting this question in the next chapter, but will merely relate the following incident as an example to show the degree of hostile persecution to which I was exposed.

The rumour was spread on all sides that the Emperor had told the Poles that "I had concluded peace with the Ukraine without his knowledge and against his will." It is quite out of the question that the Emperor can have made such a statement, as the peace conditions at Kieff were a result of a council convoked _ad hoc_, where--as the protocol proves--the Emperor and Dr.von Seidler were responsible for the terms.
The great indignation of the Poles at my conduct at Brest-Litovsk was quite unfounded.

I never promised the Poles that they were to have the Cholm district, and never alluded to any definite frontiers.

Had I done so the capable political leaders in Poland would never have listened to me, as they knew very well that the frontiers, only in a very slight degree, depended on the decisions at Vienna.

If we lost the war we had nothing more to say in the matter; if a peace of agreement was concluded, then Berlin would be the strongest side, having occupied the largest portion of the country; the question would then have to be decided at the general Conference.
I always told the Polish leaders that I hoped to secure a Poland thoroughly satisfied, also with respect to her frontier claims, and there were times when we seemed to be very near the accomplishment of such an aim; but I never concealed the fact that there were many influences at work restricting my wishes and keeping them very much subdued.
The partition of Galicia was an internal Austrian question.