CHA PTER XV II
I t is not so v e ry long ago—about six years i f I rem e m
ber aright— that the chi ef forester of the imperial pre serves
at R ominten a most worthy and popular o ffi cial o f the
name o f R ei fi was shot and killed o n the spot by a poacher
who made good his escape and who has ne v er be e n brought
to justice
I n 1 8 9 7 Count Charles Finck v o n Fincken
stein o n e o f the most intimate fri ends and cronies o f the
kaiser was shot at and badly wound e d by a poacher in his
gl oomy forest at Alt Madlitz which is situated on the Ri ver
O der between Frankfort and the fortress o f Kiist ri n Th e
emperor had spent a couple of days shooting at Alt Mad
litz only the week before his friend was laid low by the
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poacher s bullet
Here too the culprit managed to get away his escape
being facili tated by the fact that the Al t Madlitz forests
comprising ranges o f hi l ls and valleys covered with m ag
nifi c en t pine and oak trees the la tter many centuries o ld
adj oin other great feudal estates o f a similar character right
along the northern coast of Germany to the Russian fron
tier so that a criminal especially one accustomed to forest
gloom such as a poacher is would experience no di fficult y
i n getting even as far as the Russian li m its wi thout once
seeking the Open
The poachers in Germany Aus tria and Russia are ten
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ti m es more dang e rous bandits than men o f the same class
i n England and i n W estern Europe
I n Germany and
Austria the o l d feudal relations between the nobility and
the lower classes have re main e d i n existence to a greater
d e gree than anywhere else in Europe and on e o f the pri n
c i p al features of feudalism is the severity and relent l e ssness
which the aristocracy are wont to visit upon anything i n
the shape o f poaching War to the knife indeed is waged
between the poachers o n o ne side and the foresters and
landowners o n the othe r
I n England poachers are
hunt e d down by the gamekeepers with dogs and buckshot
the guns being used only wh e n the men r e sist capture I t
is seldom that a poacher gets kil l ed o r even seri ous ly
wounded and when that does happen the gamekeeper has
to answer for the consequences the sympathy of the j ury
being i nvariably on the side o f the poacher whereas the
magistrates and j udges who are as a rule draw
n from the
landowning class are o f course prejudiced i n favor o f the
gam ekeeper
I n Germany and Austria i t is altogether di fferent when
a poacher is caught prowling about i n the forests o f great
landowners such as Count Finckenstein o r i n any o f the
imperial preserves he is at once shot at without parley not
with buckshot but wi th bullets and i f he is ki lled no o ne
e v er dr eams o f calling his slayer to account
H e i n turn
knows that he need expect no mercy and being desperate
shoots to kill not only whenever he is brought to bay but
often when he can get a shot at either gamekeep er o r pro
p ri e t o r without being seen himself
I have known o f many German and Austrian terri torial
nobles who have b een shot at in this way by poachers and
i t has always appeared to me that altogether i nadequate
mea ns are adopted fo r protecting the two kaisers from
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A ND FRAN CI S J O SEPH
5
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pe ri ls of this character Francis Joseph and W illiam are
surrounded b y the most elaborate systems of safeguard
when they are i n their respective capi tals o r travelling
about—i n fact at all other times than when they are eu
gaged i n the pl easures o f the chase
Regiments o f i n
fant ry and cavalry squads of uniform ed police and hordes
hover around
o f detectives arrayed i n various disguises
them with the avowed obj ect o f shielding them from that
nightmare o f O ld W orld royalty namely assassination
which as has been so often declared is meant to stay
despotism and tyranny But from the very mom e nt when
the Austrian emperor takes to the Styrian Alps for the pur
pose o f stalking Chamois o r the German kaiser buries him
self within the innermost recesses o f the immense and
gloomy forests of Romi nten and o f H ub ert usst oc k all these
precautions seem to b e abandoned
Franci s Joseph dispenses wi th guards altogether con
v i n ce d that he is safe among the ha rdy highlanders o f the
Styrian Moun tains whil e W illiam contents himself wi th a
”
guard of t welve leib gendarm es
o r palace police who
are supposed to guard the approaches and entrances to his
shooting lodge at night
But i t seems ne v er to have entered into the head o f
either of the two emperors that during the daytim e when
ou t wi th their guns and ordinarily accompani e d only by
”
“
their loader o r l eib j a ger
they might be shot at and
laid lo wby the bullet o f some hidden foe whose identity
would r e m ain undiscovered the world being left in doubt
as to whether the outrage was the work o f an ordinary d es
p erad o poacher or of so m e bold and intentional regi cide
the instrument i n a word o f a full fl edge d conspirac y
against the li fe of the monarch
W hen Count Finckenstein was shot he w
as standing at
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WILLI AM II
6
the edge o f a glade or stretch o f moor i n the forest hav
ing only his j ager wi th him
The bullet that struck hi m
was fired from behind trees on the opposi te edge o f the
m oor a distance o f several hundred yards and neither the
count nor his attendants were abl e to catch even a fleeting
glimpse of the assailant nor was it possible fo r the j ager
to pursue the poacher as he was obliged to devote al l his
attention to the count in order to prevent him from bleed
ing to death
I n the same way i n case of a similar
attack would the attendant o f Francis Joseph o r o f Em
ll his energies to the
pero t W illiam be obliged to devote a
preservation o f whatever chances remained o f the recovery
o f his illustrious charge and would be thus debarred from
taking any steps to pursue and capture the assassin of the
monarch
This is a peril which menaces both W illiam and Francis
Joseph w
henev er they go o u t shooting and i f until now
they have escaped the same attacks o n th e part of poachers
that hav e fallen to th e lot o f so many o f the great land
owners and territorial nobles i t is almost miraculous
Emp eror W illiam is firmly convinced that he is doomed
to di e by the hand of an assassin
I t has been predicted
to him not once but several times ; i n two instances at
any rate by Hungarian gypsies when he was a young
man visi ting his fri end Cro w
n Prince Rudolph o f Austria ,
On the borders o f Galicia prior to his accession to the
throne and I can bear personal witness as to the alarm
experienced by those who happened to be with him on o ne
The kaiser believes that his doom will
o f these occasions
come to him from the centre o f some crowd in the streets
of Berlin but to my mind i t is infini tely more probable
tha t some day the world will be startled and shocked to
learn that W illiam has been lai d low by the bullet o f some
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AND FRAN CI S JO S E PH
7
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unknown murderer in the dep ths of the forests around
H ub e rt uss t ock o r Rominten where as I have suggested
danger seems to lurk and where the pursuit o f an assas sin
would be secondar y to caring for the emperor
This conviction that he is destined to die by violence
forms n ot only a constant topi c of discussion but also o f
correspondence between the emperor his advise rs and
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especially his friends The bullet from the anarchist s
revolver that may put an end to his exi stence seems to be
a subj ect o f daily thought and preoccupati on
No t that
Emperor W illiam i s afraid H e may have some faults but
cowardice i s certainly not among them
The sentiment
that fills his mind is one of intense and bitter impatience and
anger at the idea o f not being able to grasp by the throat the
man who may be lying in wait for him
H e is probably the
only European monarch who carries a revolver and he is re
solved to strike a blow fo r his li fe i f he only gets a
chance
H e i s extremely skilful in the use o f the weapon ,
and his j ager or body servant who accompani es him every
where inspects i t eve ry mo rning to make sure that i t is i n
perfect working order
I t is not pose as many people b eli eve that causes his
face to assume so set ste m an d ev en forbidding an ex
pression when he rides home through the streets of Berlin
“
at the hea d of his troops or dr ives along
Unter D en
”
L inden
I ndeed nothing is more remarkable than the
defiance nay even al most the abho rr ence that is apparent
i n his glance and in the drawn dow
n corners o f his mouth
when he gaz es at the populace that line the sides o f the
streets , and shout themselves h oarse i n his honor
He
feels sure that the bullet will come from among them
perhaps not before populace and troo ps are
s ome day
a rra y ed once more face to face i n sangui nar y confli ct , as
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WI LLI AM II
8
they were i n 1 8 4 8
Those who live i n his intimacy know
the true meaning o f the almost fierce manner i n which he
hurls his half smoked cigarette to the ground and rattl es
his sabre i n the scabbard as i f burning to draw i t against
the ca naz l/e by whom he believ e s he is doomed
I t is perfectly co rr e ct that so far as the public is cog
n i z ant no attempt has as yet b e en made o n the life of his
maj esty But it must not be forgott e n that h e had already
attained the age of manhood when he saw his aged and
passionately loved grandfather carried into his palace u n
conscious and covered with blood after having been so
cruelly shot by Nob ili ng He was also a gro w
n man at the
time when his cousin E m p e ror Alexand e r II was shat
glycerin bombs of the N ihilists and i t
t e re d by the nitro —
was W illiam who on that occasion r e presented the German
E m pire and the Court o f Berli n at the obsequi es of the ill
fated czar
I nd e ed he has se e n so many o f his fri ends
and relatives m ade the obj ect o f more or l ess successful
attempts on the part of would b e assassins that it is eas y
to understand why he should be so assured that he i s
destined to die to use a W estern phrase with his boots
and that too i n the streets of Berlin where he is less
on
popular i n all probability than anywhere else i n Germany ,
or i ndeed in the world
That the kaiser does not trust his Berliners is shown by
the fact that since his accessi on to the throne h e has
spent a considerable sum of m oney i n causing a sub t er
ran ean passage to be mad e so as to be enabled to reach
his box at the Opera or rather I should say to leave i t
without being observed The exi t o f the subterranean
passage i n question is a block or two distant from the so
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cal led Z eughaus where there is a very strong milita ry
detachment always on duty
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
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9
Po ssibly W illiam de rives this i dea from Pa ris where
the crown theatres were similarl y provided wi th secret
underground passages for the use of the reigning famil y i n
cas e o f danger during the first or third empi re as we l l as
throughout the reign o f King L ouis Philipp e
Napoleon III no t content with this had a secret under
gr ound passage leading from the Elys ee Palace beneath the
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Rue de l Elysé e to a private house o n the other side
This private house belonged to his c o n fi
o f the street
dential Chamberlain Count Bach i oc hi and whenev e r the
emperor wished to undertake some secret excursion o r to
visi t o n e of his fai r fri e nds wi thout the knowledge o f his
j ealous e mpress he would proceed from the Tu ile ri es to
his former residence the Elys ee Palace for the alleged
purpose of quietly working there with his ministers and
then whi l e the spi es wi th whom his wi fe surrounded him
rema ined watchi ng at the gate he would quietly pass from
his private room through the subterranean passage to the
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count s house enter the count s carriage i n the court yard
o f the mansion and drive off
E v entually I talian conspirators became aware of the
existence o f this underground passage where o n o ne occa
sion towards the close of hi s r e ign an attemp t on his li fe
was made by a Carbonari assassin who was himself imme
’
d iat ely killed by the emperor s Corsican body guard and
the chief o f palace detectives Baron Griscelli
W ould b e assassins are not the onl y sources o f peril to
reigning sovereigns i n the O ld W orld They are also sub
j ec t ed to almost i ncredible persecution at the hands o f
lunati cs and cranks some o f them of the most dangerous
description Hardly a week passes when the emperor and
empress are i n residence either at Berlin or at Potsdam
without men and women being qui etly taken into custody
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W ILLI AM
I0
II
by the palace detectives o r uniform e d polic e and bundled
o ff by night to the great lunatic asylum o n the outskirts
The men as a g e neral rul e pro
o f the Prussian capita l
fess to be either passionately in love with the empress and
resolved at all costs to throw themselves at her feet or else
insist that it is they who are h er hus band and that the
emperor is m erely an interloper who has ali e nated h e r
a ffections The women on the other hand are e qually
p ositive that they are the real and only legal wives o f his
maj esty or else that they are his lost sist e r
Then th e re
are m en and women maddened wi th real or imaginary
wrongs which they are certain can only be righted by the
emperor I ndeed there is no end to the crazy i deas with
which the brains of these poor maniacs are fi lled who
haunt the imperial palaces
The border line that separates the lunatic from the
anarchist is so di ffi cul t to define that the e m peror as well
as his police may b e excused for seeing in them all an
element o f danger and i n adopting adequa te measure s o f
protection
Emperor Francis Joseph has been less fortunate than his
brother monarch at Berlin i n the i mmunity which the
latter has until now enj oyed o f any serious and full fl edged
attempt on his li fe ; for the ruler of Austro Hun gary has
been o n no less than five di fferent occasions the obj ect
o f either actual attacks o ro f narrowly averted plots o n the
part o f men sworn to take his life
His first encounter with an assassin was when he was
still quite young
He had been on the throne but three or
four years and was walking along the ramparts o f Vi enna
one afternoon when a Hungarian tailor o f the name o f
Li b enyi half craz e d by the wrongs to which his fellow
country men had been subj ected by Austria—i t was shortly
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A ND F RAN CIS JO S E PH
1 I
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after the close o f the sangui nary repression o f the gr eat
Magyar rebellion o f 1 8 4 9—stole up behind his maj esty
such as is used for cutti ng
an d plunged a sharp knife
cloth , into the back o f his neck
The man had evidently
’
hop ed to reach the emperor s heart b y stabbing him beneath
the shoulder blades 3 but although he missed his aim he i n
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fli c t ed so se ri ous a wound that the emp eror s life was i n
danger for several days
There i s no doubt that the assassin would have stabbed
the p rostrate monarch who had fallen forward on his face ,
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a second time had not his maj esty s youn g equerry , Cav
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Maxi milian O D onnell hurled himself
alry L i eutenant
upon the murderer and held him although with the
utmost di ffi culty until the arrival o f assistance which was
n o t before some minutes ha d elapsed
as the bastions
where the emperor had been walking were quite dese rted
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at the time
Young O D onnell received several bad cuts
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from the assassin s knife i n endeavoring to wrest i t from
him
The would b e regici de was quickly tried and sentenced
to death by hanging while honors o f every ki nd were
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showered upon the young Irishman for O D onn ell hailed
from the Emerald I sl e —to whom the emperor undoubt
The fo rtunate subaltern was p romoted
e dly owed his life
at one bound t o the rank o f lieutenant colonel was created
a count pres ented with an estate , and honored wi t h dec
orations not onl y b y the emperor himself but also by
most o f the sovereigns th en reigning i n Continental
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Europe
Count O D onn ell di ed only a year o r t w
o ago
at Salzburg honored and kindly remembered until th e
ve ry last not only by the emperor but by the entire i m
pe rial family
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Two othe r attempts have been made upon the emp eror s
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WILLIAM
I 2
II
life i n Bohemia
Just about the time when he was to be
crowned King o f Hungary he was shot at i n Pragu e by a
Czech whil e twenty years later his trai n met wi th a fearful
accident and narrowly escap ed complete destruction ,
owing to the rails having been removed at the top o f an
embankment by conspirators who were subsequently dis
co v ered to be members of the German Nationalist party i n
Bohemia
About twelve years ago a dese rter named Ob erdan k
attempted to shoot him at Tri este
I t was ascertained
that he had been i nstigated to the crime by the I t a li a
’
[rreaerzt a a political soci e ty which has for its avowed
aim t he trans fer to the Kingdom of I taly o f th e I talian
speaking p rovi nces still under the rul e o f Francis Joseph
Ob e rdan k was tri ed convicted and hanged and to thi s
’
day the anniversary of the man s execution is celebrated
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as a day o f mourning by the [t a lz a l rreaefl ta party
All these encounters with assassins experienced by Fran
cis Joseph during his long reign of more than fifty years
are however obliterated and relegated to the background
by the terrible tragedy which robb e d him o f his consort
To this day the question as to whether Empress Eliza
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beth s assassination at Geneva was the i rresponsibl e act o f
a crank o r the resul t of a deep laid conspiracy o n the part
of the leaders o f the anarchical movement remai ns un
answered
Contrary to popular belie f i t is not the gorgeously
apparelled body guards who constitute the principal p ro
t ec t i on o f such monarchs as Francis Joseph and Emperor
W illiam
I f these body guards still exist i t is more for the
purpose of pomp and sho wthan for protection
The duty
o f providing for the latter is vested i n the hands o f a spe
c i al corps o f picked police who are for the most part
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A ND FRAN CIS JO S EP H
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a rra y ed i n plain citiz ens clothes so as not to attract such
attention as m ight i mpair their usefulness
I ndeed the
general public knows very little about them and has but a
faint idea of the character or extent o f thei r duti es fo r of
the men who guard thei r illust ri ous charges the best are
naturally those who make the l east fuss
Thus a detective
wh ose sagacity and i ntelligence may over and over agai n
have preserved thei r maj esties from any kind of trouble o r
hurt wi ll receive l ess noti ce than the more demonstrative
servant who perhaps once i n his life had the good luck to
stay the arm of a would b e assassin as the p istol w
as fired ,
instead o f beforehand
Unfo rtunately these police , who enjoy altogether ex c ep
t i onal powers owing to the fact that they are entrusted
with the duty o f protecting the life o f the monarch — a
l ife regarded as a consideration surpassing all others i n
importa nce — occasionally misus e these powers and a few
y ears ago the chi ef o f the special corps o f detectives ap
pointed to watch over the safety o f Emperor W illiam a
man named Colonel Baron von Tausch whom I have
already menti oned in these pages became involved i n such
an extraordinary scandal that the emperor was compelled
to dispense with his services
True he had shielded his
impe rial master from every ki nd o f danger at the hands of
both assassins and cranks but not content with this h e
established a sort o f bureau o f espionage o n the same lines
as the once celebrated Third Section o f the police at
St Petersburg
He made i t his duty to furnish reports to
the emperor concerning the private li fe and doings o f all
sorts of pe rsonages forming part o f the court and the gov
e rn ment and became the cause o f so much i ntrigue and
even of administrative di ffi culty that ultimately after
having vainl y appealed and p rotested to the empero r,
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1
W ILLI AM
4
11
Baron Marschall , the minister of foreign a ffai rs o f the em
pire proceeded against him for libel and conspiracy before
the Berlin t ribunals exclaiming i n the wi tness box w
i th a
“
cry that seemed to come from the very hea rt : I am
”
obliged to take refuge i n publicity
The sta ff o f Baron v on Tausch not merely comp rised
a p erfect army o f clever detectives but also a number
of men and women chi efl y peopl e of rank and social
position i n need o f financial help and ready there
fore to act as p olice spi es for the sake o f a consider
ati on
O ne o f the most active o f these spies was a Bar on v on
the bearer o f a name celebrated for heroism
Lu e tz ow
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during the Napoleonic wars at the beginning of the cen
tury
I t was revealed d uring th e trial that Colonel v o n
Tausch desiring to obtain ce rtai n information for the
emperor concern ing the national m ovement i n the Polish
provinces ordered Baron von Lu etz owto court the daugh
ter of a Polish noble who was at the head of the move
ment and to become afii anc e d to her with the obj ect o f
winning the confidence o f her father As soon as Lu e t z ow
had extracted from the father o f the gi rl the info rmation
that he needed for Colonel von Tausch he coolly j ilted
the girl and returned to Berlin
Among the correspondence produced at the trial was a
’
confidential l etter i n Colonel von Tausch s handw ri ting
addressed to Count Philip Eul enburg the Ge rman ambas
sador at Vienna in which he boasted of having successfully
accomplished some dirty piece o f i ntrigue which he ex
doing for the
p ec t ed would have the e ffect o f finally
minister of foreign a ffai rs Baron Marschall in the eyes of
the emperor
I t was shown that shortly after this Count
E ulenburg sent to Colonel von Tausch a high Austrian
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1
WILLIAM II
6
hushing up all the scrapes i n which they had beco me i n
volved The emperor moreover did no t care to ha v e his
relatives his ministers the p rinces and nobles o f his
court and the l eading personages o f the non Prussian
courts o f Germany l earn o f the espionage to which the y
had been subj ected by Colonel Tausch i n his behalf
The long and short of the whole matter was that Tausch
had been employed i n so much unsavory work that would
not b ear the light o f day that his conviction o n the c ri m
inal charges proved against hi m was impossibl e from the
very outset
I f Taus ch had spoken an d disclosed a l l he
knew he would have set the Court of Berli n and the so
c i e t y o f almost every ci ty o f Germany a y e and o f Austria
and other countries as well b y the ears
N evertheless w hi le the tribunals did not dare to convict
Colonel von Tausch and acquitted him o f the charges o f
forgery pe rj ury and conspiracy brought against him a t e
sul t due of course to the fact that he knew too much
about the confidential a ffairs o f the emperor and of the
great people at Berlin yet he cannot be considered as hav
ing got o ff scot free
Being a Bavarian by bi rth and de
riving his mili tary rank from the Bavarian army he w
as
decreed by a court of honor composed o f o ffi cers o f that
army to have been guilty o f conduct so dishonorable as to
render him an unfit associate for gentlemen and no longer
worthy o f holding a commission in the service o f the King
the minister o f war at Munich ratified this de
o f Bavaria
cree and Colonel von Tausch therefore w
as expelled from
the Bavarian army i n disgrace
The emperor has been obliged to dispense with the ser
vices o f the colonel but his maj esty has enabled him to re
tire into p rivate li fe with all the honors such as they are,
o f a chi ef o f police placed o n the retired list the enj o y
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AND FRAN CIS JOSEP H
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7
ment o f his titles as such and a comfortabl e pension , i n
addition to the considerable fortune which he amassed
while chief o f the pala ce p olice 3 nor i s there any danger
wha tsoever o f his ever being i n financial difficulties as l ong
as he retains his memory and his con fi dential papers
I t should b e said by way o f explanation that Emp ero r
W illiam is by no means the only sovereign who conside rs
i t necessary to keep his leading statesm en the principal
personages o f his court and above all the members o f his
n family under close observation b y means o f the secret
ow
police
I n fact espionage is part and parcel o f court life
and to such an extent is this carri ed i n the cas e o f some o f
the reigning families that the late Emperor Al exander III
while still czarevi tch actually had his private corresp ondence
stopped in transit examined and copies made of the c on
tents At one moment when he seemed to be in open re
volt agai nst his impe ri al father the chief o f the Third Sec
tion at that time —i n other words of the i mperial secret
p olice — took i t upon himself to make a report on the sub
j ec t to the czar , at the same time giving copies of the let
ters i n question to his maj esty This led to a memorabl e
scene be t w
een father and son , which termi nated in the dis
missal of the chi ef o f p olice
O n another occasion the s urveillance to which the late
Grand D uke Constantine a man o f notoriously liberal
tendencies was subj ected led to the inference o n the
part o f the chi ef o f the secret police that the prince was
i n some way implicated i n the dynamite outrage of the
W inter Palace i n 1 8 8 0
Full of what he considered his
d iscovery he hastened with i t to the czar Alexander II ,
who was very fond o f his clever brother took the report
without saying a word and the next time that h e saw
’
C onsta ntine , he showed i t to him , exclaiming : D on t sa y a
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1
WILLIAM
8
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11
”
Then he threw i t into the fire
word I don t believe i t 1
and a ffectionately embraced his brother
Many are the European rule rs who have been practically
terrorized by unscrupulous chiefs of secret police such as
Colonel von Tausch i nto doing otherwise unaccoun table
things
Napoleon III su ffered greatly from this espion
age which he himself had inaugurated
N o o ne knows how cruell y mortified E mperor W illiam
must have been i n connection with the revelations concern
ing the ignominy of Colonel Tausch
His imperial pride
suffered the more because he was unabl e to pe rmit the man
to be punished O nl y a few years ago the whol e Court o f
Munich was stricken wi th dismay by the revelati on made
by a Baroness I rma von Schmadel , who with the obj ect of
venting her hate against Baron v on M uller at the time
minister o f public worship actually published a numbe r o f
his fac simile letters and reports o f which he had secured
possession showing that during the li fetime of the late
Ki ng L ouis he carried on , by the order of his maj esty a
most elaborate system o f espionage over every member of
the reigning family , keeping track o f thei r habits thei r
shortcomings and above all , of thei r associations and eu
tanglements
I do not know i f E mperor W illiam has appointed a suc
cessor to Baron von Tausch , but I should imagine that the
lesson which he received i n connection with that personage
was su ffi ci ent to prevent so clever and W ide awake a man
as hi ms elf from ever again placing himsel f i n the power of
unsc rup ulous police spi es
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C HA PT E R XV I I I
Wh ere is E mperor W illiam at home ? That is a ques
ti on which i t i s exceedingly di ffi cul t to answer o ff hand
with any degree o f exactitude
There are many who
would insist tha t he is most at home on board his famous
sailing yacht his superb pri vate railroad train or his
magnificent steam yacht the H o/zenz ollem and i t mus t
be confessed that they have no little ground for taking this
vi ew since a sovereign who spends on an average two
thirds o f the year i n travelling about from place to place
following this fad to such an extent that he i s popularly
”
known as
D er Reise Kaiser
(The Travelling Emper
or ) may well b e considered to feel himsel f more at home
in his railroad cars or on b oard his yachts than i n any
palace
There are othe rs again who argu e that he is no
where so much at home as at his shooting boxes o f Rom
i nt e n or at Hub ert usst ock
Certai nly the royal castl e o r palace at Berli n cannot be
looked upon as his home for he spends only a few weeks
there during th e winter for the pu rpose o f giving a num
ber of magnificent entertai nments migrating thither as late
as possible i n the autumn i ndeed only just before Christ
mas and mani festing the utmost hurry to get back to Pots
dam for neither the empress nor himself likes Berlin
In
the fi rst place there is no s ympathy b etween either the
emperor o r the empress an d the Berline rs who have from
tim e immemo rial been noted for thei r dislo yalty towards
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9
WILLIA M
2 0
II
the reigning house then t oo the palace built hundreds o f
years ago is terribly inconveni ent and uncomfortable lacks
privacy looking as i t does right onto the publi c street
and has no groun ds o r gardens where the children can
’
play I n fact whenever the kaiser s children wish to
ha v e a romp they have to drive o ff to the palace o f Belle
vue a small and incommodi ous building but which has
larg e grounds i n order to find some place whe re the y can
play without being mobbed
The palace which Emperor W illiam considers as being
N eues
hi s home more than any other is undoubtedly the
”
Palais
or NewPalace at Potsdam which was the sum
mer ho m e o f his parents throughout thei r mar ri ed li fe
and where he sp ent his e ntire youth
H e makes this palace his headquarters from the earl y
spring until j ust before Christmas and although he is usu
ally away yet after a ll there is no doubt that he looks
up on the place as his real home
N ew Palace is as misleading a title as
N ew Col
”
“
lege
at O xford for the N ew College
i s o ne o f the
oldest colleges of the English University o f O xford and i n
’
the same manner the emperor s favo ri te residence at Pots
’
dam date s from the close of the Seven Yea rs War when i t
was built by Frederick the Great in a spiri t o f bravado o n
ground which until then had b een a b og j ust to show his
enemies that they had been as li ttle able to exhaust his
co ffers as his courage And when the royal philosopher
had finished the N ew Palace (that is new by compari
son with Sans Souci which was built before the war )
he caused a crown o f glory to be made an d fi xed o n i ts
dome a crown supported by completely undraped figures
o f Empress Elizabeth o f Russia Empress Maria Theresa o f
Aust ria and Madame de Pompadour , who vi rtuall y ruled
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AND FRANCIS JO S EP H
2 1
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France these three ladies having been the prime move rs i n
’
th e Seven Years W ar against him and his principal an
The crown which the statues o f these three
tagoni sts
ladies support is that of Prussia and adding injury to
insult old Frederick the Great caused them to b e perched
up there aloft wi th their backs tu rned to thei r respective
countries
The late Emperor Frederick alwa y s took the ground
that the palace in vi ew o f this peculiar feature i n connec
tion with the dome should have been styled Friedri chs
kron the title o f N ew Palace being misleading and as
so on as he came to the throne he issued a decree command
ing this change o f appellation having i n view not his o w
n
name as has been generally supposed but that of Freder
ick the G reat
W illiam who professes the most ex t rava
gant but al together unnatural cult for King Fr e deri ck II
came to the conclusion that i t would be b etter to adhere to
the title which the old monarch had originally given to the
palace and therefore i n restoring the original name o f
N eues Palais did not intend any disrespect to his father
as has been often asserted
The N ew Palace is the Prussian counte rpa rt of W ind
sor Castle i n England of Versailles i n France o f Schoen
b run i n Aus tria and o f the Pet erh o ff i n Russia
It is
about half an hour by rail from Berlin and it i s reached by
means of the Magdeburg line The walk from the private
”
“
station known as the
W ildpark
to the palace takes
only about ten minutes through a broad arch like avenue
o f lofty elms wi th the exquisitely kep t pleasure grounds of
the palace on the right and on the left the Open crop
producing country stretching away to the horizon i n a
waving verdant plain
I n a few minutes the outer gate
is passed before which a huge helmeted sentinel paces up
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WILLI AM
2 2
II
and down and then advancing a li ttle fa rther one fi nds
oneself face to face with the N ew Palace a vast and i m
posing brick building the ground plan of the structure
”
forming a kind o f i n v erted letter E
A broad flight o f
steps l eads to the mai n entrance which is surmounted by a
lofty central dome topped by the P russ ian crown and the
three nude figures already described ; the whole edifice
with its fluted Greek columns and classica l outlines c o n
veys an impression o f great but exotic magnificence as i f
the architecture o f Versailles had been adapted to the tas tes
o f Potsdam
O pposite the palace but with a less frontage there b e
ing a broad and spacious esplanade between are a s eries o f
structures i n a corresponding style o f ornate classical a rt
”
called the Communes
which were o riginally designed
for the accommodation of the ladi es and gentlemen of the
household but which are now chiefly tenanted by the
”
L ehr Bat talli on
o r pattern training battalion
c om
posed o f picked men from all the regi ments o f the Prus
sian arm y who here under the searching eye o f the kaiser
h imself imbibe those rules of unrivalled discipline with
which they wi ll in tu rn as non commission ed offi cers leaven
the whol e mas s o f the German army This L ehr Bat
”
whi ch is not as so many people i magi ne a learn
talli on
ing but rather a teaching battali on is one o f the great
shows at Potsdam and to see i t march past and perform
other military manoeuvres when the emperor has some
illustrious guest at the N ew Palace is a sight as much to be
remembered as were the evolutions of the celebrated regi
’
ment o f giants o f P russia s first ki ng
The show place o f this palace is the
Shell H all
or
”
”
M uschelsaal
reminding one of that Hall o f Shells
that was sung b y O ssian
I t is a tremendo us apartment
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2
WILLI AM
4
11
th e
navy , and often when talki ng to a visi tor will let his
p en run over his blotting pad tracing the hideously inar
