Adress of Charles I to the Imperial Council, Vienna
It is with great sorrow I say that my father, the great Franz Joseph did not recieve the funeral services he so rightly deserved, his hands were warm and recieving but so big that they encompassed a nation such as ours; I wish to correct this mistake made by me under the excuse of wartime necessities, giving him nothing but a small funeral in which his family grieved, not the one that should have been, not the one that the Austro-Hungarian people deserved. My father worked for these mighty lands until the day his last breath took place, he avoided killers and sailed great seas that were covered by the fog of deceit and doubt many times, as it was the duty of an Emperor. I remember many nights I saw him slipping into sleep's embrace but with a strength characteristic of him, he stood up and mouthed the words: ''I cannot sleep, for the Empire stays awake without someone on its wheel'' and I have taken those very words into this period of rulership. I want to honor in a rightful manner my father, that great man who, criticized by men and praised by more, has largely built the building we stand upon today with his own hands. Him, a shining example of what an emperor must be. But a statue or a portrait, works of art that wash away with time are useless to convey the feelings every subject feels, it is only material and will last for decades at most, if done well. It will be only seen in encyclopedias as an expression by a hired hand; for this reason, I wish to host a proper funeral for a man who few met like I did, but who many more met like I never saw and I forward this invitation for a funeral in Vienna and Budapest to every subject of the nation and to the men who my father befriended over the years, as well to every rightful ruler of Europe and the world; many royal families will see the face of a man who throughout his life mantained close bonds as a great figure to them. Among them, this invitation goes out to Philippe d'Orléans; Constantine I, the current King of Greece; George V, King of Britain; Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy; a good and dear friend of my father, Kaiser Wilhelm II; Mehmed V, great Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; Gustav I, king of Scandinavia; King Alfonso XIII of Spain and last but not least, Nicholas, of the house of Romanov, rightful ruler of Russia.
That being said, I will use this invitation to forward another message to the great Europa. It is dire times we face, and not only us but every man on Europe, be he British, Russian, French, Ukranian or Italian, in the Balkans and in the Baltics. All of civilized mankind from Lisbon to Petrograd can state these obvious facts. Mankind is on a spiral of violence. We have to accept the cold truth that the people that suffer the most is not us, in our residences but the people who toil away their lives in the making of blood and life spilled, of an awe inspiring chorus of death rising to the heavens that God would regret to see upon his lands. I myself have asked many times if the crown's subjects see this suffering as worth having. I see the efforts of great men like that of the Amir Habibullah and the great Dr. Sun Yat-Sen to mediate between the parties present, as a neutral nation. But many men will refute these opportunities as opinions of someone on the other side of the world; to them I say: stop doubting. If you need peace now and that is your excuse, to dismiss the efforts of a man who sees suffering in the battlefields of Arabia and of the great Chinese nation that has given peace a chance on all its conflicts, those that with remarkable strength have sought progress for the people living in their respective countries; instead of others who attempt to pledge violence and war to stop the suffering of soldiers, then I shall call you a fool and someone who rejects the human spirit to live with one another.
But to them, I raise an alternative, that I will also forward to the European powers. We invite every actor in this war to lay down their arms. We invite them to bid for peace. We formally extend our invitation to every European power to establish a ceasefire and attend to a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, where we, actors of this war along with neutral ministers who wish a solution for conflict will mediate if not peace, dialogue. Rules of war that must be followed, although war by its nature is chaotic, it is our duty as civilized men to bring a stop to atrocities. Perhaps peace will not be reached, the skeptics will say, but I have seen no efforts but those of a few brave men to stand up for a return to civility. We understand our role as a belligerent and actor in this war as well. We hope the Swiss, fighters of humanity and respect for mankind will allow this opportunity inside their territory, neutral but closer to every nation involved. Gentlemen, let's make an effort ourselves, let us not fall to savagery. We, ourselves, have conducted with honor in war, we have not shelled homes or razed villages, we have given chances of cooperation, we have given jobs and food to the people under occupation of our trained armies. Let us, at least, please the one above and ban some questionable weaponry that defies the nature of humankind that may have been used in the battlefield. Secretary, forward this to the Ministry of Foreign affairs to be sent out to Europe. Peace is an effort reached by cooperation.
