He lies now in the Imperial vault, and a century seems to have elapsed since his death; the world is changed.
Day by day streams of people pass by the little church, but no one probably gives a thought to him who lies in peace and forgotten, and yet he, through many long years, embodied Austria, and his person was a common centre for the State that so rapidly was falling asunder.
He is now at rest, free from all care and sorrow; he saw his wife, his son, his friends all die, but Fate spared him the sight of his expiring Empire.
* * * * * [Illustration: THE ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND _Photo: Pietzner, Vienna._] Franz Ferdinand's character held many sharply defined corners and edges; judging him objectively, no one can deny his great faults.
Though the circumstances of his death were so tragic, it may well be that for him it was a blessing.

It is hardly conceivable that, once on the throne, the Archduke would have been able to carry out his plans.
The structure of the Monarchy which he was so anxious to strengthen and support was already so rotten that it could not have stood any great innovations, and if not the war, then probably the Revolution, would have shattered it.

On the other hand, there seems to be no doubt that the Archduke, with all the vehemence and impulsiveness of his character, would have made the attempt to rebuild the entire structure of the Monarchy.

It is futile to comment on the chances of his success, but according to human foresight the experiment would not have succeeded, and he would have succumbed beneath the ruins of the falling Monarchy.
It is also futile to conjecture how the Archduke would have acted had he lived to see the war and the upheaval.

I think that in two respects his attitude would have differed from that taken.