His picture o f
t i st i c outlines o f the i ronclad o f the future
”
a
fight between torpedo boats and i ronclads
which
hangs o n the wall is distinguished as much by sci entific
accuracy of detail as by i ts dramatic force and vraisemblance
There are likewise some water color souvenirs o f N orway
which adorn the walls o f his study and qui te a number of
’
battle pieces illustrative of P russia s more modern wars on
land
O ccasionally he will if the weather is very fine transfer
his arbez tz z mmer for the morning to a lovely little garden
house i n the grounds surrounded by a hedge and panelled
inside and out wi th maj oli ca tiles
O ver the entrance is
nailed a horseshoe and beneath i t is i nsc ribed this English
ve rse composed by Empress Frederick :
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Thi s p l o t o f grou nd I call my o
S e et i th th e b reath o f fl o e rs,
w w
w
W ith me mo ri e s o f p u re
A nd
toi l
o f su
wn
,
d eli ght
,
mmer h o u rs
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This little garden house is literally imbedded i n flowers
the lovely hues o f which are reflected i n the marble b o r
dered sheet o f water which giv e s an additional impression
o f coo l ness to the place
The south side o f the palace i s left very much as i t was
in the time of Frederi ck the Great
There is the theatre
with a seating capacity for an audience of six hundred
p eople and i n the music room is a complete manuscript
copy of L es Qu bre: Mélée: dz; P fi z losop/z e ae S a ns S ou ci ,
’
A ver P rz w
lége d Ap o/lon with autograph notes by Vol
taire o f a critical character for instance where the
word plat occurs i n two or three consecutive lines of
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
2
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’
5
’
V oz cz p lu s d e p lats
the king s Works Voltaire re marks
This room as well as all
gu e dam 2 m frés 5 072 s oup er
the others of Frederick the Great is adorned i n the
rococo style with a profusi on o f marble jasper ma l achi te
and other valuable colored stones o n both walls and floor
O ne of the stranges t features of decoration is to be found
in a room used by Frederick the Great as his sitting room
I t i s fu rnished i n white and gold and the ceiling as w e ll as
’
a portion of the walls are adorned with a huge spider s
W eb
painted i n gold i n which are two flies and a big
spider The explanation o f this decoration i s as follows
Every morning Frederick the Great was accustomed to
drink a cup o f chocolate
O ne day after the happy end
’
ing of the Se v en Years War the king was engag e d longer
than usual at his writing table the chocolate having mean
while remained untouched o n the table and when later he
wished to dri nk it , he found that a large spider had let
itself down from the ceiling i nto the cup
The king not
wishing to share hi s meal with the spider poured the choco
late i nto the saucer for his two greyhounds These eagerl y
drank i t but were soon after seized with con v ulsions and
di ed displaying all the symptoms o f p oisoning
The
French cook was thereupon sought ; but having already
learned of the death o f the greyhounds he had blown o u t
his brains i n dread o f the discovery subsequently made
’
’
that he was i n Aus tria s pay and had poi soned the king s
chocolate Frederick consequently looked upon the spid e r
which had invited i tsel f to share his breakfast as having
saved his life and i t was i n memory o f his narrow escape
that he had the room i n question thus decorated
Formerly the N eues Palais was very damp
As I
have al ready mentioned Frederick the Great buil t the
palace o n a site that was nothing else than a bog
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2
WIL L IAM II
6
getting this the late Emperor Frederick discovering this
dampness and being under the impressi on that this as
well as the malarial symptoms from which he suffered
were due to the wide and deep moats by which the palace
was surrounded foolishly had them filled i n
H e failed
to realize the fact that they served to drai n the place and
that they were absolutel y necessary to the p rop er sani ta
tion o f the building
The result o f this was that the
water got i nto the basement and that the palace b ecame
so unhealth y that i t has always been a question i n my
mind whether this condition o f a ffairs was not largely re
sponsibl e for the malady to which Emperor Frederick suc
cancer b eing invariably developed by dampness
c u mb e d
as is proved b y medical statistics which show that i t i s
particularly prevalent at the mouths of rivers , near stag
nant pools or even lakes and especially in the p roximity
o f marshy ground
Ultimately after the kaiser had almost lost two o f his
”
boys from diphtheria at the N eues Palais
he caused i t
to be subj ected to a most searching i nvestigation by sani
tary engineers and on the strength o f thei r reports the
palace has been furnished at an enormous cost with an
entirely new foundation and basement o f cement While the
moats have all been re opened and additional and i m
proved methods adopt ed for thoroughly draining both the
palace i tself and the grounds
’
’
The kaiser s day begins at six o clock i n the morning ,
and his orderly o ffi cers or fl zégel aaj u tants are obliged
to b e o n hand at half past six punctually
W inter and
summer he plunges into an entirely cold water bath
dr esses rapidly and then betakes himself to the breakfast
room o f the empress with whom he breakfasts quite alone ,
not even servants being present for the various dishes are
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AND F RANCIS JOSE PH
2
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7
placed all ready t o hand o n dumb waiters
As I have
already stated this is the o n e moment o f the day When the
emperor and empress are able to discuss p ersonal matte rs
and family a ffai rs wi thout a third person being present
and ever since W illiam became emperor his wife has i n
sisted that no o ne should b e permitted to intrude upon his
breakfast hour which she regards as p eculiarly her o w
n
The meal is as I have also mentioned previously i n
every sense of the word an American or English break
fast and another feature that is essentially Anglo Saxon
about i t is that the emperor i nvariably takes his seat at
table fully dressed instead o f donning tha t garment so
dear to the Ge rman famil y father
namely the dressing
gown ! D ressing gowns fi nd no favor wi th the reigning
hous e of Prussia
O n o ne occasion when o ne o f the
l eading purveyors to the cou rt sent to o ld Emperor
’
W illiam a superbly embroidered and quilted silk roée ae
c/z a mé re he caused i t to be re t urned with the curt remark
The Hohenz ollerns have no use for dressing gowns
The late E mperor Frede ri ck a few y ears before his
d eath and while still crown p ri nce noticed duri ng the
course o f a mi l i tary inspection a number o f gorgeous
’
dressing gowns in the offi ce rs quarte rs
Turning to the
colonel i n command of the regiment he exclaim e d in
his half se ri o us half j ocular way :
“
You had bett e r get your subalterns to use up their
dressing gowns and to get rid o f them b efore I come to
the throne I am a fi eld marshal and I have never owned
a dressing gown in my li fe nor should I even like to think
o f what would have taken place i f my father had ever
found me wearing o ne o f those garments
’
The pres ent emperor s wardrobe comprises hundreds of
di ff erent kinds of costumes and garments of every d esc ri p
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2
WILLIAM
8
11
tion save on e I n his entire wardrobe there is no t a
dre ssing gown— no not even o n e Of those smoking jackets
plets which so many m en wear
o r morning flannel com
The emperor takes t h e ground that not only the sov e r
e i gn but eve ry true man as well should always be prepared
for any emergency and never inclined to lou nge
’
At seven o clock or a few minutes lat e r the emperor
e nters his workroom and as soon as his two ord e rly o ffi cers
have r e ported to him and taken up thei r places i n the
ante room he commences to receive the various chiefs of
departments Of the imperial household military and civi l
digni taries ministers o f stat e etc and last but not least ,
the sons of generals and statesmen who have di ed i n his
service and who come for the purpose Of o ffi cially repo rt
’
ing to the sovereign their father s demise and to restore
to his maj esty the orders and decorations which the dead
man may have possessed
I t speaks volumes for the deli
cacy and consideration o f the kaiser that i n spite o f the
i ncessant calls made upon his time o n such occasions he
almost invariably dons the uniform o f the regiment o r
particular military corps to which the deceased offi cer may
have belonged o ut of compliment to his memory At
’
nine o clock th e emperor is o ff o n horseback wi th already
’
a who l e day s work behind him and after a sharp brisk
rid e usually spends an hour o r two i n visiting various bar
racks o r holding mili tary i nspections By noon he is back
at th e palace transacting business o f state and receiving
some o f the higher dignitari es of the empire o r royal per
so nage s who may happen to b e visiting Berlin and whom
h e generally i nvites to lunch with him
Luncheon i s a very cheerful meal with Emperor W illiam
The emperor thanks to his long morning the greater
portion of which has been spent in the Open air , i nvariab l y
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
2
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9
has an excellent appetite and as he is fond Of company
and poss esses a v e ry remarkable gi ft o f quick and witty
’
repartee the second d éj eu ner is invariably a pleasant o n e
the more so as there is an absence Of the ceremony that
characterizes dinner
The menu is as a rule simple consisting o f a soup a
roast wi th one or more vegetables and a single sweet
dish everything being sent from ki tchen to dining room
by a sort of electri c railroad
After luncheon the emperor sta ys chatting with his
gu ests and i t is at such moments that his extraordinary
magnetism i s most powerful
W i th an air of genial
abandon which disarms all prejudice and suspicion that
o ne may have p reviously entertained concern ing hi m he
proceeds to fascinate all those to whom he turns his atten
tion
I n fact he becomes at such times so winning that
i t is difficult to resist him and even v eteran diplo m atists
have com e to actually dread hi s powers of captivation and
to l ook upon them as a dangerous factor in the political
Thus i t is well kno w
n tha t the reason
a fl ai rs o f E urope
why th e present cza r avoids the kaiser in so pointed a
manner i s that he has found that each time he has b e en
brought i nto contact with W illiam he has been i nduced
’
b y the latter s personal charm to go much further i n
p romises and implied understandings than h e i ntended o r
than sound Russian statecraft and sober after thought ap
proved
It was i n fact after o ne o f these lun cheons at D arm
s tadt that the czar who had just come from Paris was to
s uch an extent won over by the German emperor that he
’
p ermitted himself to be photographed with W illiam s arm
a ffecti onately encircling his neck
I t was only on the fol
l owing day that N icholas realized the political interpreta
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3
WILLIAM II
0
tion which would b e given to this photog raph , and the
discourtes y which i t consti tuted to the French nation
whi ch had j ust accorded s o magnifi cent a reception to the
czari tza and himself on the ban ks o f the Seine
He ac
c ord i ngly took measures to have both the negative and the
proofs destroyed not , however before some copies had
been quietly struck Off I t i s needless to state that they
are extremely rare Perhaps there are not more than half
a dozen i n existence
The afternoon i s generally given up to driving with the
’
empress to v isiting relatives artists studios and public
buildings o r to military revi ews O n returning home there
are more audiences to be accorded more repo rts to be read
and endorsed with the brief comment o f f a i f approved ,
’
of N ez n i f the subject does not receive his maj esty s sanc
’
tion then at sev en o clock there is dinner , which like that
o f the Prince o f W ales n ever lasts more than an hour
For every two guests there i s a footman , to whom the
dishes are handed by pages
Meat is served in silve r
dishes vegetables i n china dishes while th e glasses are of
crystal edged with gold and adorned i n the centre wi th
the imperial arms also engraved i n gold
Flowers play a
great rOle i n the adornment o f the table red roses being
an almost invariable feature
The di nner usually consists
o f six courses and is simple rather than elaborate .
In
deed the art Of gastronomy is perhaps less cultivated at
th e palaces o f Emperor W illiam than at any other European
court
T his is i n a great measure due to the fact that so
’
far as the tabl e is concerned the kaiser s household is run
very much i n the same manner as a hotel o n the Ame ri can
plan o r perhaps more correctly speaking on the t aéle
’
d it at e system
I t is onl y within the l as t four yea rs that this method has
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WILLI AM II
2
empress on ordinary occasions The executive heads Of
t h e ki tchen are a French head che f and a German who
bear t h e title o f Ch ef : de B ou t / wand they are assisted by
a per fect ar m y o f lesser chefs German Austrian French
and even Russian for th e re are some Russian dishes of
which the emperor is particularly fond
Previous to the
i nauguration of the present system the kaiser was i n the
habit o f paying occasional surp ri se visits to the imp erial
kitchens at all sorts o f unexpected times he being th e first
member o f his house to visit this department
His visits
w e r e not relished by the cooks who considered that the
honor confe rre d was more than counterbal anced by the fact
’
that these appearances partook o f the nature O f his maj est y s
”
mili tary practice o f alarming the garrison
O f late
years however he has left t h e cooks to thei r ow
n devices
W hat the i mperial table lacks i n the quality and abo v e all
i n the deli cacy O f t h e v iands is more than atoned fo r by the
superb character o f the wines The cellars Of the rulers of
Prussia have an i nternational reputation and what to p ri
vate i n d ividua l s would appear enorm ous sums are spent
each year i n purchasing fresh pipes o f wine for c o nsu mp
tion twenty fi fty and even a hundred years hence
Since
the beginning o f the last century samples Of the best wine
’
o f each y e ar s yield have been purchased and left to lie
i n the c e llars
The latt e r comprise some two hundred
thousand bottl e s of fine wine besides at leas t five thousand
hogsheads There is some Rhine wine that dates from the
year 1 7 0 0 and i t may be remembered in this connection
that o n e of the very last pres e nts sent by the emperor to
Prince Bismarck was a huge flask o f old Steinberger Cabi
net which had been i n the imperial cellars since the reign
of Fred e rick the Great
The emperor is an extremely abstemious man, in spite
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F RAN C I S J OSE PH
AN D
33
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Of his reputation as a hard drinker due to the fact that o n
i n public
o n e occasion he drained at a single draught
a more than giganti c goblet o f Rhine wine
H e dislikes
red wines prefers Rhine wi nes is particularly fond of
beer and relishes a glass or two of champagne with his
dinner
H e is also very fond of Tokay o f which there is
an almost priceless assortment i n the imperial cellars re p
resenting gifts o f many successive emperors o f Austria
This Tokay is usually se rved towards the close o f dinner
This is a wine which cannot be obtained i n the market
’
True every wine merchant s list conta ins the nam e but
none can possibly supply thei r most cherished customers
wi th genuine Tokay The produce o f these vineyards
which are situated at Tarcz al belong exclusively to the
Emperor o f Aus tro Hungary To manufacture this imp e
rial Tokay which is o f the variety known as
Mezes
mele
the grapes are never gathered
o r honey beams
until fully ripe and are put i nto a cask Wi thout any art i fi
The j uice extracted from
c i al p ressure being appli ed
sun dri ed grapes i s then added and the mixt ure b ecomes
really essence o f Tokay
I t is a syrupy sort of liqui d
which is served at the court o f Emperor W illiam as at
that o f Francis Joseph i n tiny glasses hardly bigger than
a thimble and the bouquet of perfume thereof i s so power
ful that even a single one o f these diminutive glasses i s
suffi ci ent to fill a room wi th a penetrating odor of extreme
sweetness
I t is true that there are some few v i neyards at
Tokay which belong to Prince W i ndischgra tz who how
ever does not sell his wines ; so the win e sold under the
name Of Tokay is grown in the region of N ismes France ,
where a number of Hungarian vines were l ong ago t rans
planted and is not real Tokay
’
Emperor W illiam s cella rs are built under the roy al pal
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WILLI AM II
34
ace at Berlin
Unter den L inden
and are i n the fo rm
L the short arm being directl y under that
o f the letter
part of the palace fronting the foun tain the porti on ocen
p ied by the impe rial family during the short winter season
The cellars cover an enormous Space are well v entlilated,
and lighted by gas
Sometimes Emperor W illiam will devote the evening to
his family at other times he will i nvite a l l the gentlemen
who have been dining with him to what he styles a Bier
”
Abend which usually tak es place i n one of the largest
apartments of the ground floor o f the palace
I t is a sort
o f nineteenth century counterpart of the tobacco parlia
ments which the father o f Frederick th e Great was so fond
Of holding i n the company o f his i ntimate associates and
cronies
The hall is fi lled with a number o f long tables
without any tabl e cloths and the people i nvited take thei r
seats irrespective of precedence and rank and are ser v ed
with flagon s o f beer whil e th e atmosphere becomes thick
with smoke There is an absolute freedom from c eremony
and restraint loud talking and laughter are to be h eard from
all parts Of the big room which partakes on such occasions
”
of the character o f a public Bier halle
’
O ccasionally the emperor s clear metallic voice and
hearty laugh will be heard even above the noise which
prevails Thanks to the social conditions e x isting i n Ger
many no undue advantage is taken o f this freedom from all
court etiquette and these beer evenings Of the kai ser have
become as enj oyable to his guests as to himself They are
brought to a close before midnight the emperor disapp ear
ing as he appeared without making an y fuss and often
even without att racting attention
O ccasionally the emperor will devote his evenings to
th e theatre , to which he is extremely partial
I ndeed his
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WILLI AM
3 6
11
I nde e d th e re is no doubt that W illiam would b e come
inordinately stout and gross from t h e e xtraordi nary qua ntit y
o f food that he consu m es w e re it not for t h e astonishing
H e i s on t h e go from
a m ount o f ex e rcis e that he takes
early m orning until m idnight and as i f his Occupations
w e re not enough to fill up all his spar e m o m e nts h e n e v e r
p e rmits a day to pass without getting rid o f at l east som e o f
’
his sup e rabundant energy by at leas t hal f an hour s fencing
and a l so wh e n the weath e r permits by playing t e nnis H e
is as cl ever with the rack e ts as h e is with the foi l s and
probably because he learnt to play the gam e i n England
invariab l y scores i n English aye and sw ears i n that lan
guage too when he happens to make a miss
’
NO ad e qua te account of the emperor s ho m e li fe or o f
the manner in which h e spends his day can be gi v en wi th
o ut de v oting a word to thos e horses Of which both he and
the empress are so passionately fond
Curi ously enough
neither t h e emperor n o r t h e empress s e e m s to care much for
dogs and although they have a number o f canine p e ts ye t
o n e ne v e r s e es them i n the co m pany o f their maj esti e s who
on l y occasionally visit them at their kenn e l s But they are
both exceedingly devoted to horses This is esp e cially the
case wi th the e m peror who is not only a magni ficent
equestrian but also a very bo l d one which is the m or e t o
his credit as he is terribly handicapped by his useless left
arm which pre v ents hi m from mounting without a mount
ing block a step ladder or some other assistance Like so
many other peopl e who through some misfortun e ha v ing
lost the use o f a li mb appear to develop added strength i n
the remainder of the body the emperor possesses an e xtra
ordinary muscular development o f the l e gs and the right
ar m
I nde e d once seat e d i n the saddle there are few
horses that cou l d throw him and t h e mann e r in which he
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FRAN CI S J O SEPH
AN D
3 7
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takes hedges ditches and stone walls when hunting is such
as to e v oke the keen admi ration Of e v en such an ac kn o w
l
edged expert i n cross country riding as t h e Earl of L ons
dale master o f the celebrat e d Quorn Hunt which serves i n
ev e ry particular as a model to masters Of the hounds i n a l l
parts of the world
’
I t is thoroughly i n keepin g with the emp e ror s love for
horses that he should e nt e rtai n the hobby of owning the
fi nest stables in the world and i t m ust b e confessed that
his fad i n this connection is in a fair way o f being realized
for the imperial stabl e s now i n course o f construction at
Berlin will cost when completed about three m illion dol
lars
The archi tect is nam ed I hn e son of the former Ger
man tutor Of the Prince of Wales and his brothers and the
designs hav e all been supervised and modi fi ed from the
point of view o f an expert horseman by L ord Lo nsdale
W hom the e m peror greatly likes
W hen compl eted the
stables will comprise two riding courses or schools storage
r oom for three hundred vehicles and boxes for two hun
dred and seventy horses
There will b e dwelling rooms for fifty families of em
plo yees and lodgings for one hundred single coachmen and
groo m s The stables proper are two stories high and have
elevators
The large b all where the i m p erial state coaches
are kept is a very i m posing a ffair running the entire height
o f the building and i s surrounded by a balcony fo r visitors
O ne o f the riding schools will be r e served for the emperor
t h e empress and thei r children exclus i vely while the other
will be for the attendants The entire stables are under the
control o f Count W edel the mast e r Of the horse N o mares
are used only stallions black ones being the rule for draw
ing the court carriages
O n all state occasions however
the e m p eror uses white horses and no on e else is per
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WILLI AM II
38
mi t t ed to d rive behind them
All these horses are bred at
Trakenen , and i nasmuch as for more than a hundred
y ears past the only Trakenen hors es p laced upon the mar
’
ket have been ge l dings o r mares t h e emperor s Trakenen
stallions black white and bay are absolutely unique
I
may add that the bays are usually employed fo r f ou rgon
and omnibus work
Count W edel as mas ter o f the horse attends the e m
pero t when he takes his daily rides and usually keeps a
’
little i n the rear with the aid de camp
The emperor s
mount on such occasions is us ually a ri ch bay the b ean
ideal o f a charger
He likewise has a grey charger o f
which he is very fond and then there is his pet horse
“ Fritz
The team which he likes best for dri v ing is
o n e o f four white horses gi v en to him by the Emperor of
Aust ria wi th which he trave rses the distance b etween Ber
lin and Potsdam a goo d four miles i n sixteen minutes
I n fact W illiam insists on being driven at an absolutely
killing pace and while the Trakenen horses possess more
staying powers than those procured elsewhere the car
ri age horses seldom are retained for his perso nal use after
’
three years work
I t is hardly necessary to say that the
emperor takes his own horses about with him eve ry
where no matter whether it b e t o W inds o r o r St Peters
burg while i n his ow
n dominions he takes his ca rriages
about wi th him as well an entire special train being fre
quently devoted to the transport o f his travelling stable
O ne o f the reasons why the emperor i ns ists upon alwa ys
n horses
using his ow
is that he knows tha t they ar e
trained to eve ry kind of noise A by no means i n consi der
’
able part of the educatio n of the ho rses for the emperor s
p ersonal use i s taken up wi th accustoming them to sights
and noises which they must expect to meet w
i th when his
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AND FRAN CI S J O SEPH
-
39
maj esty is o n their backs as for instance the roll o f
drums the crowded noisy streets the deafening cries
the waving o f handkerchiefs and the throwing o f flowe rs
the music o f bands the crack o f musketry and the roar
Until they can stand all thi s without flinch
o f artillery
ing they are not considered as quali fi ed fo r service
The empress at the time of her marriage hardly knew
how to ride But since then she has acquired this d ifli c ult
art and now not only rides exceedingly well but also
supervises the l essons o f her children i n horsemanship
Hardly a day passes wi thout her being i n the saddle , for
she takes her rides i n the riding school in the event o f the
weather being unfavorable
The ca rriages used by the
emperor and empress have the lower portion painted i n
blue with white lines , whereas all the other cou rt carriages
have thei rbodies painted red with black lines
On state
occasions the empress d rives in a carriage drawn by six
coal black ho rses preceded by outriders while her master
o f the hors e , i n a scarlet coat embroidered with gold
white kn e e breeches top boots a sword and a cocked hat ,
rides at the carriage wheel
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C HA P T E R
XI X
Although the laws of etiquette hierarchy , and those
concerning ancestry are popularl y supposed to govern all
things at the Courts of Vienna and Berlin yet they carry
no weight whatever where the political o r military i n
Emperor
t ere st s o f the two emperors are concern ed
W illiam certainly ignored all rules on the subj ect Of hier
archy when he selected for the post o f minister o f foreign
a ffairs for the entire German empire a young man whose
two principal titles to fame are , that he plays the piano
excellently and that while secretary o f embassy he eloped
with the wi fe o f his ambassador who being still in the
service i s now subse rvi ent to his commands N or had the
kaiser any regard for the obligations o f etiquette and social
usage when he selected so sworn a foe to all convention
ali t i es as General Count H aseler fo r the highest mili ta ry
dignity of th e empire
Emperor Francis Joseph also
assuredly closed his eyes to the requi rements of blue blood
and ancestry when he appointed as minister o f the i mpe rial
household and of foreign a ffairs i n a word to the vi rtual
cha ncellorship of the dual empire a man whose nobility
is of the most questionabl e and mushroom character while
his Wi fe is a daughter o f that house o f Murat which was
founded at the beginning of the present century by the
stable lad who became during the reign o f Napoleon I
Ki ng of Naples this terribly plebeian strain o f common
blood being to some extent imp r oved by the mar riage o f
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WILLI A M
42
11
his son with a Philadelphia girl a Miss Fraz er who ocen
pi ed the position o f governess i n the household o f ex Ki ng
Joseph Bonapa rte at Bordentown N ew Jersey
I n order to realize the enormity o f the action i n the
eyes o f the Austri an and Hungarian aristocracy p e t p e
t rat ed by F rancis Joseph when he appointed Count Golou
wski as minister and controller o f the imperial cou rt
chO
i t must be borne in mind that , as such the count is charged
with the execution o f the family statutes o f that house
which govern the conduct o f all i ts members that he has
charge o f all the family archives ; is entrusted with the
many deep and terrible secrets of th e Hapsburgs includ
i ng those pertaining to the succession o f which more
anon and last but not least is called upon t o pass j udg
ment upon the genealogical quali fi cations the social ante
cedents etc o f those members of the Aus trian and Hun
garian aristocracy who demand admission at court
I n fact he is b y vi rtue of his o ffi ce the marshal and
supreme head o f the Austro Hunga rian nobili ty and the
arbiter o f all its disputes and controversi es
And yet the
count can hardly be described as an Austrian for h e i s so
’
far o f Polish origin that his father s brother the late
Count Arthur G olo u ch Ow
ski
was o ne o f the principal
leaders of the Polish insurrection against Prussia and the
minister o f war o f the short lived revolutionary government
o f that country i n spite of which fact even the Poles them
selves do not hold him i n very high regard and question
the puri ty o f his blue bl ood ; for P oles are great stickl ers
o n the subj ect o f genealogy and an cestral qualifications
The count is known i n Vienna to day as formerly i n
Pa ris where he was stationed as secretary o f embassy by
”
the nickname o f Golou
and has by his charming and
genial manners and above all , b y his hospitalit y , done
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her husband
She is very fond o f ente rtaining and under
her reign the erstwhile gloomy Old wing o f the imperial
palace o n the B allpat z at Vi enna which is the O ffi cial resi
dence of the minist e r o f the imperial house has become a
social centre and the scene o f the most brilliant festiviti es
ski s are very rich
Fortunately the G olou ch Ow
poss essing
immense estates i n Galicia The countess i s o ne of the
four o r five ladies in whose cases genealogical and ancestral
requirem e nts have been waived in connection wi th thei r
p resentation at court
N otwi thstanding that American blood flows i n the veins
o f the countess whose grandfather Prince L uci en Murat
married Miss Frazer of Philadelphia as I recorded above ,
she as well as th e count is prejudiced against Americans
and whil e the countess gives expression to her sentiments
’
in society and at court the count s feelings about the mat
ter find expression i n connection wi th the foreign policy o f
the dual empire
D uring the recent war between Spai n
and the United States he was the pri ncipal leader and
originator of the mo v ement in favor of a European coali
tion against the A m e rican Republic Anothe r demonstra
tion of this ill will towards the United States w
as made
when both Count and Countess G olo uch Ow
ski practically
forced the father o f the countess the then widowed Prince
Joachi m Murat to break o ff his engagement to Miss Gwen
doline Caldwell of Washington within a few days only of
th e date appointed for the wedding and after the trousseau
had been purchased by the bri de
I t was understood at the
tim e that so anxious was the count to p revent the match
that by way o f inducing his father i n law to comply wi th
his wi shes in the matter he settled upon him an annuity of
ten thousand dollars that being precisely the sum which
Miss Caldwell by the terms o f the marriage contract had
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
45
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assigned to her future husband
The count e nte rtained no
personal obj ection to Miss Caldwell but was only p rej u
dic e d against her o n the scor e o f her nati onality ; and
i n settling the allowance abo v e m enti on e d on the prince
he sti pulated that i ts continuance should be condi tional
’
upon the prince s steering clear of Ameri can bel l es and i t
is noteworthy that he o ffered no Obj ection whatsoe v er to the
’
o ld gentleman s marriage a year later to the widow of a
wea l thy Parisian banker
’
Count G olo u ch Ow
ski s colleague and inti m ate friend at
Berlin t h e G erman minist e r o f foreign a ffai rs Count Her
man von B u low is likewise m arri ed to a foreigner the
countess being the wife o f his for m er chi e f Count DOn h o ff
Germ an minister at D resden B u low hav ing married h e r
i mm ediately after she had been di v orced by her first hus
band
L ike G olou ch Ow
ski von B ulow is passionat e ly fond
o f m usic and i t is largely owi ng to his tastes i n this d i re c
ti on that he enj oys his p resent e minence and t h e v e ry high
place which he holds i n the fa v or of Emperor W i l lia m
Ent e ring the diplomatic service when still i n his te e ns he
was attached i n the course o f time as secretary to t h e lega
tion o f Count Domho ff at D resd e n The envoy a man so
celebrated for his good looks that he was known fro m o ne
’
end of Europe to the other as Handsome DOnh o ff had
i n the eyes o f his wife two notable and unpardonable d e
fec t s
I n the first place he was absolutely unemoti onal
and what was still worse he had abso l ut e ly no e ar or taste
fo r music
The countess is per fectly crazy o v e r music and
is never so happy as when at her piano which sh e p l ays
with a talent almost unique a m ong am at e urs
Her hus
’
’
band s dislike o f this art an d his secr e tary s lo v e for i t
’
naturally had the e fl e c t o f drawing the ambassador s wi fe
and young von Bulow towards each other Every moment
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WILLIAM
46
11
that the secreta ry could spare from his o ffi cial duti es he
spent at the piano with the l ovely little black eyed black
haired wife o f his chi e f ; and when finally t h e minister
beco m ing annoyed by the gossip to which the association
between the two had gi v en rise wrote to Berlin to request
’
t h e young man s transfer to some other post t h e ambassa
’
dor s wife and the s e cretary made up their minds that the
ti m e had come to take the very decisive step o f eloping
I t is di ffi cu l t to describe the sensation whi ch the a ffai r
’
cr eated at t h e time and for two o r thr ee years Bulow s
name continued to be e xecrated not merely by full fl e dged
en v oys but also by all the members o f their staff ; fo r am
b assadors are in nin e cases o u t of ten elderly and from a
feminine point Of view uninteresting whereas secretaries
and attach es are— well quite the contrary ! The na tural
’
result o f B u low s escapade was that every plenipotentiary
was fil l ed with alarm le st any m embers o f his sta ff should
b e co m e imbu ed with a notion to follow the exa m p l e of this
”
diplo m atic D on Juan and i n consequence thereo f sub
j e c t ed s e cr e taries and attach é s to a degree o f watch fuln e ss
and espionag e which was as disagreeabl e to the young men
as i t was distressing to the wives of the ambassado rs
O f course Von B u low was i mmediately dismissed from
the diplomatic servic e and remained in strict retire ment
until the divorce sui t instituted by Count DOnh o ff against
his wife had be e n brought to a conclusion whereupon he
at once proceeded to marry the lov e ly di v o rc ee
I n ordinary cases an advent u re of this kind followed by
such a marriage would have proved the rui n of any diplo
matic or administrati v e career Even in Russia where the
code o f morality is infinitely less strict than in Germany or
Austria Prince Lo ban o ff w
as forced to qui t both diplomacy
and the service o f the state and to remain i n reti rement
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AND FRA N CI S J O S EP H
47
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than fifteen years i n consequence o f his having
while ambassador of the czar at Constantinop l e eloped
with the wife Of a secretary of the Belgian l egation sub se
qu ently adding inj ury to indignity by badly wounding the
