Recognising and agreeing with the important principles in question and the necessity of converting them into action, he naturally feels that Austria-Hungary, more easily than Germany, can concur with the war aims as expressed by the United States.

He would probably have gone even further had he not been constrained to consider the Austro-Hungarian Alliance and the country's dependence on Germany.
In the same speech the President goes on to say: Count Czernin's answer referring mainly to my speech of January 8 is couched in very friendly terms.

He sees in my statements a sufficiently encouraging approach to the views of his own Government to justify his belief that they afford a basis for a thorough discussion by both Governments of the aims.
And again: I must say Count Hertling's answer is very undecided and most confusing, full of equivocal sentences, and it is difficult to say what it aims at.

It certainly is written in a very different tone from that of Count Czernin's speech and obviously with a very different object in view.
There can be no doubt that when the head of a State at war with us speaks in such friendly terms of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, he has the best intentions of coming to an understanding.

My efforts in this connection were interrupted by my dismissal.
In these last weeks during which I remained in office the Emperor had definitely lost faith in me.