On July 4th 1914 The Economist published this article in response to the assassination on June 28th of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
ON TUESDAY afternoon the Prime Minister moved: "That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty to express the indignation and deep concern with which this House has learned of the assassination of his Imperial and Royal Highness the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and of his Consort, and to pray his Majesty that he will he graciously pleased to express to his Imperial and Royal Majesty the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary on the part of this House, his faithful Commons, their abhorrence of the crime and their profound sympathy with the Imperial and Royal Family and with the Governments and peoples of the Dual Monarchy." To the tribute of indignation and sympathy expressed in eloquent terms by Mr Asquith and Mr Bonar Law there was universal assent in the House of Commons. It is a dastard act, and any society which applauds it deserves to perish.
We live in an age when the very foundations of society are threatened in almost all countries by a secret conspiracy of crime, when arson and murder are employed as political weapons by the miserable and half-witted instruments of organisations which arrogate to themselves high-sounding names, and persuade youthful enthusiasts that the end justifies the means, and that the most cowardly and bloodthirsty murders are heroic exploits, worthy to be sung with the deeds of Harmodius or Brutus. Poison, the dagger, the revolver, the bomb, all these are employed with impartial ferocity against those who by birth or election are fated to preside over the destinies of nations. Sometimes no doubt these foul acts represent a frenzied protest against a statecraft which subjects whole nations to the tyrannical rule of soldiers and police. But foul play is always foul, and there is no sign of discriminating justice in this form of criminal disease. Lincoln in 1865, Garfield and Czar Alexander III in 1881, President Carnot in 1894, King Humbert of Italy in 1900, President McKinley in 1901, King Carlos of Portugal in 1908, King George of Greece at Salonica in March 1913, and now the heir to the throne of the Habsburgs are but a small selection from a long list of atrocities in which only a morbid mind can trace the vindications of liberty.
It was on Sunday at Sarajevo after a visit to the Bosnian manoeuvres that the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead by an assassin. Well might the venerable Emperor Francis Joseph say, "I am spared nothing." This crime comes as a climax to the long series of terrible incidents which make up the tragic history of his house. The story is plain enough. Despite warnings of dangers the Archduke determined to attend the Bosnian military manoeuvres, and arrived in Sarajevo with his wife on Wednesday of last week. He spent two days in the mountains inspecting the troops; the Duchess meantime was fêted in the capital. On Sunday morning the Archducal pair drove through the crowded streets of Sarajevo to receive an address at the Town Hall. Before they reached it a bomb was thrown at their automobile. The Archduke warded it off with his arm; it rebounded on the road and exploded violently, injuring the four members of his suite in the second car, one of them severely, as well as some 20 persons in the crowd. The man who threw the bomb, a Servian printer named Cabrinovitch, was seized by the police, who with some difficulty saved him from the fury of the crowd. Half an hour was spent in the Town Hall, and the Royal party then drove away in the direction of the hospital to inquire after the injured aide-de-camp. On their way, at the junction of the Franz Joseph and Rudolf streets, a series of pistol shots were fired from behind a house. Two of them instantly took fatal effect; the Archduke was mortally wounded in the cheek, and the Archduchess, who had endeavoured to shield him, was shot in the body and sank unconscious in his arms. By the time the car reached the hospital both were dead.