deserted husband in a duel
I f then an ambassador was
thus severely punished for eloping with the wi fe o f a mere
secretary i t was naturally taken fo r granted that no penalty
could b e too severe i n the cas e o f a secretary who had run
away wi th the wi fe of his ambassa dor
There were two thi ngs however which militated in
favor o f young B u low
I n the first place old Pri nce Bis
’
marck s eldest son Herbert also selected j ust that par
t i c ular period for assuming the rOle o f D on Juan i n an even
still more sensational el opement the companion of his
flight being b y bi rth a member o f the illustrious house of
Hat z feld t married to Prince Carol a th the mother o f
several young children and one o f the most brilliant and
admired beauties of the Court of Berlin
Herbert Bis
marck it is true subsequently deserted Princess Carol a th
at Ven i ce , i n obedience to the peremptory orders of his
father and declined to marry her after she had been di
I ndeed the unfortunate pri ncess
v o rce d by her husband
has ever since been dependent upon the cha rity of he r rela
t i v es Prince H erbert Bismarck having made no provision
whatsoever for her welfare either at the time when he de
sert ed her o r since
The ol d chancellor realized that he
could not ve ry well show indulgence to his own son unless
he extended the same forbearance to the son o f his secre
ta ry of state Baron B ii low and with more reason as the
young fellow had certainly behaved i n a more chivalrous
and correct manner than Herbert
But there was still another consideration which weighed
in favor of y oung B Li low The lad y with whom h e had
fo r more
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WILLIAM II
48
eloped happ ened to be the step daughter o f t h e statesman
who at the ti m e controll e d as premi e r and foreign mi n
’
ist e r the d e stinies of I taly
For Madame von B iilows
moth e r o n the d eath in an i nsane asylum o f her first hus
band Prince Camporeale D uke o f A ldragana b e came t h e
wi fe of Signor Mi ngh e t t i on whom rests the responsibi l ity
o f causing his country to become a partner in the Triple
Al l iance
At the moment when Germany was us ing every
possibl e d e vice to induce I taly to j oin the al l iance i n
question o ld Prince Bis marck could not a ff ord to o ffe nd
t h e I talian premier Mi ngh ett i by setting his face against
’
t h e latt e r s step daughter
o r by manifesting excessive
seve rity towards young B u low for abducting and marrying
her ; Min gh e t t i being as fond o f the li ttl e princess as if she
’
had b e en his o w
n child
So after a few months interval
to the amaz ement of everyone Pri nce Bismarck suddenly
appointed v o n B u low to the post of secretary of embassy at
St Petersburg the head of the German missi on at the
ti m e being that General Schweidnitz who married the
daughter of the late John Jay of N ew York
I t was her
fondness fo r mus ic and her enti re sympathy i n that par
t i c u lar that induced the now widowed czari na to overlook
the escapade o f Baroness B u low and not mere l y to receive
her at court but likewise to admi t her to her intimacy
I ndeed the empress mother while beyond reproach her
self has always been disposed to charity towards less for
t u nat e and more lightsome members o f her sex ; and the
fact that o ld Princess Ko tch oub ey i n her younger da ys
played the leading rOle in not on e but several afi az res
’
a e (afa r some of which took th e form Of a trip to foreign
countri es was never allowed to i nterfere with her con
t i n uan c e i n the o ffi ce of gran d mistress o f the robes
and o f the household to her maj esty
Baron von B u low
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AND F R AN CI S J O SEPH
49
’
did so well as charge d a ffai res at St Pete rsburg during
as soon promoted t o the
the absence o f his chief that he w
post o f mi nister plenipotentiary at Bucha rest and shortly
after the accession o f the present emperor to the throne
was transferred at the personal request o f Ki ng H umbe rt
and Queen Marguerite to Rome as German ambassador
’
Madame von B iil ows mother th e now widowed D onna
Laura Mi ngh etti being o ne of the most intimate and
influential friends of Queen Margue ri te
At R ome B u low proved even a greater success than at
Bucharest o r St Petersburg and du ring his tenure o f the
embassy German i nfluence become stronger at the Qui ri nal
than ever ; a circumstance with which the fact t hat the
ambassadress spent the greater portion of the day i n
p laying duets with the queen was by no means u nco n
n ect e d
O n the retirement o f Baron Ma rschall from the
post o f minister o f foreign a ffairs at Berlin after the
’
crimi nal proceedings against the emperor s pe rsonal com
missary o f police Colonel Tausch in which he Marschall
fi gur ed as prosecutor
young Baron von B ii low was
chosen to succeed him and has done so well as controller
’
o f Germany s foreign relations that the kaiser has c o n
ferred upon him the title and rank of count besides man y
other tokens o f favor The countess has nowbecome as
great a favorite o f Empress Augusta Victo ria as sh e had
been o f the widowed cza ri na and Queen Marguerite plays
a prominent part i n all the musi cal evenings of the i m
perial couple and has completely outlived at any rate i n
the minds o f their majesties , the memo ry of her elopement
and sensational divorce
I t i s to be hoped that the phenomenal brilliancy Of the
career o f Count von B ii lo w whose successes may be said
to date from the time of his elopement with the wife o f his
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5
WILLI AM
0
II
chi ef at D resden will not furnish any i nducement to other
y oung diplomats to follow his exampl e At any rate i f
they do venture u p on such an escapade i t will be well for
them to bear i n mind that i t can only contribute to thei r
advancement i n the event o f the lady i n the case being
the daughter o r step daughter of the p r emie r or l eading
statesman of some foreign power
W hile both Coun t G olou chOw
ski and Count B ii lowa r e
r emarkably good looking men and to use a French ex
p ression élégant cavalz ers i t is impossible to say as much
for General Count von Haeseler the most important mili
tary p ersonage i n the Ge rman empire next to the kaiser
himself This old warrior has nothing of the t rim well
groomed and natt y appearance of a German offi cer about
him
I ndeed no man dresses wo rse
His uni forms
always ill fi tt i ng and betraying traces of long wear seem
to hang around him rather than to fi t his figure and i n
fact give him the aspect of an antiquated specimen of the
Gamp speci es
He disdains all the artifi ces o f the toilet
lives on the coarsest kind of food and seems to grudge
every moment that he wastes either at the table o r i n bed
He drinks nothing but water has a heart that is utterl y
insensibl e to the charms of the fai r sex and is twisted and
warp ed in shape
This is owing to the fact tha t he was
dangerously wounded i n the war o f 1 8 7 0 at the battle o f
St Privat where he lost two ribs
He has ever since
been obliged to wear a sort of silver brace or corset in the
sam e way that General Marquis de Gallifet wears a silver
covering upon that part o f his abdomen that was shot away
during the Mexican war
He has no ear whatever for
music and o n on e memorabl e occasion i n the presence
o f the emp eror made the remar k that i t was only calc u
lated to “ pleas e imbeciles
The kaise r, who had j ust
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visits to the quarters o f his o ffi ce rs i n bar racks and goes
nosing about their rooms until h e had discovered some
vestige o f feminine raiment resulting o f course in the
reprimand and arrest of the young epauletted L othari o
O ne day while walking through the streets o f Metz he
met an i nfantryman in full uniform who serv i ng as orderly
’
to a maj or was escorting his master s little girl to school
leading her by o n e hand and carrying her school books
and h er lunch basket with the other
The general immediately s talked up to hi m
’
”
D on t you know my orders 1 he exclaimed
I will
’
not allow soldiers i n uniform to act as children s nurses ;
re t urn home at once and ask your master to send a mai d
”
to look after this littl e girl
Much dismayed the soldie r stamme red
“
Z u bef all !(very well ) your excellency A ber di e Tru de
’
kamz n z c/zt a llez n auf der s trass e é lez éen
(But Gert y can t
remain alone i n the street )
’
”
That s all right l repli ed the gene ral
I will take
”
care o f her
And taking th e child by o n e hand and her
lunch basket and her school books i n the other the general
remai ned standing there o n the curbstone of the principal
and most crowded thoroughfare in the ci ty fo r fully fifteen
minutes until relieved o f his responsibilit y b y the arrival
o f the nu rsemaid
’
O n another occasion fi nding at five o clock i n the
morning that the men were providing themselves at the
canteen with provisions for t he day which was to b e de
voted to man oeuvres he followed their example and asked
to be se rved just in the same way as they were wi th ten
’
’
pennies worth of cheese and ten p ennies worth Of sausage
These he put i n his pocket and coolly marched away
Afte rwards when the regiment from whose canteen he
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A ND FRA N C I S J O S EP H
53
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had
made this purchase was drawn up i n line for i nsp e c
tion p revious to repairing to the field Of man oeuvres he
strode up to the front rank and pulling o u t his bits o f
sausage and cheese from his pocket held them up for i n
sp e c t i o n and exclaimed
N u n ki nder (children ) I paid ten penni es for each o f
these things
I want to know i f they give you at the can
teen the same amount of victuals for the same amount of
”
money
Show me what you ha ve
I mmediately hundreds of p ieces of sausage and o f cheese
made their appearance and were held aloft and com
pa rison having been made the general discovered that he
had got just twice the quanti ty for his money that had
been given to his soldi ers The result was that the ser
geant s i n charge of the canteen were reduced to the ranks
by way o f punishment and that a general order was issued
by the old count to the e ffect that any such dishonesty
towards the soldiers would entail the most severe punish
ment whil e the quantit y o f cheese and sa u sage for twenty
pennies was fixed at that whi ch the general himself had
purchased for that sum
I nnumerable are the sto ri es of this kind that are current
about the general who although past sevent y years of
age , is on horseback all day long inspecting drilling
planning and executing di ffi cul t and arduous man oeuvres
with the troops
The anecdotes serve however to show
why the general in spite o f his lack of conventionality
and his disregard for the most elementary for m s o f social
and court etiquette is regarded with so much a ffection
esteem and above all confidence not only by the rank
and file of the great German army but also and especi
all y b y his sovereign Emperor W illiam
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C HA PT E R
XX
s ki i n
O f all the state secrets o f which Count G olou ch Ow
his capacit y of minister o f the imperial hous e of Austria is
the keeper there are none more weighty than those i n
connection with the succession to the throne
W ith
regard to the throne o f Hungary the succession i s asserted
”
“
to b e regulated by the so called Pragmatic Sanction
which was published as far back as the reign o f Emperor
Charles V I but the authenticity of which is denied b y
many o f the l eading statesmen o f the Magyar Kingdom
W ith regard to the succession to the throne o f Austria
nothing is known positively about the matter for i t is regu
lated and governed exclusively by what are known as the
family statutes o f the imperial house o f Hapsburg These
have from time i mmemorial been kept a profound secret
the successive ministers of the imperial house who are at
the same time th e chancellors o f the empire bei ng bound
by a most stringent oath not to divulge the tenor of these
secret laws to any living soul
W hat is known o f them is
m erely through inference and through a study o f history
There is no positive o r definite information about the mat
ter and the p eople have no voice whatsoever in the ques
tion
As far as the Pragmatic Sanction is concerned a v e ry
serious doubt prevails as to its existence
Public attention
was first drawn to this extraordinary state o f affairs by old
L ouis Kossuth dictator and president o f the short li v ed
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W ILLIAM II
56
Hungarian Republic who when a deputation o f his coun
t rym e n called upon him to o fl e r congratulations o n the
occa sion o f his ninetieth birthday urged that the Magyar
Parliament should insist upon either the original o r else a
duly authenti cated copy o f the Pragmatic Sanction bei ng
deposited i n the Hungarian state archives at Pesth
He
added that he had r e ceived in w ri ting a positive assurance
fro m the celebrated Aus t rian historian H ormayr to the
e ffect that the instrument was a forgery in so far as the
Hungarian si gnatures were concerned
As the succession
to the Hungarian throne is regulated by the Pragm atic
Sanction this decl aration on the part o f o ld Kossuth
subsequently confirmed by interviews wi th the historian
H o rma yr created so great a sensation that the matter was
brought up for publi c discussi on i n the national legislature
at P e sth
Questions were addressed to the government
which i n turn applied for i nformation to Vi enna
Ultimately the Hungarian Gov e rnment anno unced i n
parliament tha t its attempts to secure an opportuni ty o f
i nspecting the origi nal documents of the Prag matic Sanc
tion had met wi th fai lure owi ng to the fact that according
to the assertions of the m i nister o f the imperial house at
Vienna the documents i n qu e stion had disapp e ared from
the imperial archi v es at Vi enna and could not b e found
I t may be as w e ll to mention o f what the instrument
consists
I n the b e ginning of the last century the male
lin e Of the imperial house of Hapsburg was threatened
wi th e xtinction a fter having for more than four hundred
years held sway o v e r most o f the terri tory constituting the
German m onarchy
Emp eror Charles V I the last de
sc e n da
n t i n t h e male line di rect o f the house of Hapsburg
so m e ti m e afte r his accession to the throne caused a treaty
to be concluded between the Austri an and Hungarian
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F RA NCIS JOSE PH
AND
57
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moieties o f his dominions providing not on l y fo r th e i r per
but
likewise
for
the
successi
on
to
the
Hun
t
ual union
e
p
garian crown
Until that ti me the Hungarian succ e ssion
had been governed by th e laws of primogeni ture women
being capable of i nheriting supreme power
Charl e s kn e w
full well that accordi ng to this rule his daughter Maria
Theresa would i n defaul t of male issue immediately
become Queen o f Hungary upon his death
H e fe ared
however that obstacles would be raised to her becomi ng
E mpress o f Germany that is to say ruler of the Au strian
and German portions of his dominions
That is why he
caused i t to be stipulated i n this convention known as the
Pragmatic Sanction that Austria and Hungary should always
be united and that they should always be ruled by o n e and
the same sovereign
O n the death of Charles V I his daughter Maria
Theresa became at once Queen Regent of Hungary and
o n the strength of this Pragmatic Sanction l ai d immediate
claim to the crown o f Empress of Austria and Germany a
pretension which was denied by a number of German
sovereigns i ncluding the Elector of Bavaria
I ndeed i t
was not until after many sanguinary wars that she ulti
mately secured a speci e s of compro m ise by means of which
h e r husband D uke C harles of Lo rraine was elected and re
cognized as Emperor of Germany and Austria
N ow i f the Pragmatic Sanction is ei ther a m yth or a
forgery so far as i ts Hungarian signers are concerned in a
word if it cannot be relied upon as a f on d /51 1 5 docu m ent
and agre e m ent questions wou l d arise with regard to the
succ e ssion to the Hun garian crown o n the death o f the
p resent e m peror
For whereas his nephew Archduke
Francis has already been proclaimed at Vi enna as his
successor his rights to the Hungarian throne would ,
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WILLIAM
58
11
failing the P ragmatic Sanction be subordinate to thos e of
the sixteen year Old Archduchess E lizabeth the only child
I f the instrument
o f the ill fated Crown Prince Rudolph
is a myth then Archduchess Elizabeth would become Queen
o f Hungary on the death o f her grandfather the present
emperor and inasmuch as she could not succeed to the
throne of Austria i n vi ew o f the p roclamation nominating
F rancis Ferdinand as heir a dynastic separation between
Hungary and Austria would most likely take place an
eventuality that is desired above every thing by a vast p or
ti on o f the people o f Hungary
I f the Pragmatic Sancti on on the other hand is in
actual existence and a f or m/fa? document then the rights
n o f Hunga ry
o f little Archduchess E lizabeth to the cro w
will give way to those of the archduke who will become
King of Hungary b y reason o f the fact that he has suc
c e e d e d to the throne o f Austria
I t is in vi ew o f such questions as these being raised by
those states m en and politicians in Hungary who are i n favor
o f a dynastic separation from Austria t hat the emp eror is
anxious to marry o ff his grand daughter as soo n as p ossible
and i t is by no means improbable that she may be wedded
i n spite o f her youth before this boo k has been many
weeks i n the hands of the p ublic
Her marriage would go very far towards ave rting an y
such dangers as these to the Hapsburg dynasty for accord
ing to an old custom and tradition which has prevailed for
centuries at Vi enna each archduchess of the house o f Aus
t ria o n the day previous to her wedding sol emnl y re
n ou nc e s in the presence of the enti re court her rights o f
succession to the t h rone ; the idea originally having been
that ladi es o f the i mperial house should be content to sha re
the rank o f their husbands and to subordi nate any rights
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WILL I AM
6o
11
even the archdukes and archduchesses are aware o f
the extent o r the nature and character of these family stat
utes of the house o f Hapsburg which partake both i n
thei r secrecy and thei r rigor of the nature of those law
s
that govern secret societies in the United States and i n the
O rient I t was by virtue of these mysteri ous statutes t hat
t h e e m peror deprived his kinsman
Archduke John of
his imp e rial titles and prerogatives and reduced him from
t h e status o f a p ri nce of the blood to a mere commoner
“
John O rth
To this day no one even
o f the na m e o f
at the Court of Austria knows definitely the true reas on
which led to this unp recedented act o f severity on the
part of Francis Joseph
All sorts o f stories have been
circulat e d about the matter
N ot o ne o f them however,
is based on anything but infe rence o r mere sp eculati on
According to one o f them the archduke who was without
exception the most brilliant member o f the entire Haps
burg family was sudd e nly cut adrift by the emperor who
commanded him to quit the country take an ordinary
pl e beian nam e and disappear
I t has been asserted that this a m azing step w
as taken by
’
t h e e m peror in consequence o f the archduke s marriage to
a w e ll known Vi enn e se actress
But this is ridiculous
For i n the fi rst place he married the lady i n question
whos e na m e was Marguerite Stubel in London several weeks
after h e had quitted his native land and abandoned his rank
whi l e i t need only b e pointed o u t that numbers of other arch
dukes ha v e married actr e ss e s without b e ing subj ected to any
loss of rank and titles Archduke Henry for instance who
married the actress Leopoldine Ho ff man did so i n flagrant
’
d e fiance o f the emperor s peremptory orders The emperor
had forbidden the marriage consequently no pri est in the
Austro Hungarian Empire could be found to celebrate it
No t
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A ND FRAN C I S J O S E PH
61
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I n order to overcome this di ffi culty Archduke Henry
adopted the followi ng expedient
H e i nvi ted the parish
p ri est to a dinner at his castle at whi ch the actre ss was
p resent At the middle of the repast the archduke sud
d e nly rose from his place as i f about to propose a toast ;
but i nstead he pointed to the actress and addressing the
priest exclaimed slowly and solemnly
Re v erend Father
”
this is my wi fe
The moment he had said this Miss
Ho ffman rose in her turn and pointing to the archduke re
”
marked
This is my husband
According to ci v il and
religious law i n Austria these words spoken before a pri est
rendered the marriage o f the pair valid and sacramentally
conc l uded i t
The emperor was at first extremely indignant and ban
i sh e d the couple from the empire but before Archduke
Henry died the emperor became entire ly reconciled to
them and has been exceedingly kind to their only dau gh
ter now Princess o f Campo Franco whose story I p ro
p ose to relate wi th more detail i n a chapter devoted to
the morganatic relatives o f the reigning houses o f Austria
and Germany
I have mentioned the cas e o f Archduke John here to show
h o wte r ribly drastic are the mysterious family statutes o f the
house of Hapsburg which give the reigning sovereign an
absolute and autocratic power over all the members thereo f
There is n o such secrecy about the statutes that go v ern
the reigning house o f Prussia nor i n connection wi th the
succession to the throne Salic law go v e rns t h e occupancy
o f the throne o f Prussia and wom e n are strictly barred
not merely from the succession but even from the regency
This is the more to b e regretted since many o f the prin
cesses o f the house o f Hohenzollern have been remarkable
women , possessed o f much intellect and statecraft
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WI LLIAM II
62
Queen L ouise of P russia her daughter i n law Queen
Adelaide Empress Augusta the late Queen o f Bavaria the
reigning Grand D uchess of Baden and Empress Frede rick
have all been women who have left their impress upon the
nineteenth century whose names are ensh rined i n the
pages o f history and whose i nfluence for the welfare of
their country was limited only by the restricti ons of th e
Prussian constitution and there i s every reason to believe
that the present Empress Augusta Victo ria would prov e
to be a safer regent duri ng any illness of her husband than
any P russian p ri nce now living
W ith regard to the di gnity of German emperor , i t is
not as so many suppose an elective offi ce bu t i s i nali en
able from the Prussian crown according to the terms o f
the treaties made by P rince Bismarck wi th the non
P russian sovereigns of German y concluded at Ve rsaill es
T he title of Germ an emperor will always b e held i n con
junction with that of king of Prussia and the two ar e
hereafter i nseparable
Shoul d i t ever become nece ssary to establish a regenc y
for the kingdom of Prussia the Prussian regen t would b y
vir t ue o f the conventions vesting the dignity o f German
emperor in the hands of the ruler of P russia be call ed upon
to fulfil the duties o f kaiser no matter how i nferior his real
rank might be to those of the kings of Bavar ia, W iirt em
berg and Sax on y
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C H A PT E R XXI
man y count ri es the peopl e look fo rward to the close
o f a reign as likely to prove the i naugurati on of a happier
era and prefer the rising sun to the setting o ne but i n
Aust ria and Hungary the contrary is the case
I ndeed
there is probably no nati on or aggregation o f races i n the
world that o ffers up such fervent prayers for the preserva
tion o f th e li fe o f the rei gn i ng sovereign as do Austrians
H un garians Bohemians and in fact the members o f all
those sixteen or more nationalities subj ect to the rul e of
Francis Joseph for he has had littl e or no share i n the
education o r training o f his two nephews next in line o f
’
succession to his dual crown
O n th e other hand Prussia s
y oung crown p ri nce has been brought up under the very
eye of his father who has labored unceasingly and from
motives o f tender affection for his son and love fo r his
people to equip the lad i n every conceivable manner fo r
the fulfilment of his multifarious duti es as an enlightened
progressive j ust and conscientious monarch
True Francis Joseph devoted quite as much care to the
bringing up o f his only boy the late Crown Prince R u
dolph
who had he lived might hav e developed into
o ne of the most successful of modern rulers — as W illiam
has given to his eldest boy
The dead Crown Prince Of
Austria was of a singularly lovable character and so p opu
’
lar among his father s subj ects that even to this day one
”—
“
never hears the name of Unser Rudi ,
as he is lov
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63
WILLIAM II
64
i ngly
termed
pronounced by any Austrian or Hungarian
without noticing a certai n unconsci ous softening in the
tone o f the voi ce i ndicating the profound aff ection i n
which this ill fated youth was held
Ce rtainly h e had re
cei v e d a magnific e nt training for the e m perorship that
appeared to be his destiny H e was warm hearted sunny
temp e re d i ntellectual and chi valrous to an extent that
rendered hi m particularly fascina ting
He had but o ne
fault an heredi ta ry o n e nam e ly the Hapsburg sus c e p t i
And even this slight defect might
b i li t y to the fai r sex
hav e been r e deem e d and removed had he been happily
marri ed or found i n his ho m e li fe t h e congenial com
pani onshi p and sympathy of tastes mind and heart which
he was ulti mately d riven to seek elsewhere I n fact there
is no prince that I can recall who has been the subj ect o f
so much misapprehension and misconstructi on abroad
Fo rtunately his o w
n countrymen understood him
and
that is why his memory is still enshrined i n thei r hea rts
and his untimely end lamented not only o n his o w
n ac
count but also fo r the sake of the entire Austro Hungarian
peopl e
’
’
Through Rudolph s death his father s next brother
Archduke Charl es Louis became h ei r apparent and now
that Charl e s Louis has in his turn been lai d to his last r e st
in the vault o f the Capuchin church at Vi enna his two
sons stand before the Austro Hungarian people as destined
i n course o f ti m e to rule over them
N either ca n be said to ha v e been educated wi th a view
to this ev e ntuali ty ; and i nstead o f having been brought
up unde r the e ye of their imperial uncle o n e of the most
pati ent sagacious and enlightened o f m onarchs whos e
Hapsburg prej udices ha v e been modified by the experi ences
o f a reign o f more than fifty years they ha v e been reared
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
65
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according to the views o f thei r father Wh o was renow
ned
from one end of Europe to the other as the most bigoted
narrow minded and reacti onary o f modern p ri nces a man ,
i n fact whose intellectual ideas politi cal v iews and re
ligi ous prej udices were n o t those o f the present age but of
the last century
Both archdukes are i mbued thanks to
their training wi th a hol y horror o f everything pertaining
to democracy o r popular forms of government
They ex
p e ri e n ce di ffi culty i n distinguishi ng socialism from labor
and anarchy from socialism and are firmly attached like
th e i r forb e ars to those ol d feudal notions according to
which mankind ceased t Ome ri t considerati on as such at the
rank of baron
I n coupling the names o f these two archdukes I do
so because the elder o f th e brothe rs namely Francis
manifests the utmost reluctance to wed any woman o f his
n rank whereas his younger brother O tto has a singu
ow
larly cha rming wife and a large family o f children ; it
therefore looks as i f the succession o f the younger brother
to the throne sooner o r later were assured ; indeed the
emperor seriously alarmed by the lack o f modernity and
is endeavoring
o f breadth o f view i n his two nephews
to repair the harm as far as possible by himsel f retai ning
th e supreme direction o f the education o f the sons o f Arch
duke O tto wi th a vi ew to fi tting the eldest o f the lads for
the duties o f Austrian Emperor and King of Hungary
I n spite o f the similari ty o f prej udices and i deas regard
i ng statecraft religi on social caste and constitutional
rights the two archdukes nam e d above are v er y di fferent
from each other W hile the elder is o n the whole a
good man — perhaps a little too bigot e d and reacti onary
his brother O tto is the blackest o f black sheep o f the house
o f Hapsburg and as such an obj ect o f co nsiderable seve r
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WI LLI AM I I
66
i ty and even of dislike on the part of his uncle the e m
There
is
much
that
is
attractive
about
Archduke
ro r
e
p
Francis
There is nothing excepting his app earance
that is not repellent in Ar chduke O tto and the estimation
i n which he is held by his fellow co untrymen may be
gathered from the fact that when o n o ne o caasi on he
showed at a Vienna art exhibition a painting representing
the lair of a wild boar and its family the j oke of the hour
’
’
was to ask one s fri ends i f they had seen O tto s L etz te
’
—
O
tto
s
last
piece
o f hoggishness )
S cfz w
ez nerez
(
I t is particularly unfortunate that many o f the misd oings
o f O tto should have been unjustly ascribed to his brother
Francis who has thank s to this beco m e endowed par
t i cu larly abr oad wi th an unsavory reputation which h e i n
no wa y deserves
Much i ndeed that is unj ust and untrue
has been written about him by people not persona lly ao
quai nt e d wi th him for he is of a shy and rather retiring di s
position and does not make friends easily ; but he is very far
from being the fool that h e has been portrayed
I n the
first place he is an engineer by profession has secured a
diploma as such and enjoys nothing so much as d riving the
locomotive o f an express train He is an expe rt i n machin
‘
ery and o f an inventive turn of mind sufli c i ently so i n
deed to have earned a handsome competence if no t a for
tune had he not been i n his own right one of the wealth
i est princes of the O ld W orld Besides thi s he has wri tten
o n e or two graceful monographs notably o n e o n the cele
b rat e d Field Marshal Radetzky which attracted much
notice by reason of the high souled patri otism apparent i n
every line o f the essay and he has also published two
volumes of extremely pretty Al pine poetry
L ike most o f his countrymen he is devoted to music
and is something o f a composer having put upon paper fo r
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W ILLI AM
68
11
True she did not go to the length of making a personal
atta ck upon the count e ss herself but she did t h e next best
thing fo r she horsewhipped the brother o f the countess i n
the Prater one morning on the pretext that he had spoken
slightingly about her and especially of h e r so called de
serti on by Archduke Francis
Countess Sophia Ch o t ek is the daughter o f the count o f
that name who was formerly Austrian envoy to the Cou rt
o f D resden and although now thirty o ne she retains the
most ingenuous expression and a peculiarly sunny child
like style o f blond beauty
She was for several years
governess to the children o f Archduke and Archduchess
Frede ri ck but was dismissed by the archduchess some two
y ears ago in consequence o f the associati on o f her name
with that of Archduke Francis
I t is sai d that Francis is anxious to marry her with the
chivalrous intention o f repairing as far as possib l e the
inj ury which she has su fl e re d through the association o f
her name with his o w
n
There are many obstacles i n the
way o f this however ; it is di ffi cu l t to see how he could
possibly wed her without previously renouncing all his
ri ghts o f succession to the throne
I t is p erfectly true
that he could marry her morganatica lly were the Austrian
succession alone concerned ; for there is no obstacle to a
sovereign hav ing a morganatic wife in countri es where mor
ganat i c mar riages are recognized by law and the church as
i n Germany and Austria Frederick W illiam II and Fred
erick W illiam III of Prussia each had morganatic wives
The left handed consort o f the latter Prussian ki ng was by
birth a Countess Harrach who was created at the time of
her marriage P rincess of L i egnitz and w
ho died i n the
early part Of 1 8 7 0 treated to the las t wi th the utmost v en
e rat i on and regard by her step son old Emperor W illiam
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A ND F RAN CI S J O SE P H
69
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The now reigning D uke o f Saxe Meiningen has a mor
n
at i c wi fe i n the person o f an actr e ss whom he created
a
g
Baroness H eldb e rg i n short there would b e nothing
Whatever to prevent Archduke Francis from having a
morganatic wife i n the person o f Countess Sophia Ch otek
were he only Emperor o f Austria
But unfortunatel y for
t h e countess the crown o f Austria i s i ndissolubly con
ith that of Hungary and i n Hungary the mor
n ec t e d w
either
b
y
the
n
at i c marriage system is not recognized
a
g
church o r the state
H ence i f the countess were the
morganati c wi fe o f Archduke Francis i n Austria she would
be in the eyes o f the law his full fl e dged consort i n Hun
gary and as such entitled to share his dignity and ran k
there
W ere he to take up his residence in Hungary as
archduke she would ha v e the statu s o f an archduchess in
t h e Magyar kingdo m and were he to become emperor
nothing could prevent her from becoming in the eyes of
t h e law Queen of Hungary
That is why i t i s v i rtually
imp ossibl e for him to marry her unless he abandons all
his rights of succession to the throne in favor of his
brother O tto
This h e is notoriously reluctant to do
I n fact he is
extre m ely j ealous o f his pre rogatives as heir apparent
For a ti m e it was beli e v ed that he was suffering from
tuberculosis of the lungs and was forced to temporarily
se v er his connection with the army to withdraw from
court and to sp e nd his wint e rs in Algi e rs and in t h e south
D uring this period the functions of hei r ap
o f France
parent were fulfilled by his younger brother O tto who was
directed t o take up his residence at Vi enna was furnished
wi th a household commensurate to the importance of the
second personage i n the empi re and was called upon to
assist the emperor i n all the more o rnamental work that
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WILLI AM II
70
falls to the share of the sovereign as the chief representa
tive o f th e royal and imperial state
Moreover all cabinet ministers were directed to make
reports to the archduke t o keep him posted about the
current afl ai rs of the government and to communicate to
him copies o f all important despatches
W hen to the
amazement of everyone Archduke Francis recovered his
h ealth and returned to Vi enna he immediately called
upon his uncle the emperor asking hi m to send O tto
about his business and t o invest himsel f wi th all the rights
and prerogatives whi ch belonged to him as heir apparent
The emperor compli ed with his wishes and to day Arch
duke Francis the only memb er o f his house who has vis
i t ed the United States occupies a p osition whi ch is virtu
ally tha t o f vice emperor
He signs man y state pape rs
and documents on behalf o f his uncle is second i n su
preme command o f the Austro Hun garian army represents
Francis Joseph at many state functions and is so thor
oughl y in touch wi th all the statesmen both at home and
abroad that in the event o f his succession to the throne
