Back in 1900, Count Leopold von Berchtold, an Austrian diplomat who later became their Foreign Minister, met Count Vladimir Lamsdorf, then the Russian Foreign Minister. Berchtold wrote this summary of his opinion of Lamsdorf:
Except for a short moustache, he was clean shaven and bare-headed, sat ramrod straight. He tried to impress at every opportunity, too polite, not unintelligent and also not without education, a wandering archive. Un rat du chancellerie. Through constant sniffing in dusty files he became a yellowed parchment himself. I could not help but get the impression of having an abnormality before me, an aged but inchoate nature, in whose circulation system ran watery jelly instead of red blood.
I can't help wondering what 'Vlad the Impaler' has to say about Mr. John Kerry, currently playing the part of American Secretary of State? 'I don't know but I think we should be told!'
Quote from The War That Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan.
Well, he had a way with words, the old Count Leopold.
I wish I'd said that.
Posted by: Andra | Tuesday, 19 August 2014 at 20:13
Indeed, Andra, don'cha just lurve "Un rat du chancellerie"?
Posted by: David Duff | Wednesday, 20 August 2014 at 09:20