blah blah blah

'Its not worth the

paper its written on.'               



We told you last month about where some of our industries sayings come from and this month we have researched the line 'It's not worth the paper it's written on.'

"In 1861, Johann Bernhard, Graf von Rechberg (1806-99), in a dispatch concerning the recognition of Italy, wrote: 'Guarantees which are not worth the paper they are written on.'


Below is what we found out about Johann Bernhard von Rechenberg

Johann Bernhard Graf von Rechenberg, was an Austrian diplomat and foreign minister.

In 1828 he went into the Austrian diplomatic service and was with the embassies in Berlin , London and Brussels.

The five years he was there during which he held the portfolio of foreign affairs and covered the war with Piedmont and France, the insurrection in Poland, the attempted reform of the German Confederation and the Austro-Prussian war with Denmark. After the defeat of Magenta, Rechberg accompanied the emperor to Italy, and he had to meet the crisis caused by a war for which he was not responsible. He began the concessions to Hungary and in the Polish question, and was responsible for the adhesion of Austria to the alliance of the Western Powers. In the German question Rechberg's policy was one of compromise. The project had been suggested to the emperor Franz Joseph by his son-in-law, the hereditary prince of Thurn und Taxis, and the preliminary arrangements were made without Rechberg being informed. When at last he was told, he tendered his resignation, which was not accepted, and he accompanied the emperor to the abortive meeting at Frankfurt (August 1863). The attempt made by Rechberg at the subsequent ministerial conference at Nuremberg to establish a German league without Prussia was equally unsuccessful, and he now returned to the policy, which in opposition to Schmerling he had throughout advocated, of a peaceful arrangement between Prussia and Austria as the indispensable preliminary to a reform of the Confederation.


At this juncture the death of King Frederick VII of Denmark (15 November 1863) opened up the whole Schleswig-Holstein question. In the diplomatic duel that followed Rechberg was no match for Bismarck. It suited Austrian policy to act in concert with Prussia against Denmark; but Rechberg well knew that Bismarck was aiming at the annexation of the duchies. He attempted to guard against this by laying down as a condition of the alliance that the duchies should only be separated from Denmark by common consent of the two German powers. Bismarck, however, insisted that the question of the ultimate destination of the duchies should be left open; and, when he backed his argument with the threat that unless Austria accepted his proposal Prussia would act alone, Rechberg gave way. His action was made the object of violent attacks in the Austrian Lower House, and when the war was victoriously concluded and Prussia's designs on the duchies had become evident, public opinion turned more and more against him, demanding that Austria should support the Duke of Augustenburg even at the risk of war. Rechberg yielded so far as to assure the duke's representative at Vienna that Austria was determined to place him in possession of the duchies, but only on condition that he did not sign away any of his sovereign rights to Prussia. The outcome of this was that the duke refused the terms offered by King William and Bismarck.


On 22 August there was a meeting of the emperor Franz Joseph and King William, both Rechberg and Bismarck being present. Rechberg himself was in favor of allowing Prussia to annex the duchies, on condition that Prussia should guarantee Austria's possession of Venice and the Adriatic coast. On the first point no agreement was reached; but the principles of an Austro-Prussian alliance in the event of a French invasion of Italy were agreed upon. This latter proposal was, however, received with violent opposition in the ministry, where Rechberg's influence had long been overshadowed by that of Schmerling; public opinion, utterly distrustful of Prussian promises, was also greatly excited; and on 27 October Rechberg handed in his resignation, receiving at the same time the Order of the Golden Fleece from the emperor as a sign of special favor. He had been made an hereditary member of the Upper House of the Reichsrat in 1861, and as late as 1879 continued occasionally to take part in debates. He died at his chateau near Vienna on 26 February 1899.

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