h e will be able to take up the executive work o f an em
ror king without any di fficulty or i nterruption
e
p
I t is scarcely necessary to explain after this that the sen
t i m e n t s between the two brothers are n o t o f the fri endliest
character
O tto naturally does not relish the manner i n
which he has been relegated to the background since the
recovery of Francis ; and what has added additi onal bi t
t ern ess to his feelings i n the matter
is th e fact that
n either the press nor the people have shown any hesitation
i n publicl y expressing their reli ef o n learning that his
prospects o f obtaining supreme power had become more
r emote
Archduk e O tto has repeatedly app ealed to his uncl e the
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FRA N CI S J O SEPH
A ND
7I
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emperor to i nstitute proceedings o n the charge o f 1 2se
maj esté against the Austrian and Hungarian newspape rs
that had called attention to the various unsavory scandals
in which he is so constantl y i nvolved But Francis Joseph
has inva riably declined and has insisted that O tto if h e
wishes redress should prosecute the papers i n question for
libel j ust as if he had been an ordinary citiz en instead
O n each occasion
o f a member o f the imperial family
that he has brought proceedings of this kind against the
newspapers that assailed him the j ury has ret u rn ed a ver
dict i n favor o f the newspaper thus virtually giving the
legal stamp of authenticity to the stori es published about
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O n one occasion Archduk e O tto disgraced himsel f by
’
stopping a peasant s fune ral while h e was ou t riding with
some fri ends in the country around Prague and l eaping his
‘
ho rse back and fo rth a number o f times over the c ofli n
SO great was the scandal created b y this i ncident that i t was
brought up for discussion in the i mpe rial parliament at
Vienna the well known deputy Pernsto rffer decla ring i n
a most impass ioned and eloquent speech that i t was u n
j ust to reproach the students o f the university with excesses
when the y ounger membe rs o f the imperial famil y them
selves set such an example On the following day a pa rty
intimate friends o f Archduke O tto
o f young noblemen
invaded the house of the deputy i n question and ad
ministered to him a terrible thrashing injuring him so
severely that he was obliged to keep his bed for some
weeks afterwards
O n another occasion while stationed i n on e o f the pro
v i n c i al capi tals he brought a number o f roisterers into his
palace at night and having drunk himsel f i nto a state of
absolute craziness invited these boon companions to go
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stai rs wi th him to his wife s apa rtments at two o cl ock
i n the morning to pay her a visi t
Luckily for her imperial highness who was wi thi n two
months of becoming a mother there was prese nt i n the
palace at the time one of the aids de camp wh o hearing
the noise and knowing the character Of the prince to
whos e house he was attach e d feared that the archduchess
might stand in need o f protection
So when the drunke n
crowd of men arrived u p stai rs they were encountered by
the young offi cer who drew his sword and threatened to
run i t through anybody excepting the archduke who at
tempted to pass
Thi s and this alone saved the p oor
archduchess a daughter of Prince George o f Saxony from
the dre adful indignity which her husband had prepared
for h e r
The archduke reli e v ed his feelings by striki ng a blow at
the young o ffi cer who had the good sense not to return it
and then went down stai rs again to the dining room where
he gave further vent to his feelings by pouring a di sh of
spinach o v er the bust of t h e e m p eror
According to the code o f honor i n force i n the armies
Austria and Russia every blo wrecei v ed
o f Germany
particularly when the person attacked is i n uniform must
be atoned for by blood
I f the blow is given by an equal
then a duel at once tak es place and until the co m bat has
be e n fought the o ffi c e r who has been struck i s und e r the
darkest kind of social cloud
I t is not necessary that he
should b e come a victor but either his own b l ood o r that o f
his ad v ersary must be spi ll ed on the field o f honor to o b li t
c rate the i gnominy of the blow
I f the blow has been
struck by his inferior in social status whose position i s such
as to debar hi m from meeting an offi cer i n single combat
the offi cer who receives the blow must at once and wi thout
up
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A ND FRAN CI S J OSE PH
73
-
waiting a minute draw his sword and either cut his assailant
down or run him through
I f he fails to do this he is over
whelmed with disgrace obliged to leave the arm y to wi th
draw from all clubs to which he belongs and is subj ected to
ostracism of the most cruel character That is why German
Austrian and Russian offi cers never appear in public when
i n uniform without thei r swords The y need them ready at
hand i n case o f an y emergenc y such as the on e j ust de
scribed
I shall always remember witnessing a scene i n Aus
tria illustrative o f this condition of things
The c ol
o n el o f a cavalry regi ment had accompanied some civilian
guests to the doo r o f his house i n a provincial to w
n
and was standing on the front steps chatting with them
when suddenly a drunken laborer d riving a ca rt spat
ith mud both the colonel and those wi th him
t ere d w
’
The thing was done i ntentionally and o n the colonel s
shouting remonstrances the driver responded with an
oath stopped his cart j umped down and brandishing his
whip announced his i ntention o f chastising the o fficer
Suddenly a figure dashed ou t o f the door th rust a sword
’
i n the colonel s hand and when the driver came suffi ciently
near he was treated to a scalp wound which drew blood
brought him to his senses and sent him to the hospital
without endangering his life T he whole thing took place
quicker than i t takes to tell but I shall never forget the
look of gratitude with which the col onel thanked his wife
Had
fo r bringing him his sabre i n the ve ry nick o f time
’
he received a blow from the man s whip without being
able to respond to i t by cutting his Opponent badly enough
to draw blood he would have been disgraced forever his
car eer m i ned and himself forced to leave , not onl y the
arm y , but also the coun try
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WI LL I AM II
74
This will doubtless se rve to account for the occasional
sto ri es which one reads i n the press o f civilians being cut
down by offi cers
The latter have no alte rnative when
they are struck while in uni form and even i f they happen
to kill their man while thus defending what i s known
”
as
the honor o f the cloth
they are punished at
the most with a year o f merely nominal a rr est forfeiting
neither thei r commission nor their prospects o f advance
ment
W here the assailant is o f so high a rank t hat the offi cer
cannot exact satisfaction from him o r run him through the
body without risking a charge o f treason —
that being the
manner i n which the law regards armed attacks upon mem
bers of the reigning family , — the o ffi cer who has been struck
has no alternative but to blow his brains o u t i f he wishes
to preserve the honor o f his name and the escutcheon of hi s
family free from stain
Knowi ng this the young aid de camp of Archduke O tto
immediatel y proceeded to call upon the gefi eral i n com
mand o f the garrison to make as i n duty bound a report
o f what h ad taken place , and o f the blow which he had
received
I ndignant beyond all expression the general
wi th the obj ect o f preventing the young O ffi cer from taking
his life i n accordance with the strict requirements o f military
ethics placed him under close arrest so as to make i t i m
possible for him to put his design into execution
He
thereupon telegraphed a full account o f the entire affai r to
the emperor
The latter arrived o n the following day and after con
ferring with the general at once summoned all the o ffi ce rs
o f the place including Archduke Otto t o his presence i n
the great reception hall of the building occupied by the
commanding general
He thereupon caused the y oung
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WILL IAM II
76
a numbe r o f women
A cycling club had a rranged a road
race i n the neighborhood of Tulin— two hours from Vi enna
—
and some hundred members most
o n the D anube
o f them women were gathered together at a point o n the
road awaiting the app earance o f the winner who was ex
to
co
m
e
i
n
sight
at
any
moment
Suddenly
a
car
c
t
e
d
e
p
coming
from
the
Opposite
direction
and
ri a e dashed up
g
ran into the midst o f the cyclists scattering them to the
right and left
They cri ed ou t to the driver to stop and
he was doing so when the younger Of the two o ffi cers i n the
ca rriage angrily ordered him to drive o n At this the i n
dignan t cyclists stopped the horses and took the coach
’
man s whi p away which weapon was plied forthwi th by
An
o ne o f the ladies upon the occupants of the vehicle
other b elligerent w
h eelw
o man j umped up o n the wheel o f
th e carriage and with a blow o f the fist beat down the
’
younger O ffi cer s cap over hi s eyes
I t was seve ral mi nutes
before the gentleman in attenda nce was abl e to make him
sel f heard and to inform the assailants that the o ffice r
whom th ey were beating scratching and pulling about i n
every di rection was no other than Archduke O tto
Con
the cyclers beat
st ernat i o n followed the announcement
a hasty retreat while the archduke proceeded on his way
i n a sadly battered brui sed and altogether demoralized
condi ti on
About three years ago Archduke O tto recei v ed a severe
pistol wound i n the right shoulder which was followed by
’
a six months residence abroad
An e ffort was made o n
the part Of the friendly and semi o ffi c i al press to att ribute
the wound to an attempt at sui cide while su fferi ng from
mental depression due to ill health and his subsequent
absence from Austria to a voyage of convalescence and
rest
The story however was in flagran t contradiction
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AND FRAN CIS J O S E PH
77
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to rumors current i n court ci rcles which l ed one to
believe that his stay abroad was due to a decree o f banish
ment , and that he had received the i nj ury i n a duel his
adve rsary being no other than his royal brother i n law
Pri nce John o f Saxony who had bitterly resented the
treatment o f his favori te sister by her worthless husband
O ne thing at any rate is certain and that is that when a
man attempts to commi t suicide he does not generally dis
charge a pistol at his right shoulder
Archduchess O tto who bears the name o f Maria Josepha
’
has o n several occasions been forced by her husband s
drunken and libertine b ehavi or to l eave him and to retu rn
to her parents only coming back to Austria i n deference
to the personal request o f the emperor who is very fond o f
her and at whose court she now occupi es the positi on o f
the late empress ful filling all the duties o f fi rst lad y o f the
land
SO unive rsally execrated is Archduke Otto alike by
society and the p eople that discussions have taken place
more than Once i n parliament and i n the press as to
whether i t would not b e p ossible to devise means for
debarring him from succession to the throne
I t i s po s
sibl e that h e may re form ; indeed reports are current
to the e ffect that he is endeavoring to do so
But unless
b e changes i t will be a sorry day fo r A ust rO H ungary
when he becomes emperor ki ng
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C H A PTER
XXI I
is to a remark made by Pr ince Bismarck i n a moment
o f petulance and i rri tation resulting probably from diges
tive troubles that the male members o f the imperial house
Of Hapsburg are i ndebted for a totally undeserved reputa
tion Of stupidity
I t is presumable that he never for o ne
mo m ent thought that his uncomplimentary and merely
’
passing reference to them as Austria s idiot archdukes
would be placed on perm anent record yet i t has been c on
stan tly repeated on his authorit y until it has become so
popular a saying tha t m ost people are no wconvinced that
every archduke o f Austro Hungary is necessarily an imbe
cile No this is so far from the truth so gross a calumny ,
and so totally undeserved a reputation that it is only j ust
that this wrong should b e righted
O f course some o f the archdukes might be allowed b y
ill natur e d and jaundiced critics to deserve i n a measure
the qualification applied to them by Prince Bismarck
but they are very few i n number no t more than two or
three at the most and when i t is borne in mind tha t the
reigning house of Austria is composed o f more than one
hundred archdukes and archduchesses i t must b e admitted
that the proportion of fools in the family is decidedl y b e
lo w instead o f abo v e the average
W ith regard to the remainder they are nearly all p os
sessed of a high order of i ntelligence of talents and of
attai nments Of o n e kind or another that would ha v e served
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79
WILLIAM II
8e
to wi n for them i f not fame at any rate eminence had
thei r l ot not b een cast i n so exalted a sphere of the social
scale
This is particularly the case with the branch o f the
house o f Hapsburg which form erly occupi ed the throne
Cu ri ously enough the Hapsburg Grand
o f Tuscany
Du kes o f Tuscany were distinguished while still rul ers o f
that northern I talian state as much for thei r narrow
mindedness bigotry and sho rt sightedness as they are to
day for the i r i ntellectual brilliancy and enlightenment
The cleverest o f these Tusca n archdukes is undoubtedly
Archduke John
I use t h e v e rb i n the present rath e r than
i n the past tense advisedly for there is every r e ason to b e
li eve that he is still i n the land of th e li v ing existing under
an assumed name somewhere i n the W estern Hemisphere
possibly i n the United States
W hile at Vi e nna and p ri or to being divested O f his titles
and prerogatives by the e m peror he used to be known at
court by the nickna m e o f the
Baron
Owing to the
varied character of his interests and accomplishments the
reason for this sobriquet being that whenever a man i n
Austria wishes to become a baron he endeavors to give as
much evidence as possibl e of the fact that he is a man i n
t elle c tu ally far above the common herd
There was nothing that he undertook i n which he did
not quickly st rike o u t a b right and original line for him
self I t is well known that the late Field Marshal Moltke
regarded hi m i n spite o f his youth as on e o f the most ac
complished strategists i n Europe and as destin e d to play
an importan t part i n the next great war i n which Austria
should become involved
Music astronomy architecture
chemistry and bota ny are only a few o f the things at which
Archd uke John t ri ed his hand with remarkable success As
a pamphleteer he achi eved a celeb ri ty that extended far b e
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A ND FRAN CI S J O SEPH
81
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yond the frontiers o f Austria and when h e set out to study
seamanship he experi e nced no di ffi culty in Obtaining a
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mast e r s certificate i n l ess than a t enth part of the time
usual l y required by candidates for diplomas of that kind
Unfortunately he made many enemi e s
This arose
partly from his habit o f speaking his mind regardless O f
the consequences and partly t o o from his intolerance o f
bore s and stupi d people Especially di d he abh or flatt e re rs
and the atmosphere o f the i mperial court with all the re
strictions of i ts eti quette i ts set speeches and boundless
formality had the e ffect o f exasperating him to the last
degree
O n o n e occas ion a man who desired to make himself
agreeable to him deplored i n his presence the loss o f the
grand duchy of Tuscany by his elder brother
N onsense
exclaimed the archduke
The Tuscans
are I talians
The I talians l onged for national uni ty and
the existence o f the grand duchy was an obstacle to the
fulfilment o f thei r desi res
I t was inevi table therefore
that i t should disappear
The p eople are not created
mere ly for the sake o f the princes
The face Of the rebuked courti er and those o f all othe rs
present was a study for this sp eech although i t would have
been p erfectly natural i n the mouth o f an Ame ri ca n o r
even of a modern Frenchman i n that of an Austrian arch
duke was nothing l ess than rank heresy and merel y con
tributed to the number o f those who looked upon the
prince as a particularly dangerous man
Fo r a time he was hand in glove with the late Crown
Prince Rudolph whom he resembled i n many particula rs
and few o f those who were i n Vienna at the time can forget
the cleverness with which both o f these bright young
princes combined to expose a S pi ri tualist t rickster who had
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6
WILLI AM
82
11
been successful in hoodwinkin gsome Of the greatest person
ages in the land
Naturally this feat did not tend to i n
crease the popularity o f Archduke John who was looked
upon as the prime mover i n the affair since the laying
bare of the swindle naturally caused i t to be inferred that
its august victims had b een fools Of the most verdant
character
Unfortunately the two young archdukes were too much
alike i n temperament ideas and brilliancy not to quarrel
and on one occas i on when John had written an anony
mous pamphlet holding up to ridicul e some feature of the
military organization o f Austria which was championed
with an equal degre e o f v e hemence i n another anonymous
pamphlet by Crown Prince Rudolph the dispute b etween
them became so acute that it would have culminated in a
full fle dged duel had it not b e en for the p ersonal i nt erv en
tion of the e m peror
I t is entirely owing to his well kno w
n horror of the re
stri ctions o f etiquette and of the more formal and hypo
critical features Of court life that currency has been given
to the story tha t i f he ceased to b e an archduke and
”
“
assum e d the n ame o f John O rth before disappearing
from human ken i t was a case o f voluntary renunciati on
This is altogether a mistake I have t h e best o f reasons
for knowing that his abandonm e nt o f his command in the
army i n which he held the rank of general and o f his
status as an i m perial archduke very far from being v olun
tary was co m pulsory
I have had in my hands a number o f e xceedingly inter
esting l e tters in his handwri ting i n which he stat e s over
his own signature that the emperor had strictly forbidden
him to ever return to Austria whence he had banished
him
He states that the emperor ha d likewise declined
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WILLI AM I I
84
to South America navigating i t himself b y vi rtu e o f the
’
master s certificate that he had obtained at T ri este before
assuming the name o f John O rth
The vessel arrived
safely at La P lata where he shipped an almost entirel y
new crew and then after a stay there o f seve ral wee ks ,
sailed for Valparaiso
From that tim e the archduke , or rather John Orth and
his actress wife as well as his ship have been lost to sight
so far as the public are concerned
The Margu erz t a
which was the name Of his shi p never reached Valparaiso ,
where i ts ar rival was anxiously looked for and i f i t eve r
subsequently cast anchor i n any other port , i t did so unde r
an altered name
I may here recall the fact t hat i n the celebrated T ich
borne cas e i n L ondon i t was shown that the ship on which
young Roger T i chb orn e had sailed from Valparaiso for
Melbourne and whi ch was believed to have foundered at
sea had i n reality reached port at the further extremi ty o f
the Australian continent and under a di fferent nam e from
that under which she had sail ed from Valparaiso
The
crew had mutinied o n the way killed the ca ptain and his
chief offi cer and induced the second offi cer to j oin them
I t was with a view of avoiding the terrible legal c o nse
qu en ces o f this act that they had changed the name o f the
’
ship fab ri cated fresh pap ers and alte red the vessel s
course
There is no reason why Archduke John should not have
changed the name of his vessel at sea j ust i n the same
way as was done in the cas e o f the craft o n which Si r Roger
T ichborne sailed from Valparaiso and i n that manner i t
would have been easy for John Orth to conceal all traces
o f what had become o f him
There are a number o f reasons for believing that the
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AND FRAN CI S J O S EP H
85
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arch dua
archduke no longer but mer ely a commone r
bear ing the name Of John O rth—is still in the land o f the
living
Here are a few o f them and i t wi ll be obse rved that
I reserve the most convincing to the last
His mother , the venerabl e D owager G rand D uchess o f
T uscany afte r b ei ng prostrated wi th gri ef at the ti me o f
his departure from Austria , and after donning the d eepest
mourning when i t was fi rst reported that his ship had
fou ndered at sea with all hands near Cape Ho rn on the
way from La Plata to Valparaiso a year later suddenly
recovered her health and her spirits i n the most marvellous
manner
No t only did she become brighter and happier
but she likewise mod i fi ed her mourning until but li ttle
t race remained i n her garb o f wha t the public believed to
be her bereavement
She di ed last year at her lovely
castle o n the Lake of Gmunden and from the time when
she received the news that restored her p eace of mind sh e
had a light burning all night long i n the window of the b ed
r oom which she occupied and likewise in the casement of
the apartment devoted to the use o f Archduke J ohn when
he stayed wi th her
He r will likewise contained a provi
sion to the e ffect that the major part of her money should
be held i n trust for her missing so n subj ect to his orders
insisting however that under no circumstances should
a singl e penny Of i t ever go to any o f the Stu b els that is to
say to the family o f the actress whom Archduke John had
married in London
The o ld grand duchess added tha t
’
not until most definite and legal proofs of John s death had
been obtained should the money go to her other children ,
an d to their hei rs
W hen the archduke qui tted E urope i t seems that he left
tw
o million francs o n deposit i n two Swi ss ban ks the o ne
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WILL IAM II
86
at Fribourg the other at St Gall
According t o Swiss
law when a person has been missing for se v en years his
possessi ons pass to his hei rs without further d e lay
’
S e ven years after the date o f the archduke s sailing from
La Plata the parents and sisters o f the girl whom h e had
marri ed put forward a claim t o a considerable portion o f
this fortune on the ground that by her marriage Marguerite
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Stubel had becom e entitled to a thi rd o f her husband s fo r
tun e and that they were hei rs of the gi rl
The banks were about to comply with this request when
there appeared upon the scene o ne of the leading lawyers
of Vi enna a D octor von H ab e rle r who produced a gen
eral power of attorney b eari ng the name o f the missing
archduke on th e strength o f which he drew the money
from the banks i n question and placed i t in the name o f his
client i n Austrian banks
The Austrian laws require a
term of thirty years to elapse before a missing pe rso n i s
legally regarded as dead and his property a v ailable for
partition among his heirs
That looks therefore as i f the archduke were still alive
and anxi ous t o prevent his property being tu rned over
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to his wife s heirs
Still more remarkable h owever is the lawsuit which
took place some years ago i n Germany
I t appears that
when i n L ondon j ust be fore sailing fo r South America i n
1 8 0
John O rth insured his ship with the N orth German
9
I nsurance Company for $ 7
An action was brought
some three years later by this same D octor von K aberler
who o n th e strength Of a power o f atto rney granted by
Archduke John commonly styled John O rth mad e a
claim upon the I nsurance Company for the recovery o f the
su m fo r which the ship the Marg uerz t a had been i n
sured The I ns urance Company resisted the claim on the
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
87
round
that
John
O
rth
was
o n board the vessel when she
g
left La Plata and that he had gone down with her
The
eminent Viennese lawyer D r Ha
b erle r took note o f the
admission by the company that th e vessel had been lost
but declined to admit that John O rth otherwise Archduke
John had gone down with his ship
W hen asked wheth er
’
since the date o f the archduke s disappearance he had
received any news from hi m D r Hab erler declin ed to
reply pointing ou t that the burden of proving him dead
lay o n the shoulders o f the insu rance company rather than
o n his
The lawyer moreover vouchsafed some private i nforma
tion to the j udges which has n ot been made public and
the tenor o f which can only be gathered from the fact that
the Hanseatic H igh Cou rt of Hamburg in the first i n
stance and the Supreme Court of the Empire at L eipsic
on appeal both decreed that the insurance company must
honor the power o f attorn ey from John O rth for the rec ov
ery o f the sum fo r which hi s ship was insured and pay the
to D octor von Hab e rler which the insurance
people thereupon proceeded to do Therefore the Supre m e
Court o f the German Empire may be assumed to have Offi
c i ally declared from the b ench that Archduke John
a l ias
John O rth is not dead
The precautions that have been
adopted to enable his legal representative in Vi enna to
pre v ent the Stubel family from securing possession o f any
o f his money and the circumstance about the insurance
company having been compelled to pay for the l oss Of his
ship all point to th e fact that he suffered shipwreck and
that i n some way he has l ost his wi fe
W here he is to day is a secret that is presumably known
to no one except his lawyer at Vienna the emperor and
the minister o f the imp erial house Count G olouc h Ow
ski
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WILLIAM II
88
I t is as much Of a state secret as is the true cause o f his
disappearance from Austria and his renunciation of all his
mili tary honors and prerogatives as an archduke That he
did not perchance exactly renounce them of his own
accord seems indica ted beyond reasonable doubt by the
letters bearing his signature to which I have already
alluded letters which give expression to the intense bitter
n e ss o f his heart and to his sorrow for the destruction of
his military career for he was passio nately devoted to his
p rofession and while he might possibly have been disposed
to abandon his imperial rank of his own volition i t does
not seem probabl e that he would have willingly surren
dered his commission as a general and the important di
visional command which he held at the time o f his fi nal
departu re from his country
W hat was the caus e of the latter ?
N o one excepting the emperor and his chancellor Count
G olo u ch OW Ski is abl e to tell and all the sto ries o n th e
subj ect must b e accepted wi th the utmost caution I t has
i t is true been whispered that there exists one more per
son and that a woman wh o i s i n possession o f all the
secrets concerning John O rth i ncluding his present place
and the painful i ncidents which brought
o f retirement
about his surrender o f all that to hi m made li fe worth liv
i ng for
W hether she will ever disclose them is another
matter and o ne which may well cause anxiety at the Court
o f Vienna where her knowledge about this dark page of
the Hapsburg history is recognized as existing
There is i t may be added also a story as to th e arch
’
duke s disapp earance which I have never y et seen i n print
I t connects his exil e and his disappearance from the ranks
o f the members of the imperial family of Austria wi th the
tragedy of Mayerling and the death o f Crown Pri nce R u
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SE P H
89
dolph I t is di ffi cul t to account for the origin thereof except
fo r the fact which I hav e just mentioned that the two arch
dukes had already once quarrelled and had been prevented
from fighting a duel only by the i nte rvention o f the emperor
There could therefore be no longer any love lost between
them
Moreover Archduke Rudolph died at Mayerling
i n the early part o f 1 8 8 9 Archduke John left Austria
and relinquished his mili ta ry and impe rial digni ties during
that same year after having been suspended from his di
vi sional command just about the time o f the tragedy at
Mayerling
I t may be remembered that all sorts o f stori es were cur
rent at the time as to the circumstances surrounding the
d eath o f the crown p rince
According to a very silly
theory he had been killed by one of th e P rinces o f Auers
berg but this rumor was set at rest when i t was found that
the A ue rsb ergs r etained thei r commissions i n the army
and their access to all court functions
Then his death
was attributed t o the B altaz z is but those Baltaz z i s who are
still alive conti nue to this day to figure i n Vi enn ese so
c i et y especially i n the sporting world which would cer
tai nly not have been th e case ha d the hands of any mem
ber o f their family bee n stai ned with the blood o f thei r
’
emperor s son such a crim e moreover being by v i rtue o f
his position as crown prince , considered as an act o f high
treason
N one o f the personages known to have been p resent at
Mayerling at the time when the tragedy took place were
ever punished or visited with any token o f imperial ill
wi ll
Some o f them indeed were pensi oned fo r life fo r
’
instance B ratfi sch the crown prince s coachman while
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Rudolph s brother i n law Count P hili p o f Coburg who
formed one of the hunting part y at Ma y erling o n that
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WIL LI A M II
90
fateful day continues to be a member o f the impe rial
court circle in Vienna
There was but o ne pe rsonage o f rank who was visited
’
t h any mani festation o f his sovereign s supposed ill will
during the cou rse o f that y ear namely Archduke John ;
and i t is the altogether unprecedented and unique char
acter o f the step taken by the emperor with regard to him that
l ed to the natu ral deduction that the monarch mus t have
had some extraordi narily serious reason fo r acti ng as he di d
T his and this only i s the reason why i t was once
b ruited about that Archduke John had i n some u n e x
plained and unexplai nable way o r other , contributed to th e
ho rrible catastrophe of Mayerling
I n my opinion how
ever —whi ch i s based o n som e solid knowledge o f Franci s
’
J oseph , and also o f Archduke John s character and ways
’
the latter s disappearance from the Aust rian cou rt is due to
a very different cause and the entire truth will probabl y
never be known for state secrets o f so important a nature
are seldom revealed to the public or allowed to leak o u t
Certainly everyt hi ng that it was possible to accomplish
i n order to prevent this particular o n e from being dis
covered has been done and great would be the dismay o f
the emperor i f al l thes e precautions should ever prove
futile
Yet be i t ever so well guarded a secret is never
quite safe when four people hold the keys thereof and some
day the world at large may yet be sta rtled by being placed
in p ossession of the only true version o f what may be
”
termed
The John O rth Tragedy
I for one am firmly convinced that Archduke John will
reappear but I doubt whether i t will be during the lifetime
o f Francis Joseph
Perhaps after the old emperor has been
lai d to rest with his fathe rs the missing sci on Of the house
o f H apsbur g will return
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WILLIAM
92
II
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romantic i s Archduke John s elder brother Louis Salvator,
who has spent his entire life i n laborious historical and
geographical researches and who has published several
remarkable works upon botany and natural history — works
that have won for him considerable celebrity i n the sc i en
t i fi c world and a membership of the I nstitute o f France
L ike his brother John he has a taste for the sea has
’
studied na vigation obtained a master s certificate and
cruis e s about on board his yacht the Mx z e under the
incognito of Captain Nei n do rff H e makes his home
on the island of Maj orca where he has purchased a large
estate o cc u p yi ng t h e flank of a mountain which slopes
gently down toward the sea and which like the magnificent
imperial castle near Trieste bears the name o f Miramar
Although he is on t e rms of great friendship with the
peasantry o f the island no strangers are p ermitted o n the
estates and he has j ust as great an aversion for a new face
as had his cousin the late Ki ng Louis of Bavaria He goes
about when on the island dressed in j eans like a peasant
wi th straw sandals on his feet and weari ng an old flat
cap with a long vizor he has b e en especially averse to any
kind of society since the death of his private secreta ry to
whom he was greatly attached and to whose memory he
has erected at least a dozen statues in di fferent poses on
various parts of t h e property
O f course there are all sorts of stories current concern
ing this archduke some o f which owe their origin to the
secrecy with which he e nvirons his entire life
Thus ac
cording to some Miramar is a sort of Capua peopled with
lo v ely houris who are under the surveillance of a stout
’
’
duenna known as Madame L A rc hi du c and who spend
their ti m e strolling through the woods gazing at the sea ,
and dancing the cachuc ha
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A ND FRA N C I S J O SEPH
93
-
These however are fairy tal es the groundlessness o f
which is best sho w
n b y the fact tha t the late empress often
visited the archduke at Miramar o n Maj orca and spent
days there wi th him which she ce rtainly would not have
done had his existence furnished a ninete e nth century
counterpart to the mode o f the Roman Emperor Tiberius
The fact is the archduke is an extremely religious man
and the onl y love which fi nds any place i n his character is
a boun dl ess love Of nature
His life may be sai d to be
divided between his studies his explorations and his o b ser
vance of the ritual o f the Roman Catholic Church
His residence is the o ld monastery o f L a Gartaga which
he h as transformed into an i deal home
The day begins
with mass i n the chapel o f the monastery and immediately
after breakfast h e plunges i nto work ha v ing u sually a book
under way at one time on botany at another o n history
whil e frequently the subj ect i s his geographical excur
sions
W hile he carefully avoids strangers he loves the country
folk talks with them freely questioning them minutely
and neglecting no information which he can obtain from
them H e i s never seen without his p encil and note book
preserving every scen e and every face that he wishes to re
member o r reproduce i n his books
As i n the case o f
’
D umas s Monte Cristo there is always a swift schooner
and a yacht under steam pressure i n the little port c o n
structed by the archduke at the foot of the hill
They are in readiness day and night for instant depart
ure and frequentl y i n the morning one o r th e other i s
found to have sailed during the night with the imperial
owner on board remai ning awa y for whol e months to
gether without any i ntimation being received either on
’
his island home or at V ienna as to the archduke s where
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WILLIAM II
94
abouts These excursions have taken him all over the
world invariably i ncognito under the name o f Captai n
.
,
,
Nei nd orff
.
A few years ago while cruising in his steam yacht Tlz e
Mx z e (Syren ) along the north coast of Africa the vess el
struck on a rock and went to pieces the impe rial yachts
man and the crew o f forty men hardly esca ping with thei r
lives
I t was i n fact thr ough this shipwreck and the
narrow escape of th e archduke and of hi s men from falling
i nto the hands o f the warlike trib es that i nfest the Moori sh
coast that public attention was for the first time cal led to
the romantic mode of life of L ouis Salvator
Many other mariners cast up o n this dangerous coast
have been conveyed into the interior b y the fierce natives
in order to be held for ransom or to be sold into slave ry,
and as the tribes in question are entirely beyond the con
tr ol of the Sul tan o f Morocco and are i n a state o f p er
manent insurrection against him i t is di ffi cul t to conceive
what steps the Austrian government could have taken to
restore the archduke to libe rty had he fallen i nto the han ds
of these savages Loui s Salvator lost no time i n causing a
new yacht to be built which now bears the same name as
i ts predecessor for i t is only on his yacht that he reall y
feels at home
I n a little volume p rinted for p rivate circulation i n
which the archduke desc ribes his shipwreck he wri tes as
follow
s o f the former Mx z e
I t was the only place that I could call my home and
where I really felt at home
I n all my palaces and resi
d e nc es i n Austria and Hungar y and even o n my own dear
I sland o f Majorca I feel exactly as i f I were in a hotel
o r worse still i n a jai l
There is absolutel y no feeling o f
”
home there
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WILLI AM II
96
explain and excuse the exaggerated tendency to gad about
which is so very marked among the royal and i mperial
personage s o f the present age the most conspicuous ex
amples thereof having been the late Empress o f Austria
and the present German kaiser who rej oices i n the n ame
of I/Vz llz elm der R ez s en de (W illiam the Traveller )
The book in which Archduke L ouis Salvator makes
this comp l aint about not possessing any r eal home but his
’
re ck ; or a [
yacht is entitled : S izip w
Mi dsu mmer s gfzt s
D rea m and is dedi cated to the late Empress Eliza
b eth
’
The archduke s eldest brother is that Grand D uke o f
T uscany who reigned for a few m onths befor e bei ng de
ri v e d of his throne at the time o f the incorporation of his
p
dominions in what is now the Kingdom o f I taly
The
most popular m e mb e r of this talented b ranch of the Haps
’
burg family was undoubtedly the gran d duke s second
broth e r Archduke Charles Sal v ator who was j us t as pro
n o u n c e d i n his dislik e of the r e strictions o f Austrian court
etiquette as his brothers
H e us e d to startle the o fficials
and dignitari e s o f the Court of Vienna almost o u t of their
senses by his democratic ways
L ike the late Emperor o f
Brazil h e had a predil ection for riding on the roo fs of
omnibuses tramways and stage coaches while on his rail
road trips h e would occupy a third clas s co m partment
rath e r than a fi rs t class carriage o r a pri v ate car
He was an accomplished lo cks m ith and so m e of his han
diw
o rk which I ha v e s e en is really marve l lous in i ts intri cate
deli cacy I t was this archduke who met with such a qu e er
r e ncontre during the visit o f the Ki ng and Que e n of I taly
to t h e Court o f Vienna
Humbert is regarded by the
Grand D uke o f Tuscany and his brothers as a usurper and
as the spoliator o f their family Archduke Charl es was
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AN D
FRA N C I S J O SE P H
97
-
’
calling upon the emperor s brother L ouis Victor when
th e doors were thrown Open and the Ki ng of I taly and his
p rime minister M D ep reti s were announced Archduke
Charles instead o f retiring as might have been expected
gre eted Humbe rt most courteously welco m ing him to
Vi enna and thereupon turned to D ep re t i s who had fo r
merly been i n the se rvice o f his father Grand D uke L eo
pold II o f Tuscany and commenced chatting i n a friendly
manner with him in the Tuscan dialect setting the Ol d
statesman who had at fi rst been terribly embarrassed
entirely at his ease
Archduke Charles I may add died
suddenly on the v e ry night that his little granddaughter
the eldest child of Archduke Franci s Salvator and Of Arch
duchess Valeri e was born and wi th him disappeared o ne
o f the most popular fi gures i n Vi ennese life
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WILLI AM
I 00
II
v iceroy o f t he Lombardo Venetian Kingdom and the con
sequenc e was that he was brought up almost enti re l y at
Milan and is abl e to sp e ak I talian without the slightes t
trac e o f foreign accent as the Romans discovered to thei r
a m azement when he visited the Ete rnal City fo r the p ur
pose o f r e presenting the Court o f Aus t ria at the silver
wedding of the Ki ng and Queen of I taly
To him the Austrians are i ndebted for the creati on of
t h e magnificent Science and Art Museum at Vi enna and
It
o f many similar insti t utions throughout the empire
was he too w
h o was the chief organiz er and promoter of
the great I nternational Exhibition o f 1 8 7 3 and of the I n
t e rnat i o nal and D ramatic Exhibition held in the P rater i n
Moreover the Austrian scientific world owes to
1 88
9
hi m the possession o f what is probably the rarest o f collee
tions o f anci ent Pap yrus records and manus cripts o f o ne
k ind and another
W hile still quite a young man and long before Egyp t
had been explored to the extent that i t is to day he spent
a number of months in the land o f the N ile and abandon
ing the beaten track of the ordinary tourist , devoted hi m
self almost exclusively to the exploration o f the many hun
dreds o f ancient Coptic monas teri es which do t the oases
o f the Lyb ian desert and which until then were a t er m
He passed
z rz w
gm t a to the sci entific world o f Europ e
from monastery to monas tery being i n many instances the
first European who had crossed their thresholds i n centuri es ,
and as they were almost all o f them pove rty st ricken he
too k advantage thereof to buy from them all the docu
ments books an d reading matter that were contai ned i n
thei r libraries
H e did not attemp t to discrimi nate but
merel y used his vast wealth to purchase en bloc eve ryt hi ng
o f a d ocumenta ry char acter tha t they were read y to sell
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F RA N CI S J O S E PH
AN D
1 01
-
was not unti l long after his return to Aust ria and the
safe arrival at Trieste o f two entire shiploads of documents
thus collected that the wisdom of his enterprise and its
priceless value to history religion sci ence and arch aeology
commenced to be appreciated Among a good deal of
trash there were found some o f the earli est manuscripts of
the Gosp els and of the Epistles that are n owknown to b e
in existence writings of the fathers of the Christian
Church dating from the first five centuries o f the C hris
tian era innumerable classics that are now known to have
formed part of the once world famed library of Alexandria
which was destroyed by the Turks and papyri dating from
Mosaic and even far earlier times
The enormous size of the collection pu rchased by Arch
duke Rainer and by him placed at the disposal of the
scientific world not only of his country but o f all Europe
may best be demonstrated by the fact that although the
work o f investigating examining and deciphering the
documents in questi on has gone on without interruption
for forty years past more than half of the collecti on re
mai ns untouched wi thout having even undergone th e most
sup erficial examination
Yet the assistance of every stu
dent o f O riental and ancient lore has been welcomed b y
the Austrian Government i n the work o f examination to
which the archduke has himself devoted large sums o f
money The abbots and monks o f the Coptic monasteri es
in the present century are steeped i n ignorance and p ro fli
ac y
N
ot
m
erely
were
they
unable
to
read
the
contents
g
o f their libraries and of thei r muniment rooms but they
had not even the sense to take proper means of preserving
thei r treasures from injury and were ready to sell every
thing they possessed for a m e re song Archduke Rainer
vi rtuall y exhausted the Coptic monasteries of Egypt but
It
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WILLIAM
I O2
II
there still r emains untouched and awaiting enterprise suc h
as that displayed by the archduke a mine of untold wealth
i n the numerous monas teries o f Abyssinia
’
Archduke Rainer s devotion to science and art does not
prevent him however from being a thorough soldier and
he has rendered great service to his country as the c o m
’
mander of the L annw
e/zr o r militia a force which he has
entirely reorganized greatly adding thereby to the mili
tary strength o f the d ual empire
There i s i ndeed no
member o f the impe rial family whom Francis Joseph i s
more pleased to consult about military matters than Rainer
I n spite o f his wealth the archduke and his wife are
very simple minded and quiet o ld people and are ne v er so
happy as when they can get away from their magni ficent
palace i n Vienna either to go to the mountains o r to Eng
land under the incognito o f a thoroughly bourgeois name ,
living as very ordinary and commonplace peopl e O n one
occasion I remember fi nding them staying at Brighton o n
the south coast o f England in the most unostentatious way
in lodgings thei r landlady having no idea of their rank
The archduke far from b eing annoyed at my discovery
seemed amused thereat and often afterwards i n the midst
Of some stately court function at Vienna would qui etly ex
press his lon gings for the boiled mutton and caper sauce
which seemed to have been his favo ri te and most frequent
fare at his Brighton lodging place
Archduke Rai ner has met with some queer adventures
while thus going about i ncognito and once while seated
’
next to an Ame rican j ournalist at a table d h ote i n Switzer
land learned more about his o w
n family and Austrian
society than he had ever heard before i n spite of his long
e xpe ri ence
I t is pe rfectl y t rue that the newspape r man had neve r
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WILLI AM I I
1 04
Archduke and Archduchess Rainer have no child ren o f
their o w
but merely an adopted child the suddenly
n
’
orphaned daughter of Rai ner s brother Hen ry and o f th e
’
latter s actress wi fe L eopoldine Ho ffmann
Thi s gi rl o f
whom more anon is now married to a young Aust rian i n
whose veins flow Bourbon blood and who bears the ti tl e
o f Campo Franco ; and al though she i s no t a p ri ncess o f
the blood yet she is treated as a relative by all the mem
bers of the reigning house o f Hapsburg
Another very clever scion o f the imperial family is Ar ch
duke Joseph to whom I hav e already had occasion to refer
as the leading authority i n Europe o n the o ri gin history
customs and language of those myste ri ous races known i n
the eas t of Europe as the Tziganes o r Z ingaris i n the west
and by the English sp ea king
of Europe as the Gi tan os
races as the Gypsies
Ar chduke Joseph may be said to be the bus in ess man of
the Hapsburgs and the chief administrator o f the vast
fortune of the famil y the e m p e ror to whom the control
thereo f belongs by right having no time to devote to the
The wealth o f the reigning house is largely i n
matter
vested in enterpris e s of an industrial character and over
all these the archduke maintains the strictest pe rsonal
supervision H e is no t afraid to permi t his name and titl e
to appear in connection wi th these ente rp rises and to sub
j ec t hi m self as an ordi nary business man to the tribunals
and to the laws governing trade and i n
o f commerce
d u st ry although as a member o f the reigning family he i s
exempt from ordinary jurisdiction and amenabl e only to
the family statutes of the house o f Hapsburg pe rs onally
administered by the emperor and by his chancellor Count
ski
O ccas ionally this involves him i n queer
G olou ch Ow
di ffi culties
Thus some time ago having established a
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FRA N CI S J O SEPH
A ND
I0
5
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b randy distille ry and a mill for g rinding grain by steam
near Stu hlw
ei ssenb u rg he add r essed a demand to the local
autho ri ties of the district that the business which he had
established there shoul d be duly recognized and its name
recorded in the register of licensed t raders commerce and
indust ry especially when connected wi th the liquor t rafli c
being prohibited there unless a license has been Obtained
from either the local or central autho ri ties
His p etition was refused b y the autho ri ties on the grou nd
that i t was signed as The I mp erial State I ndust rial Com
”
pany and that that was the onl y designati on given for
entry upon the register whereas the law demands that the
h ead of a business concern applying for a license should
give his fu ll name both baptismal and family
Archduke
Joseph thereupon carried the matter to a Court o f Appeal ,
and pointed ou t that it was impossibl e for him to comply
wi th the st rict letter o f the law seeing that as a member of
the reigning house he possessed no famil y nam e
The
Court of App eal admitted this argument but i nsisted that
the license should be taken out i n the name of Archduke
Joseph , who has since that time fi gured as o ne of the chief
brandy distille rs o f the empire
’
Another of the archduke s investments was th e
Mar
guerite I sland
lying midway between Buda and Pesth
which has frequently been described as th e Pearl of the
”
D anube
I t deserves this appellation for it i s impossibl e
to imagi n e anything more lovely than this island which
owes i ts name to a royal nun the daughter o f the Magyar
Ki ng Bela I V who lived i n the thirteenth century The
convent which once stood there was destroyed b y the
Turks i ts ruins being swept away by the great inunda tions
of 1 7 7 5 and 1 8 3 8 and i t remained for Archduke Joseph to
purchase the island , provide i t wi th a system of statel y
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WILLI AM II
1 06
quays and to t ransform i t i nto a picturesque garden and
park the mass o f almost tropical vegetation being dotted
here and there with charming villas hotels a casino and
a number of bathing establishments ; for there are several
mineral springs possessed o f remarkable curative powers to
b e found o n this l ovely spot
I t is only about a mile
in length but has a t ramway running from o ne end to th e
other a ff ording easy communication between th e several
hotels while i t i s connected w
i th both shores by ferries
To the people o f the Hunga rian capi tal the island is a
p riceless boon and it may be desc ribed as constituting the
lungs o f the Magyar metropolis
I n addition to all the cares entailed by the admi nis
t rat i on o f the imp erial prope rty the archduke who makes
his home altogether in Hungary has done for the Magyar
“ Honved ” or militia
exactly the same as Archduke
Rainer has don e for the anal ogous force in the Austrian
moiety of the dual empire Archduke Joseph like his
father before him , is more Hungarian than Austrian
He
learnt the Magyar tongue b efore the German and his
populari ty , like that of his father is such that the Magyars
would infinitely pre fer that the Crown o f St Stephen
should at the death o f Francis Joseph pass to Archduke
Joseph o r J oska
as he is ca lled than to the present
heir apparent Francis Ferdinand
Talking o ne day to Archduke Joseph , he related to me a
strange and I beli eve until now unpublished i ncident i n
connection with the career o f his father who bore t h e
name o f Joseph and who like his brother Charles the
celebrated general of the Napoleoni c wars was brought up
at Florence where his own father rul ed as Austrian viceroy
until the time of his accession t o the Austro Ge rman throne ,
as L eopold II
One da y in the y ear 1 7 8 2 , a law y er from
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WILLIA M II
1 08
brought to a premature close by the death in childb i rt h
only
ten
months
of
ma
rr
iage
an
d
o f the archduchess
after
she was laid to her last rest in an exquisi te mauso leum
built in the style of a Russian church on the slop e of the
’
hill on which the present Ar chduke J oseph s principal
country seat is situated and which bears the name of
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A ls a ztfi
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As long as the late Ar chduke Joseph remained alive a
Russian archimand ri te and several pop es o r Muscovite
p ri es ts were entrusted wi th the care of the church and the
guardianship o f the remains ; but when the late archduke
died at the outset of his poli tica l troubles i n Hunga ry
which culminated in the revolution of 1 8 4 8 the p ri ests
as not until p eace was re
suddenly disapp eared and i t w
stored that the present Archduke Joseph received a l ette r
from Czar N icholas I informing him that the Russ ian
police had recently ca ptured and pl aced under arres t the
missing archimandrite and his associate pri ests who were
i n possession of a quantity o f j ewel ry which was kn own to
have belonged to the late Archduchess Joseph the step
mother o f the p resent Archduke J oska and the sister o f
Czar N icholas
Joseph first caused a careful examination o f the mauso
leum to be made which revealed the fact that although
the outer doors were locked and sealed the entire inte rior
had been rifled not merel y o f all the j eweled pictures of
saints which i t contained but even o f the gems which
had been buri ed with the archduchess
Her coffin had
been pri ed open the golden archducal crown adorn ed wi th
p riceless stones had been taken from her head a great
diamond cross from around her neck bracelets from her
arms and rings from her skeleton fingers
Archduke J oska immediately proceeded to St Pete rs
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FRA N CI S J O SEPH
A ND
I 09
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burg received from the hands of the Russian emperor
those of the j ewels which had been recovered and the
assurance that the thieving and ghoulish eccl esiastics had
been relegated for life to the salt mines o f Siberia
On
returning to Hungary he restored the j ewels to the re
mains of his step mother and caused the entrance to the
mausoleum to be walled up so as to prese rve i t from any
fu rther desecration
I have devoted these pages to Archduke J oska and his
family because even in Hungary amazingly li ttle is kno w
n
about this Hungarian branch o f the house of Hapsburg o r
about its degree of relationship to Emperor Francis
Joseph
I n the event o f war the archduke who will be called
upon to take the most prominent part in the command o f
the forces on land is undoubtedly Archduke Frederick
who i s regarded by military experts both in Austria and
abroad particularly at Berlin as o n e o f the most capable
gene rals of the Austro H u ngarian army
He is the eldest
brother o f the Queen R egent o f Spain , and has inheri ted
all the vast landed estates of his uncle the late Archduke
Albert
The latte r at his death was the generalissimo o f the
Austro Hungarian army an d w
as himself a son o f that
Archduke Charles who after playing with Napoleon as a
boy fought him with such desperation at Aspern
Arch
duke Frede rick is unlike the maj ority o f the Hapsburgs
H is face is full and round his whiskers are dark and bushy
‘
and he is distinctly inclined towards eméonp oz m A close
personal fri end of Emperor W illiam who is frequently his
guest in H ungary , fo r the sake of the magnificent shooting
for which his sporting estate o f Belye is so famous h e i s
l ess popular than most o f the other archdukes , owing to
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WILLI AM
I I0
II
the fact that he is more tenacious than they of his dignity ,
and more inclined to keep people especially i f they belong
’
to the aristocracy at arm s length
This is not due as so many peopl e seem to imagine to
mere arrogance but to the slights and a ffronts to which
his wi fe was subj ected during the first few years o f their
marriage The archduke long before the death of his old
uncle Albert had placed him i n possession o f his present
wealth fell deepl y i n love with Princess I sabella daughter
o f the D uke of Cro y who makes his home i n Belgium
and who like so many other o f those great personages
who have their headquarters at Brussels has a seat i n the
Hous es o f L ords o f a number of Continental countries
The Gro ys belong like the A renb ergs the Metternichs
and others to the mediatized houses of Germany who once
reigned over the p etty states into which central Europ e
was divided down to o n e hundred years ago but whose
sovereignty such as it was , was swept out of existence by
th e first Napoleon
O n the strength o f belonging to a
m ediatized house the D uke o f Cro y, when asked by Arch
duke Frederick for the hand of his daughter stipulated
that his consent would be conditional on Pri ncess I sabella
receiving on the occasion Of her marriage all the rights
and privileges of an Archduchess o f Austro Hungary
This deman d was at first rej ected by Emperor Francis
Joseph and by the agnates of the hous e o f Hapsburg
who while recognizing the fact that the ducal famil y of
C1 03} is mediatized and as such theoretically qualified to
mate on a footing of equality with the nowreigning houses
y et that after all i t belongs merely to the
o f Europe
nobility and that the Hapsburgs had never accorded the
’
status of an archduchess to any Austrian archduke s bride
who was not o f the blood ro yal
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WILLIAM
I I 2
II
’
assume the o ffi ce of P alastaame, or lad y i h waiting to his
wife Natu rall y, Frederick deeply resented this treatment
o f his conso rt to whom he is deeply devoted ; and that
is why although charming and unaffectedly genial to the
peasantry an d lower classes he is always careful to keep
the members o f the aristocrac y at a distance
I n this he resembl es Prince Albe rt the h usband o f Queen
Victoria W hen this Coburg princelet first came to Eng
land as the conso rt o f the soverei gn , the great nobles o f
Bri tai n showed a reluctance to concede to him the homage
which he considered to be his due as the husband o f their
queen The p rince did not rest until he had reorganized
the cou rt upon such a footing that the gr eat nobl es were
not merely forced but even anxious to perform menial
service not only for his wi fe but also for himself As
long as he lived he never attended any p e rfo rmance o f
the Opera o r theatre without compelling those o f thei r
number who were i n waiting to remain standing at the
back o f his chai r and of that of the queen throughout
the entire pe rforma nce He t oo was accounted arrogant
but like Archduke Frederick he was only so wi th nobl es,
whose presumption he considered i t nece ssa ry t o keep i n
check H e was never haughty with the middle classes or
with the masses
N owadays the position o f Archd uk e Frede ri ck and hi s
wife is vastly improved owing to his mili tary pre eminence
and especially by reason o f his colossal wealth
H e has a
very large number o f children
I n fact no l ess than eight
dau ghte rs were bo rn before the long expected son and
heir made his appearance this , st rangely enough being i n
accordance wi th a gypsy prophecy made at the time o f his
marr iage
Being pe rso nal ly acquainted with well nigh every mem
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FRAN CI S J O SEPH
AN D
I I
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3
b er o f the imperial house o f Hapsburg I may assure my
readers that there are but t w
o archdukes who could be sai d
to have in any way dese rved the b rutal epithet Of I diot
archdukes appli ed to them by the late Prince Bismarck
and one of these Louis Victor is merely somewhat foolish
and vain while the other at one time the most brilliant
member o f his hous e was reduced to i mbecility by that
hereditary curse o f the Hapsburg family namely epilepsy
Louis Victor is the yo ungest brother o f the emperor and
in spite o f his age—h e is to day verging o n three score
years — h e still remai ns a fl i p pant society butterfly and
behaves at times like an overgrown and thoroughly spoiled
in fant I n appearance he resembles to a ce rta in extent his
brother the ill fated Emperor Max imilian o f Mexico He
has the same blond beard thin fai r hair sloping shoulde rs
and blue goggle eyes At Vi en na he is styled The King
”
and the Prince de la D anse
There
o f the Madrigal
is hardly a woman o f the aristocracy possessed of beauty
either present or past who has no t received his more or less
p latonic homage and who is not consoled o n the bi rthdays
that succeed o ne another far t oo rapidly by some impe ri al
so uvenir
H e will tal k nonsense to them b y the hour under the
altogether erroneous i mpress ion that his drawling conversa
tion is wi tty and da
z zli ngly b rilliant al though i t is usually
o f the most insip id c haracter for his mind is narrow to an
i ncredible degree his intelligence is as insignificant as that
”
”
masher
the American
dude
the
o f the L ondon
”
“
Parisi an gommeux
an d the Be rlin
giger
Com
l
t
l
e
e
p
y useless and enti rely frivolous he is as finicky as
p recise and as much inclined to attach the utmost impo rt
”
ance to the merest t ri fl es as the Pr é ci euses Ri di cules
Yet wi th all that he is firmly convinced that
o f Moli er e
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1 1
WILLIAM I I
4
he is a D on Juan of the most dangerous desc ription
H is
o n e and fixed idea is that all women are in love wi th him
and thanks to this his attentions to the fair sex while ludi
Among the
c rously exaggerated are absolutely harmless
many ladies with whom his name has been associated i s
a Frau von 0
whose husband was a Professor of
As tronomy at the University o f Vienna an d so busily e n
gaged i n gazing at the stars that he had no leisure t o p er
c e i v e what was passing on the earth below in connection
with his handsome and dashing wife
The archduke was proud to be her admirer and follower
But when after the ex
as long as the husband was alive
t remely sudden death of the professor she announced her
intention o f marrying L ouis Victor morganati cally and
thus becoming the sister i n law o f the emperor the arch
duke beca me v e ry badly scared and commenced to avoid
’
her That merely served to redouble th e widow s deter
mination to become his wife and sh e co m menced to pur
sue him i n the m ost extraordinary manner all ov e r E u rope
fi rmly convinc e d that i f she could only secure a pri vate
and undisturbed intervi ew wi th him she would b e abl e to
resume her m as tery o v er him and force hi m to comply
with her behests
He hims e lf acknowl edged that i f she
got hold of him he would be unable to refus e her demands
and entreated his gentle m an in attendance to protect him
from her
He became i n fact so frightened that h e took
to his h e els whenever he caught sight of a petticoat
He
banished all the women servants from his palace o n the
Schwarzenberg Platz in Vienna and only permitt e d his
aged housekeeper to remain o n condition that she would
ke e p out of his way and at nightfall seek shelter beyond the
pal ace confines
’
At length matters reached a climax
The widow s per
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1 1
WILLI AM II
6
“
qualification o f i diot
and even he could only be so
stigmatized d uring the closing years of his l ife
His case
was a very sad one the ve ry wretchedness o f which sho ul d
ha ve protected him from j ibes Born in 1 8 2 6 he held for
y ears the rank of commander i n chi ef o f the engi neer
corps of the impe rial army
Tall and elegant with a handsome face and an exceed
i ngly winning manner he was fo r many yea rs the most
’
popular member o f the emperor s family as well as the
most talented
H e was indeed a gallant and chivalrous
p rince i n every sense of the word and few who wi tnessed
the famous carousal at the H ofburg at Vi enna now nearly
a quarter o f a century ago at the time o f the silver wed
ding can forget the st ri king grand and noble appearance
which he presented in the garb o f a c rusader
’
Suddenly he disapp ear ed
Vienna s court and soci ety ,
t so c on
o f which he had been so b rilliant an orname n
knew him no more and gradually i t
Sp i c u o us a figur e
came to be whispered about tha t Ar chduke L eopold his
mind entirely wrecked by epilepsy with only occasional
flashes o f intelligence , the more cruel because they e nabled
him to realiz e his condition was under res trai nt i n hi s
castle of Hom st e i n
Hidden away i n the depths of a dense forest some fou r
’
o r five hours travel by rail to the south of Vi enna is thi s
archducal retreat , one o f the most pic t ur esq ue and stately
castles which i t is p ossible to conceive
T he broad moat
and heavy drawb ridge, the dark walls of undressed gran
ite pierced w
i th mullioned window
s and su rmounted wi th
turrets and battlements , all se rve to carry one back to the
feudal ages an impression fu rther strengthened b y the ven
e rab le aspect o f the glo rious old trees which consti tute t h e
setting Of this ar chitectural gem
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AND FRAN CI S JO S EP H
1 1
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7
I t stands qui te alone far away from any other human
habitation and wi th the exception o f t he game keepe rs
and foreste rs garbed i n the i mpe rial live ry who had orde rs
to prevent the approach o f an y stranger wi thin two miles
not a soul was to b e seen anywhere i n the
o f the ch a teau
’
neighborhood during the closing years of Leopold s life
Hardly a s ound was to be heard and notwithstanding the
presence of over sixt y blo od ed horses i n the marble wai n
sc o t ed stabl es and o f a whole army o f attendants and do
mest i cs i n the castle a st range and uncanny silence
reigned on all sides ; every voice used to b e hushed no
body spoke save i n an undertone nay even the very dogs
appeared to have been trained to bark and yelp i n a mere
whisper
I ndeed like the enchanted palace o f the Sleep
i ng Beaut y in the fai ry tales the whole castle seemed to be
subj ect to the spell o f som e ma li gnant sorcerer
That sorcerer was epilepsy i n i ts mos t hideous form for
i t stretched the once handsome archduke on a bed wi th
ou t the strength o r sense to feed hi mself i n that state o f
idiocy whi c h the French so expressively describ e as gd tz rme
Onl y occasionally did h e have luci d inte rvals an d then he
would cause himself to b e carri ed to o n e of the windo w
s
and would order some o f his blooded ho rses to be put
through their paces on the sward below That was his
sole enjo ym ent
H e breathed his last onl y a few months
ago and hi s wealth has now gone to swell the alread y vas t
fort unes of his brother Archduke Rainer
O ne would almost be tempted to beli eve that epileps y
was dying ou t i n the imperial family o f Aust ria o f which
i t has for centu ri es been th e all blighting and heredita ry
curse were i t not that thi s dreadful malady possesses the
peculia ri ty of skipping one and sometimes two gene ra
ti ons onl y to reappear with inc r eased vigor i n the third
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1 1
WILLI A M II
8
The emperor is entirely free from i t
But his father was
a martyr thereto and mainly on that account waived his
rights of succession to the throne in favor o f his eldest
so n Francis Joseph at the tim e of the abdication o f his
elder brother the late Emperor Ferdinand The latter
was reduced to such a state of mental decrepitude by the
disease that he was compelled to abdicate i n 1 8 4 8 but ex
pressed his conviction that his subj ects would yet live to
”
regret the old
Trottel
the Austrian expression for
idiot a term whi ch h e was pe rfectly well aware that his
subj ects applied to him
O ld Archduke Al be rt whom I
have already mentioned as having been the general —
in
chief o f the army and the victor of many a glorious
battle i ncluding that of Cu st oz z a was a victim to the dis
eas e but knew somehow o r another when fi t s were about
to come on and at once withdrew from public gaze
Of
the archdukes now living there is not I believe a single
But there Is no know
o n e who is a fflicted with epilepsy
ing whether i t may no t reappear i n one of the next genera
tions I t is di ffi cul t to know to what to ascribe the fact that
it is hereditary i n the house o f Hapsburg unless i t has
been caused by the frequency of marriages between people
t o o closely related to each other by blood which even at
the best has long since been exhausted thinned and to a
great extent vi tiated as is the case wi th most o f the very
anci ent and illust rious ho uses of the O ld W o rld
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W ILLIAM
I 2 0
II
wit h the Obj ect o f entering de fi nitely upon a full fledged
ecclesiastical career and becoming the Archbishop o f
H e pointed o u t to his u ncl e that there was a
Olmii tz
p recedent i n the Hapsburg family for the step which he
wished to take since Archduke Rudolph son o f Emperor
L eopold II whose name is still remembered i n the musical
world as the disciple friend and patron o f Beethoven died
a cardinal and archbishop
The emperor however de
c li n ed to yi eld , but b y way o f compromise promised to
nominate Eugene to the grand mastership o f the Teutonic
O rder i n succession to the then grand master Archduke
W illiam W ith this Eugene had to b e content and when
Archduke W illiam met with his death about three years
ago through a fall from his horse he succeeded to the
grand mastership and to the vast revenues which go with
the latter amounting to a million dolla rs per annum
The Teutoni c O rder, which must not be confounded
wi th that of Malta was i nstituted after the siege of Acre
i n 1 1 9 2 by the crusader king H enry of Jerusalem and
Emperor Henry V I o f Germany The statutes were
framed on the models of the Knight Templa rs or Knights
o f Malta and i t was decreed that the members were to
belong excl usively to the Teutonic or German nation
which had sustained great losses at the si ege o f Acre Pope
Celestine commanded that the y should be styled Knights
”
or o f Our Lady of Mount Z ion and that
o f St Mary
they should be clad i n white and wea r a black c ross on
thei r habi ts mantles , standards and arms
Thei r fi rst station was at Acre After the fall of Je ru
salem they moved to V enice and from thence to Ger
many They are bound by vows not merel y o f celibacy
but likewise of chastity the memb ers o f the order being
regarded i n much the same ecclesiasti cal light as dul y or
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AND FRAN CIS JOSEP H
1 2 1
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dai ned p ri es ts of the Roman Catholic Church
Fortu
nat ely there is i n the vows of the order the saving clause
”
“
of (arms tcmqu am p oss e (as chaste as possible] and
although the seriousness o f th e character of Archduke
Eugene has helped him to keep hi s name unsulli ed by any
of those frailti es with rega rd to the fai r sex which consti
tute an hereditar y trait of the house o f Hapsburg y et his
uncle and predecessor as grand master took the fullest
portion of his vows o f
t anqu am p osse
advantage o f the
chastity for he was celebrated fo r adventures in gallantry
O ften these were o f a most amusing character, and quite
i n keeping wi th his gay and cheery temper
Perhaps the most laughable one was the following The
archduke was calling upon a lady o f rank but of a some
what questionable reputation and with a vi ew o f avoiding
publi c recogni tion had dispensed wi th his carriage and
live ri ed se rvants i n favor o f what they call at Vienna an
u nnu merz erter whi ch is a so rt o f private cab that he was
’
wont to use fo r expe di tions of this kind At ten o clock
the janitor was about to close th e doo rs of the house for
the night when he caught sight o f the cab i n the court
yard
H e immediately called upon the driver to go and
take his station outside i n the street
This the caébz e ab
solu t ely refused to do
A violent altercation ensued b e
tween the two On the subj ect and the janitor was j ust on
the poi nt o f summoning the police to help him to ej ect the
cab from the premises when the d rive r i n despai r caught
hold of hi m by the c oat tails and whispered i n his ear :
’
I t s the Archduke W illiam who is upstai rs , and I have
”
got to wai t for him right here
’
“fl z mmel /
replied the janito r, i n
you do n t say so
’
an awe stric k en tone
The archduke ? W h y didn t y ou
’
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sa y so at once ? O f cou rse it s all right ; don t sti r I
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WILL I AM
I 2 2
II
will si t up to O pen the doo rs for y ou when he is read y
to go
Unabl e , however to k eep so impo rtant a sec ret loc k ed
i n his breast , and elated beyond desc ription at the honor
conferred upon the house by the presence o f so illust ri ous
a visitor the janitor summoned several o f his friends from
a neighbo ri ng cafe and i nformed them that the archduke
was upstai rs The news quickly spread over the whole
block , and when his imp erial highness issued from the
house a little after mi dnight he had the questionable de
light of fi nding the street almost blocked by a dense crowd
who intoned the national anthem i n his honor and greeted
hi m wi th demonstrations o f the most exuberant loyalty
O n great state occasions , however , he was so digni fi ed
and his bearing was so impressive that one expe ri enced
di ffi cult y i n recalling that he was the hero of so many ad
ventures of this kind I remembe r being esp ecially st ruck
wi th this on the occasion o f the ceremony o f admission o f
a couple of young noblemen to the order o f which he w
as
grand master The ceremony was one of those picturesque
and medi aeval functions wh i ch i n this prosaic ni neteenth
century are only to be wi tnessed i n all their pristine splen
d or either at Vienna o r at Madrid and which would ap
p ear stagey and even ridi culous an ywhere else
I t took place at the old C hurch o f the Teutonic Orde r,
i n the Singer Stras se , and the exquisite costumes o f the
ladi es as well as the b rilliant uniforms of the men , we r e
set off to perfection b y the ancient walls hoa ry wi th age ,
and half hidden b y the battered and faded banne rs the
monuments and the a rmo ri al b ea rings of defunct knights
o f the order
’
At ten o cloc k , the archduk e grand master preceded
and followed by the knights o f the va rious degr ees al l
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I 2
WILLI A M II
4
chanted the two novices remaining on thei r knees with
their faces almost touching the al tar steps At the con
thei r mantles were raised from the gr ound and
c lu si o n
solemnly blessed by the chaplai n of the order
Golden
spurs were affi xed to thei r heels and the Cross o r badge
o f the order was placed around thei r necks by the grand
prior
A Te D eu m was thereupon chanted after which
the new knights having raised thei r vizors approached the
’
archduke s throne and bending low before him kissed hi s
hand a salute which he returned by kissing them o n the
cheeks
They furthermore received the accolade o r fra
ternal kiss o f every knight and prelate of th e order and
finally took their places at the head of the processi on as i t
left the church for the Hall o f Assembly where a Chapter
was h eld for the inscripti on of the names o f the new knights
’
upon the roster
At five o clock i n the evening there was
a grand banquet in th e palace of the order presided over
by the archduke and attended by all the knights p resent
i n the city and this festivi ty brought these strange and
medi ae v al ceremonies to a close
B e sides the Teutonic O rder and possessing revenues al
m ost equally great is the Sovereign O rd e r o f Malta or o f
Jerusalem which is to such an extent considered a sove
reign po w
er that its representative at the Court o f Vi enna ,
and its grand master at Rome are accorded by the Court
of Austria and that of the Ponti ff the sam e rights as are
enj oyed by foreign ambassado rs
Senior to the Teutoni c
O rder through the fact that its foundation dates back to
the year 1 0 4 4 i t nevertheless resembl es the D eu ts cfi er
’
Om m i n i ts constitution , its requirements , and i ts modern
as well as ancient aims That is to say the obj ect of both
orders was to combat the Saracens and Turks to endeavor
to free the Hol y Land and to care for and protect , to the
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A ND F RAN CI S J O S E PH
1 2
-
5
b est o f their ability those engaged i n pilgrimages to J eru
salem
N owadays both orders devote themselves enti rely to suc
coring the wounded and the sick i n war time
They o w
n
a number of magnificentl y equipped railroad hospital
trains and an immense supply o f ambulances ready for
I n fact the se rvices whi ch they have rendered
fi eld duti es
during the various wars that have taken place i n Europe
du ring the las t half century have been o f i nestimable
value especially at the time of the confli ct betw
een France
and Germany i n 1 8 7 0 and o f Russia and Turkey i n 1 8 7 7
Celibacy and vows of chas tity are required only from
the knights o f justice of the O rder o f Malta who are like
wise called upon to furnish proo f o f gentle descent and o f
an unblemished p edi gree for at least two hundred years
T he knights o f honor and devotion have only to prove
noble descent i n the paternal line are dispensed from
taking any vows and may o f course marry ; whereas the
k nights o f grace are reli eved from any necessity o f p roving
noble descent
There is al so a class of honorary bailiffs
g rand crosses o f honor and devotion whose insignia is a
decoration conferred by the Pop e i n conj unction with the
g ran d master of the order upon ce rtai n distinguished per
sonages the Pri nce o f W ales being among the number
Of course these honorary knights have no vote i n the
chapter o f the order
The history o f the Kn ights o f Mal ta from thei r foun da
tion at Je rusalem to their defeat by the Saracens and thei r
retirement from the Holy Ci ty to Acre from thence to
Cyp rus and successivel y to Crete Sicily and Mal ta need
They had been i n Malta for nearl y
no t be followed here
three hundr ed yea rs when the island was surrendered to
th e French and the knights exiled and scattered by the
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1 2
W ILLIAM
6
11
First Napoleon
The grand master at that ti me was V on
Hompesch and he retired from the revolutionary i nflu
e nc es ever ywhere rampant in Europe to the C ourt o f
Russia where he found refuge
At the present time the succession having been regu
larly kept up without any i nterruption since the knights
left Malta the grand master o f the order is his excellen cy
Count Ceschi Santa Croce who resides i n Rome and who
may be seen at all state functions at the Vatican arrayed
in his black doublet and black mantl e with the great
white cross o f Malta woven on the breast of his tunic and
The ambassador o f the
o n the left side o f his cloak
order at Vi enna is Count Podst adtsz ky L ichtenstei n and
he wears much the same costume as the grand master his
garb and that o f the knights o f j ustice consti tuting a pic
tu resqu e but sombre counterpart to the white array o f the
members o f the Teutonic O rder
The knights of devotion do not wear the black dress
but a scarlet uniform faced wi th black velvet embroidered
with gold and adorn e d with buttons bearing the cross of
the order The big gold epaulets are similarly decorated
while the sword belt is embroidered i n gold with a rep re
I lay special stress
s en tat i o n o f the Crown o f Thorns
u pon this particular uniform , because i t is the one which
is perhaps the most frequently encountered at the Cou rts
Every nobleman whose ancestry is
o f Berlin and Vi enna
suffici ently free from plebeian strain to qualify him for
admission j oins the order that i s to say the non celibate
division thereof and as the dress i s very picturesque its
members wear i t o n state Occasions in preference to any
military o r diplomati c unifo rm which the y may possess
The O rder of Malta and that o f the Teutonic knights
have a species o f feminine counte rpart i n several semi
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1 2
WILLI AM II
8
the order is suspended from a broad white ribbon ,
edged with gold crossing the breast from the right shoulde r
to the l eft hip
She wears a ri ng similar to those of cardi
nals and bishops which the devout are expected to ki ss
precisely as i f she were a prelate
I n her hand she bea rs
a pastoral sta ff studded with j ewels while a m itre o f
peculiar shape adorns her curly head
The mi tre and
staff are over six hundred years old having b een given by
the royal saint King W enceslaus o f Bohemia t o the then
Abbess o f St George as the order was styl ed i n those
days The l ong train I may add is of black velvet lined
and edged with ermine
The obj ect o f this order as well as o f the othe rs o f a
kindred character i s to fu rnish a home for single ladies of
illust rious bi rth and single means
As I have already
stated the ladies b ear th e titl e of canonesses rank a t court
with ladi es i n waiting and chamberlains receive an allow
ance o f about a thousand dollars a year , have suites o f apart
ments i n the H adraj i n Palace and are not merely provided
wi th board from the imperial ki tchens but also with horses
and carriages from the imperial stables They are address ed
’
as madame
no matter whether they are widows o r spin
st e rs and possess the social status
i ndependenc e and i m
munity from parental control that a marri ed woman en
j oys The costume worn by the canonesses is black similar
i n cut to that o f the fashion set by Queen Mary Stuart of
Scotland and has a Medici ru ff o r collar The black silk
mantle o f the order , bordered with ermine , is requir ed to
be worn at the daily service of th e chapter i n the royal
church o f Al l Saints at Prague The i nsi gnia o f the O rde r
o f St Theresa which was reconstituted i n the past centu ry
by Empress Maria Theresa consists of a star worn on the
left b reast with a broad ribbon passing from the right
of
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AND FRAN CI S J O S E PH
1 2
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shoulder to the left hip where i t is fastened by the medal
lion o r j ewel o f the order The ribbon is white edged
with gold
I n so m e o f the other orders o f the same kind
such as for instance that o f the D ucal Chapter o f Savoy
founded by Prince Eugene the insignia is worn fastened to
a bow o f broad ribbon on the left shoulder
I t is the presence o f the knights and ladies of these
various orders i n thei r picturesque array that gives so
medi aeval a flavor and unique an aspect to all the state
functions and great ceremonies at the Court o f Vi enna
O ne turns from the black robed ambassador o f the Sove
reign O rder of Malta , with his Elizabetha n ru ff and with
a great white cross woven into the breast o f his sombre
doublet to the gigantic Archduke Eugene whose snow
white doublet and flowing white robes are decorated with
huge black crosses ; and then after chatting for a while with
a knight o f devotion o f the O rder of Mal ta i n his scarlet
uniform and sword belt representing the Crown o f Thorns
one suddenly finds oneself confronted by a barely seven
teen year old archduchess whose smiling sunny and mis
th e
c h i ev ou s face is surmounted by an episcopal mitre
ecclesiastical e ff ect being increas ed by the crozier which
she bears i n her hand
Add to this the Mary Stuart caps
dr e sses and ru ffs of the canonesses the fur trimmed vel v et
k a ft a ns and attilas of the Hungarian magnates whose
buckles and sword belts as well as scimitars o f barbaric
magnificence are adorned with sup e rb j ewels — their cos
tume b eing exactly what i t was i n the days of Empress
Maria Theresa—and you have at the Court o f Vi enna a
scene that carries yo u back to the middle ages and that
would seem strangely o u t o f place and altogether ana
ch roni st i c were i t not for the setting o ffered by the i m
perial palace o r Hofburg
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3
W ILLI AM II
2
A fourth H enri etta is Queen o f Belgium and conso rt
o f King L eopold
A fifth L ouise will eventually wear the crown o f Queen
her husband being heir pr e sumptive to the
o f Saxony
throne o f his uncl e King Albert o f Saxony
A sixth Archduchess D orothy is D uchess o f O rl eans
and expects o ne day to bl ossom forth as Queen o f France
that is i f her husband ever plucks up the courage which
has until now been wanting to put his pretensions i nto
actual execution ; while Archduchess Charlotte now con
fin e d as a lunatic i n the castl e of Bouchout near Brussels
shared for a brief p eri od t h e throne of Mexi co wi th her
husband the ill fated Emperor Maximilian
I t may not be amiss at this point to call attention to the
fact apparentl y but little recognized that had not Maxi
milian been driven by the insatiate ambition of his wi fe
Archduchess Charlotte and by her inordinate j ealousy o f
the superi o ri ty o f rank o f Empress Elizabeth to accep t
the offer o f the imperial crown o f Mexico he would to
day as next eldest brother o f the emperor stand as hei r
presumptive to the cro w
ns o f A ust ria and Hungary while
his wife instead o f being a wi dow and demented would
have attained the climax o f her ambition the realization
of her most cherished hope n amely the position o f first
lady o f the dual empire
Emperor Francis Joseph did everything that lay in his
power to prevent his brother whose real name was not
Maximilian but Ferdinand from accepting the pro ffered
crown of Mexico deeming i t beneath the dignity o f a sci on
o f the house o f Hapsburg to either accept so thoroughly
p art/m u a throne o r to embark o n an ente rprise which at
the best could be described as little better than an adventure
Empress Elizabeth hersel f although she had no reason to
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FRA N CI S J O S EP H
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love her sister i n law Charlotte or to desire her presence
in Austria j oined her entreati es to those of the emperor
I n fact the entire impe rial family was united i n urging
Archduke Ferdinand to decline the Mexican crown and
there is no doubt that he would have yielded had i t not
been for his wife who was resolved to b e an empress j ust
the same as her sister i n law Elizabeth
I t is needless to relate here the experi ences of this ill
fated imperial couple i n the W estern Hemisphere : h o w
Maximilian was maintained on his throne enti rely b y the
suppo rt o f the French arm y under the command o f Mar
shal Baz aine how Napoleon II I was forced by a threat
to wi thdraw hi s forces
o n the part o f the United Sta tes
l eaving Maximilian to hi s fate and how the unfo rtunate em
r
r declining to abandon those of the Mexicans who had
e
o
p
sacr ificed their fo rtunes for his sake o r to return to Europe
as a discredited adventurer remained at his pe rilous post
until deserted and alone he was betrayed into the hands
of hi s enemies sentenced to death by cou rt martial and
shot down by a file o f so ldiers on the plains of Queretaro
But what is no t generally known is the dramatic scene
which took place i n the Vati can i n the private apartments
of the late Pope Pius I X when E mpress C harlotte j ust a
’
m onth b efore her husband s death and duri ng th e course
of a p rivate audience with the good old p ontiff suddenly
lost her reason
So startlingly sudden i ndeed was her lapse from a con
si d e rab le brilliancy of intellect into the blackest night o f
i nsanity that there is some ground for crediting t h e st ory
current i n Mexico to the effect that i t was brought about
by a peculiar poison known to the Mexi can I ndians and
half breeds by the name o f T
which destroys the
mind while leaving th e body unimpaired
This p oison is
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W ILLI AM
34
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said to have been administered to her by one o f her Mexi
can attendants in whom she con fi ded but who was i n
reality i n the pay o f her enemi es
T he empress had come to Europe from Mexico i n order
to induce Napoleon to refrai n from withdraw
ing the French
army under Bazai ne from the W estern Hemisphere
She
found the French monarch i n a state of doubt and hesi ta
ti on and realizing the i nfluence o f Empress Eugeni e Over
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hi m and the weight which the Ponti ff s wishes and words
had with her French maj esty proceeded to Rome for the
express purpose o f getting Pi us I X to bring pressure to
bear upon Napoleon through Eugeni e
Empress Charlotte had arrived at the Vatican and had
been i nvi ted by the Pope to breakfast with him after mass ,
an honor which the Roman ponti ffs are only accustomed to
confer upon crowned heads and even then th e illustrious
gues ts do not take their meal at the same table as the Hol y
Father but at a smaller o n e placed beside his
The em
press had j ust drunk a cup of chocolate and was i n the
act of eating an egg when she suddenly started up from
h er chai r with a blood curdling shri ek and exclaiming
that she was poisoned fell to the ground in a state of c om
Attendants qui ckly rus hed to the
p le t e unconsciousness
assistance o f the Holy Father The unfortunate lady was
’
n room and lay there for three
carried to the Pope s o w
days and nights tended by physicians Sisters o f Mercy
and the Holy Father himself until i t was found p ossible
to transp ort her heavily d rugged and b y night to the
residenc e o f the ex ki ng and queen o f Naples
At first i t was supposed that her i nsanity would merely
prove o f a temporary character ; and i n the hope that
familiar scenes might benefit her mind she was conveyed
to her former home o f Miramar n ear Tri es te where her
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WILLI AM II
36
gous ente rp rises and that he had sun k colossal sums i n the
Congo Free State undertaking
N ot until then di d the
r eigning house of Austria put for w
ard a claim to a share i n
’
the management of Charlotte s fortune o r failing that to
the control of the two thirds which at her death were to
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p ass to Maximilian s next brother Archduke Charles
L ouis , as his legal hei r T 0 this demand L eopold has re
fused to yield even i n spite of threats o f legal proceedings
declaring that i f he retained the direction o f her estate i n
his Own hands i t was by virtue o f a regular power o f at
torney which she had signed and given to him i n one o f
her lucid moments
This constituted the fi rst admission on the part Of K ing
L eopold that the archduchess enj oyed any luci d moments
whatever and a couple o f years ago the rumors to the
effect that she was no longer insane but merely held i n
duress by her brother on monetary grounds became so
pronounced and universal that h e felt i t necessary to have
some o f the leading medical men of the kingdom and ex
perts i n i nsanity make a report up on her case which was
published i n the Ofi t z a l G az ette at Brussels
’
According to this report the ex empress s raven hai r
has become snow white and while her back is no wslightly
bent the profile o f her face remains as clean cut and
cameo like as i n the old days
She possesses her reason
so far as to pass her days i n playing the piano painting
sketching and listening to reading
Her nerves are how
ever dreadfully unstrung and any sudden noise i s apt to
terribly alarm her
Her eccentricities are of a harmless
character consisting in a demand for a new pair o f gloves
each day O n two or three occasions when there were
no new ones at hand and an attempt was made to palm
o ff upon her a pair which had already been worn and
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A ND FRAN CI S J O SEPH
1
3 7
which had been freshened up for the pu rpose , she flew into
a paroxysm o f rage
The ex empress is ve ry fond of her sister i n law the
Queen of the Belgians and also o f her other sister i n law
the Countess o f Flanders o ne o r the other of whom visits
her daily but i t is related i n court circles at Vienna that
she is filled wi th sentiments o f the most bitter hatred
towards her brother L eopold and that on the last occasion
when he v isited her she fi rst of all hurled a flower vase at
his head narrowly missing him and then flew at him
tooth and nail like a fury kicking his lame leg so badly
that he was confined to his bed for some weeks afterwards
I ndeed had i t not been for the fact that her cries and
”
shrieks of murderer and thief had brought her at
t e ndan t s hurrying to the scene there i s no knowing how
the matter might have ended
The castl e o f Bouchout where the archduchess o r
rather Empress Charlotte lives is a typ i cal Belgian ch a
teau standing i n th e midst of a big park enclosed b y a
high wall ; the windows o f all the rooms are heavily
grated and a mili tary guard is maintained over the place
by a company of i nfantry She has been living there ever
since the strange destruction by fire o f her form er abode
under circumstances so peculiar and mysterious as to gi v e
additional strength and color to the many disagreeable
stories circulated about King L eopold i n connection wi th
his unhappy sister
I ndeed she narrowly escaped with
her l ife on that occasion
Yet the king has every reason to hope and t rust that her
life may be prolonged
For as soon as she di es he will
have no further excuse for declining to su rrender to the
imperial house of Austria the two thirds o f her fort une to
which i t is enti tled b y contract and by law
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WILLI AM II
38
This fo rtune thi rty years ago was nearer fi fteen million
dolla rs than ten what i t must be after these three decades
at compound i nterest can readily be calculated and i f
L eopold has been so unfortunate in its administration as
has been alleged i t is di ffi cult t o see how he will be abl e
to meet the demands o f Austria
The two most popular archduchesses i n Austria at the
present m oment are undoubtedly Archduchess Valeri e the
youngest daughter o f the emperor and Archduchess Eliza
beth the only child o f the late cro w
n prince
Elizabeth
holds a particularly warm place i n the a ffections of the
“
Austro Hungarian p eople by who m she is called D i e
The
little
woman
K /ez ue F ra u
[
]
I t is di ffi cult indeed to find any loyal subj ect o f
E m peror Francis Joseph whose voi ce does not perhaps
unconsciously soften i nto a wonderful degree o f tenderness
when ta l king of this seventeen year old princess who lost
her father under such terribly tragi c circumstances at
Mayerling : thi s being also the case when the na me o f
’”
“
is mentioned a fact which I ha v e I
Ufzser R u ai
b eli eve already mentioned i n a preceding chapter for the
crown p rince was a great favori te with the peopl e and the
latter seem to have transferred their affection to his only
daughter and to look upon her as in some way confided
by him to thei r charge— i n o n e word as being a sort o f
ward o f the nation This feeling has been intensified by
’
the fact that bereft o f her father s care when she was
barely six years old she has since that time n o t received
th e degree o f attention and tender solicitude from her
mother which fatherless children have a special right to
expect
I have also i n a previous chapter described how Em
p e ro r Francis Joseph as guardian o f his grandchild t e
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I
WILLIAM
40
II
is no p ri ncess of the blood who has to day a greater repu
tat i o n for h ea rtl ess coquetry than this impe rial widow and
’
her fli rtat i ons since her husband s death have been as
numerous as the stars some of them being characterized
by exceedingl y sensational episodes as fo r instance when
she fel t constrained to lay her riding whip across the face
of a well known Austrian nobl eman Count Ch
in
the Prater at a moment when the avenue under the trees
was crowded with riders
’
Thanks to these foreign wande rings and to Stephanie s
’
numerous af ai rer ae eee u r her daughter has seen but littl e
I ndeed the m other hardly knew her child until
o f her
about two years ago when falling so ill that her life was
despaired o f she was nursed back to health by her sadly
negl ected little daughter at that time a girl o f between
fourteen and fifteen
I t is possible that Stephanie ne v er
realized until th en that she really had a daughter
For
about a year afterwards the relations between mother and
daughte r were very close and tender Then again the y
’
drifted apart ! Stephanie s flirtatio u s her fl igh t y conduct
’
and her raciness o f sp eech o ffended the young girl s no
tions of dignity and jarred upon her s ense of delicacy as
they had done in the cas e of th e Crown Pri nce Rudolph
The little archduchess has been brought up in a very
difl e ren t school from that o f her mother and thanks to
this i t may be doubted whether Elizabeth was much moved
by the announcement that this mother had become so i n
fatu at e d wi th a young Hungarian secretary of l egation
that she wished to marry him
I ndeed i t is improbabl e
that any o f the obj ections made to the match were raised
either by the young girl or by any members o f the i m
perial family ; for the latter at any rate far from di sap
proving the match must on the contrary have rej oiced
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A ND FRA N C I S J O SEPH
in anything that was calculated t o tone down Stephanie to
r e duce her to quietud e and to put a stop to fli rtat i ons and
conduct that had become a topic of g ossip and o f amused
comment at every court i n Europe
I t is di ffi cult to imagine any greater contrast than that
which exists between Crown Princess Stephani e and her
sister i n law Mari e Val e ri e the youngest daughter o f the
emperor
She possesses nei ther the extraordinary chic
nor the exaggerated and ruinous elegance o f Stephanie
Her features have some o f the facial characteristi cs o f the
Hapsburg family but she has a willowy grace an elas ticity
o f deportment a simplici ty and quiet digni ty of manner
which are far beyond anything to which the widowed
crown p ri ncess could e ver hope to attain and which
r e mind on e strangel y of the late and lamented empress
’
although she lacks her mother s glo rious and unequalled
beauty o f face and form This is not astonishing Fo r
’
Valerie had been from early childhood her mother s most
constant companion and associate and remai ned so until
the time o f her marriage
I ndeed after b ecoming affi
ance d to the D uke o f O porto brother o f the King o f
Portugal who seemed destined at the time t o eventually
ascend the throne o f the B raganz as she broke o ff the
match at the last moment rather than leave h er mother
alone i n t h e gri e f into which the unfortunate woman had
b een plunge d by the death o f her only son
Certain it is
’
that no o n e could have felt her mother s death more
keenl y than di d Archduchess Valerie and the traces l eft
by this despairing sorro ware pathetic to wi tness
There is no lady o f the imperial family so thoroughly i n
touch wi th the peopl e as this youngest daughter o f the
emperor ; her entire existence is now spent in bringing
up her children and i n caring for her father who chiefl y
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WILLI AM
42
II
makes his home with her for all family festivals are spent
by hi m beneath her roof and at his request she has estab
n res idence i n the p al ace at SchOnb run n so
li sh ed her to w
as to be near him
Very statel y and dignified at all court functions a gr eat
lady to her v e ry fi nger tips , i n spite o f her youth she
mak e s no pretensions whatever to extravagance of dress or
to ultra fas hionable attire on ordi nary occasions She aims
at being the good housewife and the family mother , rather
than the princess o f the blood ; and i nn u me rable stories
are current at Vienna illustrating the simplicity and utter
absence of affectation i n he r manner as for i nstance on
o n e occasion when travelling from L i nz to Vienna she
caught sight o f a boy o f about twelve or thi rteen crying
bitterly o n th e platform o f the former station having
’
ascertained that the lad had just heard o f his mother s
death and had been summoned by telegraph to Vi enna i n
order to attend the funeral she caused the little fellow to
be brought to her compartment paid the di fference of
fare between a third class ticket and a fi rs t class o n e and
’
during t he n early three hours j ourney to the capi tal de
voted herself to consoling the boy explaining to him that
she too had recently lost her mother to whom she had
been passionately attached in a very sudden and t ragi c
manner and telling him that like herself he must try to
control his own grief i n order to be able to d evote all hi s
energies to the task of consoling his father I t was not until
the boy reached Vienna and was given b y the archduchess
i n charge o f the station mas ter with orders to pay fo r a cab
to his home that he l earnt that the kindl y black robed and
rathe r sad faced lady with whom h e had been travelling
from L inz was no other than Archduchess Valeri e the
favo ri te daughter the An tigone in fact o f the Old emperor
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WILLI AM
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11
that she had her large family o f children which include
the Archdukes Frederick Eugene and Charles —Stephen
(the latter o f whom is the admiral and sailor o f the imperial
family ) and likewise the Queen Regent of Spain
The
archduchess together with the wi fe of Archduke Rainer
and Archduchess A d elgon de, wi dow o f the last rei gning
D uke o f Modena constitute practically the only pri ncesses
o f the house of Hapsburg who belong to the same genera
tion as the emperor himself All the other feminine c o n
temporari es o f his maj esty repose in the vault of the Ca
puchin Church at Vienna ;
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C H A PT E R
XXV I
There is no country in the world in which C upid is p er
mi t t e d such undisputed sway as i n Austro H ungary no
great city where his shafts fly more freely than at Vi enna
no court at which h e is more welcomed as an honored
guest than at that o f Emp eror Francis Joseph ! I have
repeatedly alluded i n these pages to the susceptibility o f
heart which constitutes one o f the characteristic and hered
i tary traits o f the house o f Hapsburg
I t has led arch
dukes as well as archduchesses to occasionally give thei r
affections and their hands to persons who were their i n
feri o rs i n rank Cupid delighting above eve ry thing else i n
originating and promoti ng this sort o f romances and
hence it is that there is no reigning family that has such a
large numb er o f kinsfolk who are no t o f blood royal or
imperial as the sovereign dynasty of Hapsburg
I n fact the law o f th e land has made special provision
for unions of this kind by instituting what is known as the
morganatic marriage system a scheme especiall y devised
to enabl e personage s belonging to the reigning family to
marry ordinary nobles and even for the matter of that
sometimes absolute plebeians
Morganati c marriages are
but littl e understood either in the United States o r i n
England
By some they are regarded as a kind o f semi
l egalized concubinage by others they are believed to
confer the full rights and pri v ileges of an ordinary mar
Even the origi n o f the word morganatic is nu
ri age
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45
1
WILLIAM
46
11
known
I ts most likely derivation however is from th e
Scandinavian verb morgj a n [
to shorten or limit] imply
ing that the rights o f the i nferior of the two contracting
parties are limited and do not extend to the full conditi on
’
Thus a morganatic wife has no right
o f the other s rank
’
to her husband s ti tle o r fortune and he is not permitted
to charge the family domain wi th a li fe interest i n her b e
hal f She is depri v ed o f the appanag e ordinarily reserved
’
for the wives o f the other members o f her husband s family
and i f he dies without specially providing for h er ou t o f
his sa v ings or pri vate and unentailed fortune both sh e
and her o ffspri ng are left penniless
Moreover although the posi tion o f a morganatic wife i s
regarded as perfectly respectable yet her husband i s at
liberty during her lifetime and without obtaining any
separation o r divorce to contract another marriage with a
p rincess of his own rank
An instance in poi nt is that of th e D uke de Berry
wh o at the tim e when he was hei r presumpti v e to t he
throne of France was forced by reasons o f state to b e
come the husband o f Princess Caroline o f Naples although
he was at the time m organatically marri ed to an English
wo m an named Amy Brown ; while there is evidence t o
sho wthat at the time that King George I V o f England
w e dded Queen Carolin e o f Brunswi ck he was already
ecclesiastically marri ed to Mrs Fitzherbert
As a rule morganatic wives are never seen at cou rt thi s
is to a great extent done for the purpose o f avoiding t h e
awkwardness which would be caused by refusing to t h e
lady i n question the precedence enj oyed by her husband
since he would naturally take his place in the royal or i m
perial circle whereas she would be obliged to remain
among the non royal o r non i mperial company but ther e
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1
WILLI A M II
48
of
an hour later beheld the fair Anna arrayed i n the tradi
t i o nal postillion s jacket buckski n breeches and top boots
astride o f on e o f the leaders and conducting the imperial
ca rriage at a rattling pace along the road leading o ut o f
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,
B rand h o fl e n
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.
The good looks Of the pseudo posti l lion soon attracted
th e attention o f the archduke who b efore the end o f the
stage was reached drew her into con v ersation and o b
tai n e d a confessi on o f the i nnocent fraud perp e trated by the
’
post master s daughter
Susceptible to feminine charms
like all the members of his house it was only natural that
the archduke who was then a dashi ng and attractive fel
low should have been much interested by the episode and
the acquai ntance thus formed soon rip ened i nto an infatua
tion which culminated i n a morganatic marriage Anna
was first creat e d by the emperor Baroness B randh offen and
subsequently Countess o f Meran
From this union which
attracted an immense amount o f attention and comment
at the time there was born only one son the late Count
Franz von Meran who became a great favori te not only o f
the emperor but also o f the empress and of all the other
m embers o f the i m perial family Honors and digniti es o f
every kind were heaped upon him an d he died a few years
ago having survived his mother the eye posti lli on by only
a fe wmonths
He li es buried with her in the little cemetery o f th e vil
lage of B rand h o ffen where the archduke and Anna first
met and where the former erected a beautiful ch a teau in
which he lived with his wi fe many years
The sons o f
Count Francis of Meran are among the most popular mem
b e rs of Viennese society and of the court o f Francis
Joseph
The grand master o f the Austrian Court and certainly i ts
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A ND FRA N CI S J O S E PH
1
40
most ornamental and prepossessing digni tary is Pri nce A l
fred Mon t enu ov o who is nothing more n o r less than a grand
so n o f Empress Ma ri e L ouise of France the Austrian arch
duchess who succeeded Josephine as consort o f the first
Napoleon
’
Everybody who has seen Sardou s great play Mada me
S a ns G ene or who has read the book bearing that ti tle
will recall to mind that Count N eipperg the Austrian
chamberlain o f Empress Mari e L ouise plays the rOle o f
the lo v er i n the drama
The father of the present Prince
Mo nte nu ov o was no other than the son of the empress and
According to the Almanach de
o f this Count N eipperg
G otha the late Prince Mon t enu ov o was born at Parma j ust
two months after the death at St Helena of Mari e
’
L ouise s husband Napoleon I that is to say be fore e v en
the news o f his demise could have reached Europe and
thus have enabled the empress to contract a morganati c
union with Count N ei pp e rg But the Almanach de Gotha
like several o f the English P eerages is more consi d erate
and courteous than always strictly correct especially where
the fai r sex is concern ed and i t is no secret at the Court
o f Vi enna that the appearance i n the world o f the late
Prince Mo nt enuov o took place a couple of months prior
to the termi nation o f the eventful existence o f the great
Napoleon
I ndeed i t was i n consequence o f these ci rcumstances i n
connection with the date of the birth that the Neipperg
family on e o f the most ancient and illustrious houses of
the German empire absolutely refused to permit the child
t o bear thei r time honored patronymi c which they hold
as equal in antiquity and puri ty o f descent to that of the
H apsburgs
They even went so far as to bluntl y i ntimate
to o ld Emperor Francis that he would do w e ll to p rovid e a
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1
WILLI A M
50
11
’
family name for his daughter s illegi timate child i nstead
o f attempting to foist i t upon them
The emperor who notwithstanding his sheep like face
and unintellectual appearance was by no m eans a fool
adopted thei r suggestion without comment and wi th a cer
tain grim and sardonic humor invested his i llegitimate
grandson with the name and title o f a Count Mo n t enu ov o
which is nothing more nor less than the I talian translation
”
N eipperg which is derived from N eu Berg
o f the word
new
mountain
H
e
moreover
settled
large
estates
upon
]
[
the boy and when the latter grew up heaped all sorts o f
hono rs and digni ties upon him
W illiam o f Mon t e nu ov o p roved himself fully worthy o f
the favor of his i mperial grandfather to whom he was i n
finitely more attached than to his m other the latter having
possessed as little maternal i nstinct as moral
H e was sel
d o m at Parma especially when after the death o f his
father Count Adam N eipperg i n 1 8 2 9 his mother mar
ri ed another o f her chamberlains Count B o mb elles whose
so n
by the bye accompani ed Emperor Maximilian to
Mexico and subsequently acted as master o f the household
to the ill fated Crown Prince Rudolph
Young W illiam Mon t enu o vo greatly distinguished him
self i n the wa rs o f 1 8 4 9 and 1 8 5 9 narrowly escaping being
taken prisoner at the battle o f Solferino by those very
French over whom his mother had reigned for more than
eight years
The present emperor advanced him to the
rank o f prince and he was the life and soul of the Court o f
Vienna until about twenty yea rs ago when he suddenly b e
came i nsane
His lunacy took the form of a speci es of
mania on the subj ect o f music
His rooms in the great
lunatic asylum at D o eb li ng furnished with the utmost com
fort and luxury were crowded wi th all kinds o f muSIcal i n
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1
W ILLI AM II
52
I n Prince Alfred the peculiar Hapsburg t raits thoug h
marked are softened into actual beauty ; his hands too
although he is a superb swordsman and rider are as long
as soft and as shapely as those for which Empress Mari e
L ouise was so famous I n fact i t is di ffi cul t to find a
fi ne r looking man at the Court o f Vienna than i ts grand
master Pri nce Mont enu ov o
H e is likewise president o f the Jockey Club and has
come prominently before the sporting world i n his e ndeav
o rs to purify the Austrian and Hungarian turf from those
scandals by which alas i t has like many others been some
n a racing stable
times disgraced
N ot only does he ow
himself but his wi fe a Countess Kinsky by birth also pos
sesses an independent stud of her o w
n and not i n fre
quentl y the colors o f the wife are to be seen matched
’
against those o f the husband
I ndeed the princess s
stable i s even more famous than that of the prince and on
o n e occasi on a horse belonging to her won the blue ribbon
o f the Austrian turf th e Vienna D erby
Prince Mon t enu o v o is at the present moment thanks to
his position at court to his presidency o f the Jockey Club
to his vast wealth and to his recognition as a ki nsman of
the imperial family on e o f the greatest powers i n Austrian
and Hungarian soci ety and it is certainly an irony o f fate
that whereas the father at his birth was considered un
worthy to bear even the name of o ne o f the nobl e families
l
o f the land the son should now ha ve become th e ackn o w
edged leader of the most exclusive soci ety and the proud
est aristocracy i n the world
Another relative o f the imperial house of Austria who i s
not a prince of the blood and who has nevertheless the
”
“
right to address his Apostolic maj esty as grandfather
is young Baron Seefried formerl y a sub lieutenant of the
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A ND
FRA N crs
J O SEPH
1
53
Bavarian army but now holding a captaincy i n the Aus
trian service
H e made the acquaintance of Princess
Elizabeth of Bavaria at a court ball at Munich to whi ch
h e was invited by virtue of his quali ty as o ne o f the sub
alterns o f the Guard H e is not good looking yet in some
way or another he managed to wi n his way i nto the good
graces of the young princess who while far from being a
beauty is a wholesome looking sunny faced girl bearing a
consi derable resemblance to her mother Archduchess Gis
ela eldest daughter of the Emperor and Empress of
Austria
The pri ncess who was but sixteen years old at the time
found frequent means of meeting the young sub lieutenant
a cla ndestine correspondence ensued and i n course of time
the i nfatuation o f the young girl became so apparent to
Pri nce L eopold and Archduchess Gisela the parents of
the young l ady that they deemed i t p rudent to secure the
transfer of the young li eutenant to Metz
After being there for a few months he return ed to
Munich on leave o f absence and before the royal family
o f Bavaria became aware o f his arrival he had vanished
this time taking the young princess with him
They were marri ed withi n four and twenty hours after
leaving Munich by a Catholic priest in I taly and onl y
then sent l etters to the parents o f the princess in forming
them that they had become husband and wife Meanwhile
th e ir flight had created a terrible sensation and some news
pap e rs notably the G ermani a the l eading ultra m ontane
n e wspaper in all Germany even went to the l ength o f de
c lari ng i n print that they were living and travelli ng to
gether as man and wife although not marri ed
All these slanderous stori es o f course served only to em
bitter the parents o f the p rincess still more against he r
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1
WI LLI AM
54
11
They responded to her letters b y declaring that they had
cast her o ff forever at th e same time i ntimating t hat i f
ever young Seefri ed dared to set his foot o n Bavarian soil
he would b e thrown into prison fo r the abduction of a
princess o f the blood and for military desertion
As the m eans of the young coupl e were limited the
princess ultimately r e solved to appeal to her grandfather
Emperor Francis Joseph with whom until that time she
had been a particular favorite
Accordingly travelling
”
H err und Frau v on Walden
they ar rived
i ncogni t o as
i n Vienna secured thei r quarters at a small third rate
hotel and then th e princess hailed a cab and drove off to
the Hofburg to see her grandfather
W hat took place between the t w
o o r what means the
princess empl oyed to wi n the kind hea rted old monarch
Over to her side i t i s impossibl e to say
But when she
re turned a coupl e o f hours later she carri ed with her the
full pardon o f her grandfather his promise to i ntercede
wi th her parents his assurance that he would secure the
transfer o f young Seefried from the Bavarian army to that
and also a handsome sum o f money as a first
o f Austria
instalment o f the annuity which he undertook to settle upon
the young couple
A week later young Seefried w
h o ha d meanwhile been
p resented to the emperor and who had created a very
fav orable impression upon him , received his discharge
from the Bavarian arm y and a commission as first lieu
tenant i n an infantry regi ment stationed at Troppau
Since that time ; the p ri ncess has been entirely reconciled
to her parents thanks to the i ntervention o f the e m peror
and so pl eased has the old monarch been by the singularly
happy life o f the young people that he has creat e d Baron
Seefri ed an Austrian count and presented the p ri ncess
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1
WILLI AM
56
11
press who was the kindest hearted o f women a complete
reconciliation was a ffected with the emperor who invited
them to co m e to Vienna with their daughter
They arrived i n the ca pital i n which the archduke had
not set foot for nearly twenty years and took up their resi
dence at the Hotel Sacher the archduke visiting the em
p e ro r withi n a few hours after his arri v al and receiving
from him not only a full and compl ete pardon for his dis
obedience o f imperial commands but also the restorati on
o f all his honors and digniti es
The interview between
the two cousins was most cordial but i t was the las t that
ever took place for o n the following morning the Archduke
H enry was seized with a violent attack of illness and o n
the evening o f the same day his wi fe who had j ust been
created Baroness W ai d eck by the emperor was also p ros
t rat ed by sudden sickness
The su ff erings o f the archduke and the baroness were very
brief and on the following evening they succumbed withi n
an hour o f each other l eaving thei r only child the pretty
eighteen year Old Mari e an orphan and alone i n the hotel
’
The suddenness of her parents death and the loneliness
o f the young girl who was wi thout any relatives o n h e r
’
mother s side and whose bereavement was rendered
doubl y cruel by the fact that i t occurred at the very mo
ment when brighter prospects seemed to b e opening up
for the little family after their many years of banishment
aroused universal sympathy nowhere more so than among
’
her imperial relatives Ar chduke Henry s brother Rai
ner at once came forward and took charge o f his niece
giving her a hom e b eneath his roof and adopting her as
his child while the emperor settl ed upon her a large sum
o f money at the same time conferring upon her the ti tle
n right
o f countess in her Ow
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
1
-
57
A year later she contracted with the consent o f the em
ror and that o f her adopted pa r ents a marriage wi th the
e
p
eldest son o f the D uke D ella Grazzia w
h o like he rself
has royal blood i n his veins for the duke i s the o fl sp ri ng
o f the D uchess D e Berri and o f her chamberlain the N ea
politan Marquis Lucchesi Pali and is a half brother there
fore o f the late Comte de Chambord pretender to the
French throne
It m
ay b e remembered that at th e moment when King
C harles X o f France was forced to abdicate by the rev olu
tion of 1 8 3 0 he did so i n favor Of hi s grandson the OH
spring o f his murdered son the D uke d e Be rri who had
been assassinated a number of years p reviously at the
Opera The boy i n whose favor the old king abandoned
hi s crown was know
n up to tha t moment as the D uke o f
Bordeaux ; he reign ed fo r about twenty four hours under t h e
name of Ki ng Henry V and was then comp elled together
wi th his mother the widowed D uchess de Berri to j oin the
o ld monarch i n exile the first yea rs o f which were spent i n
the pal ace o f Holyrood Edi nburgh which had been placed
at his disposal by the Ki ng o f England
Meanwhile Ki ng L ouis P hilippe had secured possession
His rule was extremely unpopular
o f the French throne
especially i n the western provinces o f France which re
mained strongl y imbued with L egi ti mi sm Encouraged by
this the widowed D uchess de Ber ri who possessed a very
keen Spirit o f adventure resolved to make an e ffort to re
co v er the crown o f France fo r her 5 0 1 1
Accordingly she
s ecretly landed on the coast o f B ri ttany and placed hersel f
at the head o f a L egitimist rising against the government
usurper as King L ouis Philippe was styled The
o f the
struggl e between the i nsurgents and the government went
on for some months wi th va ry ing success until , finall y , the
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1
WILLIA M II
58
duchess was betrayed into the hands of her foes by a man
named D eutz for a sum o f two hundred thousand dollars
which was handed to him with a pair of tongs by M
Thiers at that time p ri m e minister
D e utz i t may be added who had until then been a con
fi de n t i al agent o f the duchess i mmediately betook him
self to England where he hastened to change his name to
that of G olds mi dt and with the price o f the betrayal laid
the foundation of a large fortun e
The duchess was imprisoned i n a castle until i t became
known that she was on the e v e o f becoming a mother
Called upon to give an explanation and finding herself the
obj ect of all s orts of disgraceful stories the duchess ulti
mately confessed that she was secretly married to her N ea
poli tan chamberlain the Marquis Lucchesi Pali and that
t h e child to which she was about to give birth would be his
o ffspri ng
King L ouis P hilippe caused this confession on her pa rt
to be published far and wid e and i t had the effect o f at
once bringing about the collapse o f the royalist i nsu rre c
tion and i ndeed so utterly disgusted were the French
legitimists at her m é salliance that they refused to have any
thing more to do wi th her
Realizi ng that she had ceased
to constitute a danger King L ouis Philippe set her free
and she thereupon took up h er residence at Venice wi th
her husband
She was vi rtually cas t o fl by the royal
family o f France which declined to hold any further com
mu n i cat i o n with her and she was deprived of the guardian
ship o f her boy who was brought up under the direction
Ki ng Charles and o f his aunts not
o f his grandfather
even s e eing his mother until after he had attai n e d man
hood
T he D uchess de Berri had a large family b y her husband
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1
W ILLIA M II
60
at the Court of Vienna but who is nowbanished from
the empi re i n consequence o f the pa rt sh e played i n the
terrible traged y that robbed Austro Hungary o f its crow
n
p rince
Th e lady i n question is a niece o f the late E mpress of
Austria and occupi ed at the Court o f Vi en na almost the
p osition o f an adopted daughter of her maj esty
She was
th e i ssue o f D uke Lo uis o f Bavaria and an actress named
H enri etta Mendel who had been created by the late Ki ng
o f Bavaria Ba r oness o f W allersee
’
Realizing that the gi rl s posi tion would be on e o f ex
treme di ffi culty i n Bavaria by reason o f the family asso
c i at i ons o f the Baroness W allersee the empress took the
girl away with her to Austria treated her as her o w
n
child and ultimately marri ed her to Count George Lari sc h
the wedding taking place at the impe rial palace o f G odOllO
i n Hungary
I t has been said by good authoriti es that this ma rriage
was hastened by the discovery o n the part o f the emperor
and empress that an atta chment was springing u p between
the young baroness and the cro w
n prince and that forge t
ful o f the nature o f her parentage the gi rl ha d become i m
bued wi th hop es and expectations o f becoming o n e day
E mpress o f Austro Hungary
Be th i s as i t may i t did not
prevent the emperor and empress from dowering h er most
handsomely and from continuing to lavish every imagi na
ble kindness upon her
For her sake the rul es and regulations concerning the
order o f the Star Cross [
St e rnkreu t z ] as well as the an
c est ral qualifications required o f women admitted to court
i n Aust ria were wai ved and i n spite of the plebeian origin
o f her actress mother she was accorded the same p ri vi
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AN D FRAN C I S J OSEP H
1
-
61
leges and ri ghts as i f she had belonged to the oldes t and
’
most blue blooded o f Austria s aristocrac y
Terribl y extravagant y oung Countess Lari sch ere long
exhausted the generosity of her imperial aunt and o f her
good natured husband and was d riven by financial straits
to adopt questionable exp edi ents some o f them distinctl y
dishonorable fo r the purpose o f Ob taining money Among
the most disgraceful o f all these transactions was her pro
motion o f the affection between the crown pri nce and
Baroness Mari e V etz era not as a matter of friendship
but i n retu rn for monetary pay ment
I nasmuch as sh e
form ed part of soci ety and the V et z eras di d not st rictly
S peaking belong thereto she was able to furnish the cro w
n
p rince with many Opportuniti es o f meeting the girl he
l oved so passionately on occasions w h i ch he would not
otherwise have enj oyed
I t was only some time afte r the tragedy o f Ma y e rling
that the r ole played by Countess Lari sch was brought to light
i n a ve ry p eculiar manner The emperor had charged o ne
Of the leading Austrian painters with the execution o f an
e quest rian p ortrai t o f his son and with the obj ect of facili
tating his work directed that the uniform which had habitu
ally been worn b y the pri nce shoul d b e confided to the
a rtist
The latter i n arranging the dolman discovered i n
th e breast pocket a letter addressed to the cro w
n p rince
I t was in the handw riting o f Countess Lari sch containing
abundant references to Marie V e tz e ra and wound up with
a request fo r the loan o f a large sum o f money alluding
m oreover to the fact that i t was by no m eans the fi rst ad
vance o f this kind that she had received from the ar ch
duke
R ealizing at once the impo rtance of this discove ry , the
a rtist handed the letter to the emperor , who thereupon
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1
W ILLI A M
62
II
commenced an i nvestigati on which result ed in the dis
c o v e ry o f the fact that Sh e had n ot only acted as the go
between of the crown prince and o f th e baroness placing
her house at their disposal for thei r meetings but had like
wise done every thing she could to keep alive the j ealousy
o f the crown princess wi th the obj ect of rende ring R u
’
dolph s home life i ntolerable
I mmediately the emperor r eal ized to i ts full extent the
’
ignominy of his niece s conduct he com m anded her to re
turn to the empress her S ternkreu tz and her other deco ra
tions and banished her not only from court but also from
the empire
She thereupon took up her residence i n
’
Bavaria and finding the doors of her father s royal rela
t i v e s as well as those o f the Bavarian aristocracy closed
against her she was reduced to the companionship of her
’
mother s people who belonged to the theatrical pro
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fess i o n
.
Count George Lari sch who has the rep u tati on o f being
the best natured fool i n the Austrian army and who was
the butt of every wi ttici sm and practi cal j oke o n the part
o f his messmates i n the cavalry regiment to which he
belonged had at first been content with a p rivate separa
’
tion being unwilling to add to the burden o f his wife s
disgrace
He i nsisted on retaining possession o f the chil
dren but at the same time permi tted her to continue to
bear his name and paid her a very handsome allowance
W hen however he found that i nstead o f living quietly
and endeavoring to keep i n the background Sh e was
o n the contrary creating something very much aki n to
a public scandal i n Bavaria by her i nfatuation for an actor
named Bruck and capped this by announcing that she was
about to publish her reminiscences o f the Court o f Austria
including fu l l details o f a l l th e ci rcums tances connected
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C HA PT ER
Pri ncess
XXV
Mette rnich
II
remains to day as she has b een
for th e past thirty y ears the most popular and brilliant
fi gure at th e C ourt o f Vienna ; the on e woman o f all
others to whom the proudest aristocracy i n the world
accords i ts social allegiance and who i n a capi tal
and at a court where princesses o f eve ry degree are
almost as numerous as th e stars o f the fi rmament is
”
“
the only on e know
n as
TH E Princess
N o woman has exercised a more widespread and mark ed
i nfluence upon the soci ety o f the second hal f o f the nine
To her above
t eent h century than Pauline Metternich
eve ry one else belongs the credit o f emanci pating the fai r sex
from the thraldom of cant and hypocrisy which p revailed
du ring the last centu ry and the earlier half of the present
W omen esp eciall y during the two o r three decades fol
lowing the battle o f Waterloo had been reduced to a p o
sitio u aki n to that of hot house flowers I t was considered
i ndisp ensable that they should faint if the slightest thing
occurred to ru ffl e their emotions or to disturb the e v en
tenor of their ways They were subj ected by convention
ality to nearly as irk some restrictions as the kau ri s of
O riental harems They were not allowed to appear on
the streets without being followed by a se rvant i n livery
R i ding driving shooting and i n fact every form o f sport
was forbidden to them , thei r conversation was con fi ned
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1
WILLI A M
66
11
withi n ce rtain narrow limits and elegance and eve ryt h ing
that concern ed the toilette was regarded as bad form ap
rOp ri at e onl y to the demi monde
p
Possessed o f an origi nal mind a b rilliant intellect vast
wealth and an assured social p ositi on the princess at
once set to work to teach her sex that i t was no si n to
laugh and that women p rovided that they do not over
step the bounds o f morality h ave just the same right as
men to amuse themselves as they deem fit to satisfy thei r
curiosity to avail themselves o f most o f the ple asures and
pastimes formerly monopolized by the masculine element
and to give frank and free expressi on to their thoughts and
”
“
Opinions
She moreover taught that
chic and el e
gance in dress and the newest fashions connected with the
toilette are not i ncompatibl e wi th re fi nement and good
form ; she revived th e worshi p o f the mischievous li ttle
god C/z zfi on which had fallen i nto desuetude since the
R estoration after th e battle o f Waterloo ; she i nvented
and inaugurated the mal e cou tu ri er who has now become a
well recognized social enti ty not alone i n Paris but i n
every capi tal o f the civilized world and during the fifteen
years which she sp ent at Paris , contributed more than any
o ne else to restore to the French capital the reputati on for
gaiety brillianc y and p re eminence i n elegance which i t
had enj oyed until the advent to the throne o f the bourgeois
dynasty o f the O rleans
Princess Pauline is the most cu ri ous mixture o f a gami n
and a great lady that i t is possibl e to conceive
H er
strange freaks and eccentricities furnish even to this day
a never failing theme for di scussion both to the classes
and the masses ; and indeed no matter how i nsane her
pranks they are never counted to her as misconduct She
seems to exist for the Special pu rpose of demonstrating the
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1
WI L LI A M I I
68
An exampl e of thi s may b e found i n her exceedingly
’
delicate retort to Mr John Jay s son i n law General von
Schwei dnitz at the time German ambassador to the A us
trian Court
O ne night when seated n ext to him at din
ner she vex ed th e general by her somewhat unki nd com
parisons between French and Ge rman notions with r egar d
to wi t
There is nothing she declared
that the French a r e
”
not abl e to turn into some graceful witticis
”
Take this princess
exclaimed th e general handi ng
to her a singl e hai r which he had playfully pulled from o ne
of the long curls drooping on her white shoulders
I
defy you to get your French friends to ma k e an y wi tt y con
”
t ri van ce o u t o f this
Princess Mettern ich took the hai r and on the following
day sent i t Off to Boucheron the famous j eweler o f th e
Palais Royal in Paris wi th an explanatory note
Three
weeks later she invited the general to di nner and he found
o n his plate a tiny li ttl e velvet box
O n Opening i t he discovered a p endant formed by the
j ewelled representation of the imperial German eagle and
as th e single hair handed by the G er
between i ts talons w
At each end o f i t was
man ambassador to the pri ncess
suspended a tiny plaque i n enamel with the word “ A l
”
“
sa oe o n one and Lorraine on the other Attached to
’
the eagle s beak was a scroll bearing i n diamonds the
words
V ous ne [es t enez gu e p ar u n cizeoeu
Y
u only
o
[
hold them by a hai r ]
Although supremel y el egant and still young Princess
Paul ine i s not i n any way attractive i n figure being ex
t remely thin while her face is so attractively ugly that she
has o n more than one occasion described he rsel f as a
“ white monke y ”
She never ente rtained an y illusions
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AND FRA NCIS JO S EP H
1
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69
ab out her pe rsonal charms a peculiari t y i n which she diffe rs
from the r est o f her sex and when i n 1 86 3 she fou nded at
Paris her celebrated Clu o dc: L ai des [
Club for Ugly
W omen] she could induce but few of her friends to cast i n
No t a very wonderful fact either as
their lo t wi th hers
women who are content to give themselves the b revet of
ugliness are not often found
Consequently the club was sho rt lived to the gr eat re
gret of the princess who mournfully remarked that frank
ness was not among the many engaging quali ties o f he r
femal e friends for otherwise the Clu é des L ai des would
have been over crowded
Some years ago the princess in no way discouraged b y
’
her Parisian failure founded another ladies club at Vi enna
The name o f the charming president was suffi cient to make
the enterprise a success i n the Austrian capital all the fi ne
fl eu r of the exclus ive feminine V iennese aristocrac y b ec om
i ng members thereof
The salons of this club were al ways filled with great
ladies who thoroughly enj oyed the freedom from all care
which they found i n the palatial building on the Ring
strasse
Excellent music exquisite flowers choice vin
tages caravan tea , perfect cuisine outlandish delicacies
and verbena scented cigar ettes cont ributed to mak e life
pleasant for them there
I f the truth be told there was also a card room beauti
fully decorated with Gobelin tapestri es where a pretty high
game was carried o n nightly The conversati on far from
b eing of a gossipy kind was mostly restricted to the races
the hunt and to h o rs efl esh in general
The Aust rian great ladi es are all sportsmen at heart
T hey ride they drive four i n hands the y S hoot with amaz
ing s k ill and notwithstanding thei r often delicate and
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W I LLI AM II
70
ethereal appearance stalk chamois o r hunt wild boars with
fully as much energy and pluck as their husbands and
brothe rs I t is a pity that the club came to gri ef i n c onse
qu ence of the bitter antagonism which reigns between the
wife o f Count Ki elman segg governor o f Vi enna and o f the
pro v i nce i n which i t is situated and P rincess Metternich
The latter although a grandmother and grey hai red is
o n e o f the best whips i n Europe a fearless rider and a dead
shot
She inherited her courage whi ch borders on i n
sani ty , from her father Count Sandor who was famous for
his hair brained extravagances
He once drove his four
i n hand up the wide marble staircase o f the impe rial palace
at Prague and o n another occasion j umped wi th his hors e
from the J ohannesb rii cke into the rushing waters o f the
Moldau
I nnumerabl e are the anecdotes whi ch are told
o f him and i t cannot be denied that his daughter has fol
e d i n his footsteps
fow
As an actress and mi mic the p ri ncess remains to this
day as i nimi table as Sh e was when Sh e assumed the l ead
ing rOle i n the charades and vaudevill es which used to be
performed at the Tuileries at Compi egn e and at St Cloud
’
during the palmy days o f Napol eon Il I s reign I remem
ber seeing her some few years ago in Vienna at a dramati c
entertainment whi ch she had organiz ed i n the palace o f
Prince L iechtenstein for the b enefit o f one o f th e great
Vienn e se charities the tickets costing tw e nty fi v e dollars
apiece The p rincess took the p rincipal part and after
mimicking the peculiarities o f almost every well known
European actor and actress holding forth i n the strongest
Viennese dialect and singing Paris caf e clz anta nt songs in
approved Theresa style she finally wound up by cari caturing
in neatly turned couplets the littl e i diosyncrasi es o f most
o f the guests present , not even sparing the emperor
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1
WI LLIAM
72
11
wa y to that o f Paris i s i ndebted to her for liberating i t
from the trammels with whi ch the Old fashi oned etiquette
of the Austri an court had bound it ; and i f Vi enna is
to day celebrated as the most delightfull y mer ry and
pl easure loving city o f the O ld W orld i t owes i t mainl y
to the unlovely , but m ost lovabl e P rincess Pauline Metter
nich
O nce o n the occasion of a great reception at the British
embassy at Vi enna she dropp ed an artificial tooth from
h er mouth and di d not hesi tate to make her loss known
with the frankness so characteristi c o f her Th e fashion
abl e world present vai nly helped her to seek for the tooth
The furniture was moved curtains were Shaken floo rs
swep t but the tooth could not b e found A few days later
Princess Pauline received a packet i n a letter an anony
mous one informing her that the missing tooth had been
found The package did indeed contain a t ooth but the
tooth o f a cow
Though the letter was unsigned the
p rincess fe l t confident that she knew who was i ts author
a social rival—and she has but one— and to the lady i n
question she wrote as follows
I knew my dear that you
entertained the greatest fri endship fo r me
But I never
until now would have beli eved that your a ffection would
n teeth d ra w
l ead you so far as to have one o f y our o w
n in
order to replace my loss
D uring o ne o f her recent visits to Paris since her widow
hood Sh e gave together wi th her old time fri end the simi
larly widowed Countess Pourtal és a grand dinner i n the
superb mansion o f Madame de Pourtales Fi fty ladies and
gentlemen sat down i n the gr een and S ilver dining room
and wi th the exception o f four people two young ladi es
and two young men introduced as Hungarian fri ends of
Madame de Mette rnich , all the others fo rm ed part of the
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A ND FRA N CI S JO S E PH
1
73
social circl e of Madame de Pourtalés and were o n the most
i ntimate terms with o ne another The four young strangers
were seat e d at the ends o f the table and fo r a ti m e no o n e
took much notice o f them
The dessert came and gayety had reached i ts climax ,
when suddenly the more ethereal looking o f the two young
Hungarian girls seized a bottle of champagne and hurled
it from on e end o f the table to the other where its flight
was arrested by one o f the young men from the Magyar
kingdom Meanwhile the other girl had sent flying across
the tabl e four Bohemian crystal glasses which were caught
in a similar manner and thereupon plates dishes j ardi
ni eres full o f orchids and tall vases with the flowers which
they contained proceeded to fly from one end o f the table
to the other
The ladies pale with terror screamed and
made fo r the doors while the men endeavored to capture
the four Hungarian guests whom they beli eved to have
suddenly become crazy or drunk
This was however n ot an easy task for the t w
o Hun
garian girls and thei r male companions crossed the table
among the plates dishes and glasses with such dexteri ty
leaping backwards and fo rwards , and up and down with an
almost demoniacal agility that the gentlemen who were
most o f them elderly men fi nally abandoned the task i n
despai r
Meanwhile the Princess de Mette rnich and the Countess
de Pou rtalés were literally holding thei r sid e s wi th laugh
ter j ust as i f they had b een twenty years younger and i t
required a considerable amount o f time before they were
abl e to reassu re their badly frightened guests and to rein
t roduc e the pretended Hungarian friends o f Madame de
”
“
Mette rnich as the Agou sts
the celebrated jugglers and
acrobats o f the Theatre Ma rign y
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1
WILLIAM
74
11
This sufli ces to show that neither age nor bereavement
have suffi ced to quench the high spi rits and the taste for
mischi ef that have throughout her existence characte rized
Princess Pauline Metternich
I t is a great mistake to suppose that any real i nti m acy
ever subsisted between the two Metterni chs and the French
emperor and empress during the period when the form er
represented Austria at the Court o f the Tuileries
Na
p ole on never entirely trusted the prince while Empress
Eugeni e always stood in fear and trembling o f the high
bred insolence the i ll concealed condescension and to
call things by thei r right name the downright contempt
mani fested by the princess for the C ourt of the Tuileri es
and for i ts l ovely though by no m eans ei ther clever or
high born mistress A friend remarked to her o n e day
when commenting on some extravagance of language o r o f
manner which she had j ust perpetrated i n the presence o f
Empress Eug eni e
But surely p rincess you would not
venture to say o r do that i n the presence o f Empress Eliza
beth ?
’
’
n cker
a c es t a u t re clzose ma
E
l
l
e c es t u n e i mp era
C
”
’
That
s
quite
another
thing
my
t ri ce p ou r dc o ral
[
fri end
She is a real emp ress] ; thereby implying that
N eedless
Eu gé ni e was nothing but a comic opera empress
to say this remark was speedil y conveyed to th e ears o f
Empress Eugeni e who did not feel much gratified thereby
I t was during the early part o f the widowhood o f P ri ncess
Metternich that C ountess Anna Ki elman ségg wife of the
present governor of the metropoli tan province and former
prime minister first appeared upon the scene as a ri v al
queen of Vi enna
Previous to the death of P rince Met
t erni c h the princess had pai d no heed to th e countess
treating her with something ver y much like contempt
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1
WILLIAM
76
11
the ca rnival and to wind up the met rop olitan season
without the assistance o f either of the two ladi es the result
not being pleasant
N ever was a Viennese seas on more
Fo r the nonce the capi tal seemed to
dull and dispi rited
have lost all its F es c/zlzei t and ori o and eve ry scheme
organized wi th a vi ew to entertainment tu rned i nto a di s
mal and ridiculous failure
This served to Show the Vi en
nese rich an d poo r high born and plebeian that they
could not get along wi thout a l eader and when du ri ng the
following winter the countess reappeared upon the scene
the princess b eing still i n retirement by reason o f her b e
reav e m en t she was hailed wi th enthusiasm by t h e class es
as well as by th e masses
Eventually P rincess Pauline likewise reappeared at
court and i n soci et y at Vienna an d from that ti m e forth a
fi erce , y et m erry war has raged between the two ladi es
n set o f foll owers the masses gradually
each having her o w
flocking round the coun t e ss while the aristoc racy remained
true to i ts allegiance to Princess Pauline
Vienna o n the whole may be said to benefit by this
rival ry for no sooner does Pri ncess Metternich organize
some great popular festi val wi th the obj ect of crushing
Countess Ki elman segg than the latter immediately devises
some still grander public ente rtainment fo r the pu rp os e
o f obliterating i n the eyes o f the Viennese the success o f
her rival
O f course the princess has the advantage o f wi t un
rivalled experience and bi rth
True the count is the
so n o f the former p remier o f Ki ng Ernes t o f Hanover
and is o f ve ry ancient ancestry for does not Thomas Hood
i n his p oem about Miss Ki elmanségg an d her precious
leg declare that
o ff
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A ND
FRA N CI S J O SE P H
I
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trace th e Kilman segg p edi gree
To th e ve ry roo t o f th e fami ly tree
W ere a task as rash as ri di cu l ou s
77
To
,
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It
w l dn t
’
ou
)t
x
x
-
mu ch
requi re
verbal strai n
trace th e Ki ll man p erch ance to Cai n
B u t wai vi ng al l su ch di gre ssi o ns
Suffi ce i t acco rdi n g to fami ly l o re
A p atri arch Kilmansegg l iv e d of yore
as fame d fo r hi s great p o sse ssi ons
Wh o w
To
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x
x
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l and on hi s ow
n e state
He l i v e d at a v ery l ivel y rate
B u t hi s i ncome wou ld b ear carou sing ;
A l ord
of
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x
ii
x
-
T he maiden nam e of the countess is L ebede ff and it
is an uncl e o f hers whose se rf b orn wi fe was whipped
to death by his own father not far from the place where
th e countess was bo rn
I t is indeed a t ragic story and has fu rnished the theme
o f more than on e Russian and foreign novel
I ts scene was a village i n the southwestern po rt ion o f th e
’
czar s dominions and its epoch shortl y b efore the libera
tion o f the serfs when the latter w
ere still the slaves o f the
Boyards and Bari ns who had power of life and death ove r
them
The Boyard who owned the village and all i ts i nhab i
tants was a c ruel har d hearted and p rofli gat e man whose
p easants stood i n mortal terror o f him
His immorality
and maltreatment o f his serfs had rendered his name a
b y word throughout the whole province and his house
was shunned by all the neighboring land owners and by
the provincial aristocracy I n course o f time the i nh ab i
tants had become some o f the wildest and most embitte red
’
creatures in the czar s te rr ito ry
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1
WILLI A M I I
78
’
The Boyard s exactions had i ndeed reduced his se rfs to
the direst poverty The isbas o f his villages were bare of
all but absolute necessari es the fi elds were neglected the
cattl e lean and the wretched peasants even still leaner
They lived like wolves and may almost be said to have
de v oured o n e another
O ne year when the ha rvest had b een the worst ever
experienced wi thin living memory the serfs plucked up
courage—the courage o f despair — and determined to go
in a body to implore the Barin to grant the m time for th e
payment o f their ground rent They entertained but littl e
hope o f success
But they were desperate and the y pre
sented themselves like a troop of frightened sheep before
thei r tyrant
W i th a sarcastic smile the Bo yard listened
to their suppli cati ons and then replied
You cannot pay me what you justly ow
e m e sa y you
W ell I will give you a week to find the money I need I f
at the end of that tim e you have not settled your debt I
shall i f necessary sell every o ne of y our daughters t o
”
obtain my due
At the end of the week most of the girls of the village
all those o f a marriageable age at any rate were sold
by the Boyard and sent away far N orth ; this too i n t h e
middle o f the mercil ess Russian winter
Something akin to a revolt ensued but was quickly sup
pressed by the Boyard who caused the six eldest men
o f the village to receive a hundred lashes each wi th the
knout as a warning to the others
’
I t was shortly after this that the tyrant s only son N icho
las returned home on the completion o f his education at
Moscow and took up his abode with his father
He
i n no way resembl ed the latter
I mbued with liberal and
humane ideas , his mind full o f enthusiasm conce rning
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1
WILLI AM
80
11
N icholas responded to the invi tati on and left Moscow
’
for his father s country seat where the Old Ba ri n received
both o f them wi th such genial t on/z ommi e as to completely
reassure the young man i f any doubts or suspicions had re
mained i n his mind I ndeed so kind did his father S how
himself that when a fo rtnight or three weeks later N icholas
was summoned to Moscow t o attend to some business he
’
did not hesitate to leave b ehind hi m his wi fe in his father s
care deeming i t unwi se that she should travel i n the deli
cate state o f health i n whi ch she found herself
’
O n the Sunday follo ing his son s departure the old
Boyard summoned the entire population of the village to the
ch a teau and there in the p resence o f them all he caused
the lovely wi fe of his son to be stripped and then knouted
to death informing them that such was th e fate rese rved
fo r any serf gi rl who had the audacity to take advantage of
’
the foolish infatuations of the Bari n s Son to induce hi m to
marry her
O ne of the p easants immediately sta r ted off to conve y
the news to the young hus band
H e met him on the way
home from Moscow where the proclamation liberating the
serfs had just been i ssued
N icholas went almost insane
with g ri ef and horror when he lea rned o f the fate of his
wife Twenty four hou rs late r he p enet rated i nto his
’
father s hous e the old ancestral home at the dead o f
night and at the head o f a band of the peasants Of the vil
lage with his ow
n ha nd he brained his father after having
reviled him for the murder of his wife and then he helped
th e peasants to set fire to the house pa rtly because he as
well as they believed i t to be accursed and pa rtl y t oo i n
order to hide the traces o f the crim e
The governor o f the p rovince fortunatel y was a j ust and
enlightened man and when h e became acquai nted i n
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AND FRAN CI S J O SEPH
I81
time wi th the fate o f the o ld Boyard he con
si d ered i t politic to hush up the entire a ffair realizing that
the old man had received nothing but his just dues and
that the moment of the liberation of the serfs was ill chosen
to bring before the public the details o f such a tragedy
N icholas never mar ri ed again an d unl ess I am mistaken
it is his ni ece the Countess Ki elman segg who now owns
the estate which furnished the scene of this o ne of the
closing and most dreadful episodes of serfdom in Russia
But to return to a less gruesome subj ect than this Russian
tragedy I may mention that the example set by Princess
Pauline and by Countess Anastasia the two queens of
everyt h ing that pe rtains to revelry i n Vienna proves con
Even digni fied statesmen are a ffected thereby
tagi o us
and the Court of Austria is the only on e where i t has e v er
been my lot to see a prime mi nister spinning around the
’
room wi th a beautiful lady to the strains o f S t rauss s most
inspi ri ting waltzes
N or was he the only member of his
cabinet who was thus gyrating for in another part of the
roo m I obse rved his colleagues the minister o f finance
Baron Plener and the minister of justice and publi c w
or
ship Count v o n SchOnb orn brother o f the cardinal o f that
name dancing i n the same way
This performance was repeated a few days later at the SO
called [ndu rtri ellen B al at the Grand O pera H ouse a pub
lic entertai nm e nt whi ch ushe rs i n L ent
O nly those who are aware o f the immense prestige e n
j oyed o n the Continent of Europe by cabinet minist e rs will
be able to appreciate the sensation arous ed by the news
that the premi er and his colleagues we re actually waltzing
T he idea that such august creatures as these should really
b e susceptible to the rhythm o f a two step and capable of
dancing polkas never seemed to have dawned upon the
cours e
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1
WILLI AM II
82
wo rthy Viennese until that time and so delighted were they
to discover that e v en cabinet ministers shared their national
l o v e of pleasure and gayety and were subj e ct to the same
human weaknesses and temptations as themselves that th e y
thenceforth accorded to the administration a degree of c o n
fi de n ce and popularity not enj oyed by any o f its pred e
,
,
c e sso rs
.
I n fact the cabinet in question which assu m ed o ffi ce
amid a perfect tempest o f public dissatisfaction may b e
described as having achieved popularity at one bound for
the prime minister and his colleagues won the good will
sympathy and warm regard o f thei r fellow citizens not by
any enlightened piece o f statesmanship policy or admi nis
t rat i v e r e forms but by a hop a skip and a j ump—i n oth e r
words by wal tzi ng
After this no o ne need be astonish e d to learn that the
present minister o f finance Baron von Kallay who is
lik ewis e go v ernor general o f the Mohammedan pro v inc e s
e his rapid
o f Herz e govina and Bosnia is considered to o w
rise to p ower and his long tenure of offi ce to t h e fact
that he has composed an opera and initiated the Vi e nnese
into the mysteries of a new dance
This dance i n fact
’
is o n e of the features of t h e ballet o f his exc e ll e ncy s
Opera I t is called the kolo and is the national dance
o f the Bosniacs being quite as graceful pictur e sque and
” f
spi rited as the t z ardas o the Hungarians o r the grand
mazurka o f the Pol es To day almos t everyon e i n Vi enna
”
“
da nces the kolo and naturally fe e ls cordial l y disposed
towards the sta tesman to who m both t h e me m b e rs o f society
an d the masses in the pleasure loving Austrian capi tal are
i ndebted for this dance
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1
WILLI AM II
84
of
Vienna set i ts seal to their disapp earance while many
have since succumbed to the all absorbing power o f Pru ssia
I t was felt however at the time o f the Congress o f Vi
enna that all these dispossessed p e tty sovereigns r e quir e d
some sort o f compensation for the loss o f their dominions
as well as a balm for thei r wounded pride Accordingly
they and their lineal descendants were in v ested with a
nu m ber o f extraordi nary privilege s and prerogati v es to
tally o ut o f keeping with the democrati c Spirit of t h e
present centu ry
I n the first place they were conceded what w
as o fficia l ly
’
“
described as D roi ts a égali té de nai ss an ce a vec les mai s ons
”
s ou verai nes
that is to say
Rights of equality of bi rth
with the reign ing houses of Europe ;
which means
that an emperor o f Germany a king o f Saxony o r an
archduke of Aust ria could theoretically speaking marry
a Countess Erbach or a Countess Pappenheim without
b eing regarded as having made a m é salliance and the
children o f the union would have a right of succession to
’
their father s crown which would not b e the cas e if he
had ma rri ed the daughter of a mere noble such as Prince
Bismarck Prince Radziwill or the D uke o f Rohan
Thus if D o n Carlos ever succeeds in securing possession
o f the throne o f Spain his wife will be unable to shar e i t
owing to the
o r to enj oy the dignity of queen consort
fact that she is a mere noblewoman a Pri ncess of Rohan
S ister of the present D uke and Prince o f Rohan who
traces his descent i n a direct line from the first C rusade r
King of Jerusalem Godefroy de Bouillon
But i f D on
Carlos had marri ed for instance a daughter of Count
Harrach or o f Count Pappenheim , no obj ection could
have been raised to her coronation as queen o n account of
her birth
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A ND FRA N C I S J O SEP H
1
-
85
Among other i mmunities which the mediatized famili es
enjoyed until quite recently were exemption from all ta xa
tion as w e ll as from obligatory m ili tary s e rvice and i f any
enter the army they
o f thei r number o f their free will
are to this day entitled to a commission o f li eutenant at
once i nstead o f having to go through the ordinary pro
cedu t e i n order to ob tai n i t
D own to the year 1 8 7 8 they were not amenable to the
ordinary tribunals o f the land e v en when engaged i n legal
disputes wi th persons who did not belong to thei r caste
but were only subj ect to a t rib un al of thei r p eers ,specially
organized for the occasion
Even now they are no t obliged
to take the ordinary form of oath i n court thei r mere word
being held as suffici ent
Another p rivilege possessed by the mediatized families is
that of contracting m organatic marriages that is marriages
which though vali d i n the eyes o f the church are only
binding upon the party thereto who happens to b e o f
inferior rank
I n the event of a mediatized prince duke ,
marrying a lady who belongs nei ther to the
o r count
reign ing families nor to those that have been mediatized
he has before hi m two alternatives
O ne of th e se is
to marry the lady morganatically i n which event she has
no right to his name o r title from which any children
born to the uni on are similarly debarred o r else h e resigns
to his next brother o r nearest li v ing mal e r e lative for
hi m self and for his descendants all his rights and p re roga
t i v e s as a scion o f a mediatized family i n order to become
an ordinary nobleman
I t was this step that Count Maximilian Pappenhei m was
obliged to take wh e n he marri ed Miss W heeler of Phi lad el
phia
I may add that Count Pappenheim would t h e ore t i
call y speak ing have been obliged to do precisel y the sam e
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1
WI LLI AM II
86
thing i f he had marri ed the daughter o f old Prince Bis
marck who was likewise D uke of Lauenburg
As an illustration of the hardships to which th e morgan
ati c wives o f the members of mediatized houses are sub
j ec t e d I need only mention the well known case o f Prince
L ouis Sayn W ittgenstei n
Prince L oui s who was the
head o f the family led to the al tar a girl who belonged to
o n e of the b est families o f the Berlin é ou r eoi si e
Her
g
father had been burgomaster or mayor o f the Prus sian
capital while all her sisters had married noblemen
The
wedding ceremony between Prince L ouis and his wi fe had
been celebrated by no less a personage than Cardinal
Mermi llod Prince L oui s died very suddenly at R om e
The instant i t became know
n that his breath had l eft
hi s body his brother Alexander who came next in line o f
successi on assumed control o f th e estates and thei r reve
nues and b y virtue of his newly acquired position as chief
o f the family forbade the payment o f a singl e cent to the
widow
I ndeed had she not threatened to appeal t o the
Pop e and to the aristocracy o f Rome for p ecuniary assist
’
ance to defray the expenses o f conveying her husband s
’
corpse back to Germany her husband s brother i n law
the Roman Prince Chigi would never have advanced her
the paltry sum of fifteen thousand francs needed for the
purpose and for the recovery o f which he subsequently
sued her
P rince L ouis made a will l eaving all his p er
sonal property to her Yet by reason o f the arguments put
forward by hi s brothers to the effect that the alliance had
been a morganatic on e since she had not herself been o f
royal o r mediatized bi rth she was pronounced i ncompetent
to benefit i n any way under the will o f her husband and
was deprived by decision o f the court from using the titl e
o f p ri ncess
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1
WI LLIAM
88
11
T hus all the princes and duk es o f the mediatized houses
”
h ave a right to the prefix o f
Serene Highness
whereas t h e counts o f these houses such as the H arrac h s
”
are entitled to that of E rlau clz t which may b e trans
”
lated into English as Most I llustrious
These various
prefixes are extremely confusing Yet so great is the i m
p ortance attached to them in Europ e that a grant of such
by a sovereign i s generally regarded as o f greater i mpo rt
ance and of more value than the conferring o f a title o r
peerage
The loftiest of all the pre fi xes of a secular character
”
i s that o f I mperial Maj esty which o f course at Vi enna
and at Berlin b elongs exclus ively to E mperor F rancis
Joseph to E mperor W illiam and to his wife and his mother
Kings and queens such as those of Saxon y W ii rt emb erg
”
etc have to be content with an ordinary Maj esty
In
Highness was used exclusively in addressing
old times
kings queens emperors and empresses and the use o f
“ Maj esty ” only came i nto vogue i n the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuri es being fi rst used in a papal bull address ed
to King L ouis I X o f France
At the time of the Reformation the title of Maj esty
had grown to b e general when addressing kings and em
Highness
b
ecame
the
attribut
e
e ro rs and thereupon
p
o f princes and princesses o f the blood and o f the p rince
electors o f the H oly Roman E mpire
It w
as n ot until the
reign o f Louis X I V o f France that a distinction was made
”
”
b etween Highness and Royal Highness
Th e latter
prefix was conceded to the children and grandchildren o f
”
the sovereign while H ighness was obse rved for princes
and pri ncesses more remotely related to the mona rch , for
instance the O rleans branch o f the house
“
I n Austria the style o f
I mperial Highness
consti
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A ND FRAN CI S J O SE P H
1
-
89
an attribute o f every l egi timate m ember o f the reign
ing house of Hapsburg no matter how remote the descent
i n the male line direct from the throne and every one o f
the hundred and o dd Austrian archdukes and archduchesses
”
ar e addressed ofli c ially as I mperial Highness
I n Germany there is no on e who i s entitled to be thus
addressed since the eldest son o f Emperor W illiam is
theoretical ly only Crown P ri nce of Prussia True the late
E mperor Frederi ck when still crown p ri nce used to b e
”
“
st yled Y our I mpe rial Highness ; but this was more a
matter o f cou rtesy than o f right and from the point o f
vi ew o f o fli c i al etiquette was absolutely wrong
The t e
maining members of th e reigning house o f Prussia are all
”
“
addressed as Royal Highness after they have attained
thei r maj o ri ty
Till that time they are merely styled
”
P rince
and Princess
The ordinary nobility i n Germany as well as i n Austria
that is , the nobility distinct from the mediatized houses o f
Europe are comprised i n Part III o f the Almanach de
G otha and i nclude dukes p ri nces marquises and counts
as well as barons
I n some cases i t is only the head o f the famil y who
b ears the title o f p rince the j uni or m embers of the house
having to remain content with the ran k o f counts and
countesses , instance the cases o f the Bismarcks the Ki n
sk ys etc
Sometimes the p rincely titl e is borne by all
the cadets o f the family as in the case o f the R ohans,
i lls the Carolat hs etc
the R adz i w
This depends entirely
upon the natur e o f the patent by means o f which the titl e
i s conferred
I n instances where all the m embers o f the
family bear the princel y title th e head of the house i s
usuall y distinguished by the title o f Fii rs t
T he titl es bo rn e b y the j unior members of the family are
t ut es
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1
WIL L I AM II
90
to all of thei r descendants but i n the mal e
line only
H ence the descendants i n the male line of
Count W illiam Bismarck you nger brother o f P rince Her
bert Bismarck will bear the ti tl e of count , no matter who m
they marry m é salliances constituting no bar to the descent
o f family hono rs i n the case o f the houses o f the ordina ry
nobili ty
Thanks to this s ystem there are an inordinate number
o f bona fi de titled personages in Germany and Austria who
while being authentic counts and princes would never be
permitted to cross the th reshold o f any court owing to the
nature of their ancestry
For instance th ere is at Vi enna a Count Eug ene Kinsky
a cadet o f the princely house o f that name who becoming
i nfatuated by the beauty of a lovely laundry maid at I schl
in the Tyrol marri ed her and brought her to live at
Vienna
I n course o f tim e she won by her modesty and
charm the sympathy and good will not merely of society ,
but likewise o f the imperial family several of the m e mbers
She he rsel f however
o f which were wont to visit her
could never app e ar at court by reason of the lowliness o f
her birth and h e r two charming daughters were similarly
debarred from p resentation at court and from participation
i n any court functions until they had married foreign diplo
mats o ne becoming the wife of the secretary o f the French
embassy Baron B ou rgoi n g and the other being led to th e
altar b y General Sir Charles Goodenough mili tary attach e
Then only were they i nvited to
o f the English e m bassy
court not as Austrians but as ladies forming part o f for
Had they m ade the mistake of wedding
e i gn embassies
Aus trian or German noblemen nothing short o f a special
decree o f the emperor could have obtained for them the
honor o f presentation at the Court o f Vienna
t ransmissibl e
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I
WILLI AM
92
II
when th e death of the last Hapsburg king of Spai n
resul ted in the succession o f a member o f the French house
N ow, the order has always been
o f Bourbon to the crown
regarded as strictly a privil ege o f the imperial house of
Hapsburg and from the moment that the latter ceased to
occupy the throne o f Spain the connection of the order
wi th the Spanish crown terminated inso f a cto
To non Catholic dignitaries princes and sovereigns the
E mperor Francis Joseph accords the order o f St Stephen
o f Hungary and i t is this that i s worn by King W illiam o f
W ii rt emb erg Emperor W illiam and the Prince o f Wales
whenever they visit th e C ourt of Vi enna I t is likewise the
order that Emperor Francis Joseph has conferred upon the
czar and the King o f Servia and i t i s regarded abroad as
ranking with the English O rde r o f the Garte r in p restige
and status i f no t i n antiquit y
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C H AP T ER
XX I X
O n th e occasion o f all ceremoni es and state functions at
the Court o f Vienna where ladies are present the emperor
invariably o ff ers his arm to a princess who bears the Eng
lish ti tle o f D uchess o f Cumberland while the principal
lady of the imperial family i nvariably walks b eside the
D uke o f Cumberland who thus occupi es the posi tion o f the
most honored royal guest o f the Austro Hungarian monarch
At the time o f the war between Austria and Prussia i n
the King of Hanover the D uke o f Nassau the
1 8 66
Elector o f H esse and a number o f other German sov er
e i gns sided wi th Francis J os eph against King W illiam and
Bis m arck
As everyone knows i t was the Prussians who carri ed the
day and whil e the Kings of Bavaria Saxony and W ii rt em
berg were permitted to retain their domi nions i ntact the
rulers o f Hanover Of Hesse Cassel and o f Nassau were
deprived of their thrones and dominions which latter were
annexed by the victor
I t was thereupon that these dis
possessed sovereigns made thei r way to Vienna where they
were treated with the most distinguished consi deration by
E mperor Francis Joseph and indeed by Austrians o f
every class
O ne and all endeavored to S how these three
ex rulers their warm appreciation o f their chi valrous c o n
duct i n risking and losing their S overeignty rather than
abandoning their Old friend and all y Francis Joseph o f
Hapsburg
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3
I
W ILLI AM
94
11
O f the thr ee the one who inspi red the greatest amount
a tall
o f sympathy was ex Ki ng George o f Hanover
stately handsome Old man who had b een blind from his
boyhood i n spite o f which he had insisted o n taking part
i n the battl e of Langensalza his horse b eing guided by
means o f leading reins b y two of his aids de camp
He
lived i n altogether royal state at Hietzing a suburb o f
Vienna surrounded by many o f the members of hi s late
court Among the number was his former Prime Minister
Count Platen a grand sezgneu r i n every sense o f the word
while another was his ex chief o f police Herr v on Ver
muth who used to be know
n by the nickname o f Baron
”
Another member o f his household was Count
Bitters 1
W edel whilst his secretary was O scar Meding who has
since become one o f the most celeb rated o f Ge rman novel
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I st s
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The presence o f the Ki ng o f Hanover at Vi enna cannot
have been altogether agreeable for the Austrian emperor ;
for i n the first place i t constituted a perpetual reminder
o f the fact that Austria had been unabl e to defend thos e
foreign sovereigns who had taken up arms in her be hal f
while secondly i t was a source of endless embarrassment
whenever at:
court functions the royal family of Hanover ,
found them
o r any o f the members of their household
selves i n contact with the membe rs of the P russian em
bassy
King George eventually di ed in Par is , but not before
his soj ourn at Vienna had been rendered still more painful
first o f all by a tragedy and then by a financial embroglio
Count W edel became
o f a somewhat distressing character
’
i nvolved i n some violent discussion with the king s nephew
P ri nce Solms : the latter lost his temper co m pletely and
st ruck the coun t i n the face
I n the duel which followed ,
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1
WI LLIA M
96
11
Queen Mari e o f H anover is an ext raordina ry woman
and long a fter the i ncorporation o f the Kingdom o f Han
over into that o f Prussia she continued to ca rry on a
p rivate war o n her own account against Bismarck and his
royal master
She declined to accompany her blind hus
band o r her son when th e y sought refuge at Vi enna after
th e battl e of Langensalza but betook hersel f to her castle
at Marienburg which was her private property hoisted
the Hanoverian standard o n the tower o f the keep and
absolutely refused to budge from the place
Related to almost every reigning house i n Germany as
well as to the imperial house o f Russia the Berlin govern
ment realized that i t would be most impolitic to attempt to
oust her b y force from her stronghold
At the same time
it perceived that a continuance o f the situation could not
be tolerated as i t constituted a formidabl e Obstacl e to the
submission o f the Hanoverian p eople to their new masters
fo r as long as the Hanoveri ans saw thei r national flag
’
proudly waving over thei r queen s roof they remain e d
convinced that the blind king would return and recover
his ow
n and that the Prussian occupation of his te rri to ry
was merely temporary
At length Fi eld Ma rshal Manteu ffel who was military
governor o f the kingdom hit upon a rather ingenious ex
H e addressed a most courteous letter to her
p e d i en t
maj esty stating that as she was residing in the dominions
o f hi s master the King o f Prussia h e could not do other
wise than accord her the hono rs shown by the Prussian
gov e rnment to every royal visitor, that therefore he would
within forty eight hours establish a Prussian guard of honor
at the gates o f her castl e and assign not only ladi es
i n waiting but also P russian o ffi cers and cou rt o ffi cials
to attend upon her as chamberlains and equerries , and that
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A ND FRA N C I S J O S E PH
1
97
he would also take steps to have the Prussian flag run
up beside that of Hanover i n accordance wi th court eti
t
n
u
e
t
e
the occasion of royal visits
This was more
o
q
than Queen Mari e could stand and before forty eight
hours had passed sh e had abandoned the fight struck the
flag of Hanover and betaken hersel f together with the
members o f her household to j oin her blind husband at
Vienna
I do not thin k that t h e king ever entirely forgave her for
having persuaded him to take the losing instead of the wi n
ning side in the war of 1 8 66 At any rate the last few
years o f hi s life were spent apart from her she remaining
at V i enna With her daughter Mari e while he took up his
residence in Paris with his eldest daughter Frederica
The latter was i n those days a most beauti ful woman ,
and after refusing almost every marriageable prince in Chri s
t end om i n order to remai n with her bli nd father —a real
modern Antigone — married after his death his fai thful
aid de camp Baron Pawel R ami ngen i n de fiance of the
Opposition o f her brother and mother
The wedding took place at W indsor C astle and during
the many years whi ch elapsed until a reconciliation was
effected between brother and sister Pri ncess Frederi ca was
dependent upon a handsome allowance which she received
from her cousin Queen Victoria who likewise placed at
h er disp osal a suite of apartments in the English Palace of
H ampton Court
After the death of the old king his son who until that
time had born e the titl e of crown prince o f Hanover took
up his residence i n Vi enna at Hietzing spending the sum
mer i n a magni fi cent ch a teau which he has built near
Gmunden in Upper Austria , o n the banks of the Traun
Lake
I n course o f time he dropp ed his style o f C rown
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1
WI LLIAM
98
11
Duke o f Cumber
land by vi rtue o f the Bri tish p eerage which he i nhe ri ted
from his father and grandfather
I t may be remembered that at the time of Queen Vi c
’
t o ri a s accession to the throne a separation o f the crown
to which i t had
o f Great Bri tain from that o f Hanover
until that time been united took place The Sali c law
prevailed i n Hanover debarring women from the succes
si on and on the death o f Ki ng W illiam the kingdom of
Hanover therefore passed i nto the possession not o f his
ni ece Victoria but o f his younger brother E rnest the fi fth
so n o f old King G eorge III
This prince had until that time borne the titl e o f
D uke o f Cumberland and was without any excepti on the
most execrated member of the British reigning family
being regarded as nothing short of a murderer The mur
’
der i n question was committed i n St James s Palace i n
London p recisel y i n that portion which is now occupied
by the D uke and D uchess of York The victim was Senlis
the Swiss valet o f the D uke o f Cumberland H e was found
pi erced through and through by a sword belonging to the
duke and the stains o n the ca rp et showed that the crime
had taken place i n the dressing room o f his royal high
ness
There were no strange rs i n that part o f the palace at
the tim e and nei ther the police patrolling the street out
side nor the mili tar y sentinels at the doo rs saw any
stranger enter o r l eave the palace
The b ody o f Senlis was found in a pe rfectl y nude condi
ti on i n his ow
n room and at the other end o f a corridor
’
into which the duke s bed room and dressing rooms opened
’
there were traces o f blood all the way from the duke s
’
dressing room to his valet s Sleeping chamber
P ri nce
of
H anover , and assumed that
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WI LLIA M
2 00
II
Sceptics might b e inclined to sco ff and to regard lightly
these fran ti c ravings o f a poor Old woman
But to the
supersti tious i t would appear that the cu rse has rested
heavily upon the descendants of the master o f Senlis for
’
E rnest s only so n the late King George of Hanover was
stone blind from his infancy while his son i n t u rn the
present D uke o f Cumberland was born without a nose
The one with which his face i s now adorned i s due to
medical sci ence and plastic art and being lamentably de
fi c i ent i n bone and ca rtilage is consequently painfull y
lacking in firmness
’
The duke s eldest son P ri nce George a good looki ng
pleasant and universally popular youth app eared to have
escaped the curse but three yea rs ago a mere scratch o n his
leg by a rus ty nail res ul ted i n a te rribl e case o f bl ood
poisoning and to day he is a cripple unabl e to walk with
o u t assistance while his injured leg is considerably shorter
than the other — h e is i n fact a mere wreck of his fo rme r
self
Emperor Francis Joseph is particularly fond o f the b o y
and throughout his many long and weary months of ill
ness used constantly to visit him sitting by his bedside
telli ng him stories and sympathizing with him as only the
dear old emperor knows how to do
The D uke o f Cumberland has had much domestic mis
fortune
His wife was at one time engaged to the un for
t u nat e Prince I mperi al of France
But the marriage was
broken o ff by Queen L ouise of D enmark i n consequence
o f th e extreme closeness not to say actual ava ri ce
dis
played by Empress Eugé ni e in the matter of financial set
t leme n t s and the D uke o f Cumbe rland was accepted as a
sui tor instead
I t is a matter of doubt whether the ear l y y ea rs o f P rincess
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A ND FRA N CIS J O SEP H
2 01
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’
married li fe with the D uke o f C umberland were
altogether happy and whether she did no t thi nk herself
pa rtly responsibl e for the death o f the prince imperial
who would ce rtai nly never have gone out to South Africa
there to meet with his doom at the hands of the Z ulus i f
he had become her husband
W hatever the cause may
have been the poor lady lost her reason and had to b e
placed under restraint for a considerable time i n the
famous p rivate lunatic asylum o f D r Kra fft Ebbing at
D o eb li ng near Vi enna where nearly every o ne o f the i n
mates belong either to sovereign houses or to the old aris
’
t oc rac y Prince Max o f Baden the Empress of Germany s
mother the late D uchess o f Alen con Pri ncess Elvira o f
Bavaria Princess L ouise o f Belgium and many other
equall y illustrious personages hav e i n turn been among the
i nmates o f the i nstitution at various times
The duchess has now entirely recovered her health and
her happiness and leads an ideall y pleasant life with her
husband who i s devoted to her and with her numerous
children being frequentl y visited at Gmunden by her Si s
ters the widowed Czarina o f R ussia the Princess of W ales
and her b rothe rs King George of Greece , and the C r o w
n
Pri nce o f D enmark
The duke is one o f the wealthi est princes i n Christen
dom
His gold and silver plate weighs over twenty tons
and being only a ruler de j u re without any o f the re
sp onsi b ili t i es or cares o f gove rnment
he is free to spend
his revenues as he sees fit
Although a general i n the
E nglish army he i nvariably wears i n Austria th e uniform
o f the imperial i nfant ry regiment of which he is the colonel
and proprietor but this military garb somewhat clashes
with the face which is that of a savant , rathe r than of an
O ffi cer
Th yra
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WILLI A M
2 02
II
H e has the peculiar blue eyes of the royal house o f
E ngland
They peer forth from behind gold rimmed
spectacles and are sometimes lighted up with th e most
winning kindliness while at other times they assume a
look of i ntense and rep ellent hauteur
H e talks English
with the same accent as the D uke o f Edinburgh and with
the characteristi c intonation of voice o f the Prince o f
W ales Unlike the latter he has a very powerful lower
j aw and resolute mouth partly concealed by a close
cropped light brown beard tinged wi th gre y
D etermination and obstinacy are i ndeed the t w
o domi
nant traits o f his nature
H e declines to b e swayed by
any influence or to take any step which he has n ot duly
considered and approved beforehand
For years he re
sisted the uni ted e fl o rt s o f the late Czar the Pri nce o f
W ales the Queen of England the Ki ngs o f D enmark
Greece Saxony and Belgium and o f the Emperor o f Aus
tria to induce him to accept the ofl ers made by the Prus
sian Government for a settlement o f his differences with
the latter and when at length he yi elded to a certain ex
tent h e discovered that h e had made a mistake in doing
so and quickly receded to his former p osition
His di fferences with Prussia to day are not merely o n
the subj ect o f the former kingdom o f Hanover
O n the death of the last reigning D uke of Brunswic k
and Luneburg i n 1 8 8 4 he b ecame b y right o f l egitimate
succession sovereign duke o f tha t independent state
forming part o f the confederation known as the German
E mpire but as he was unwilling to acknowledge the King
o f Prussia as German Emperor and above all to reco gnize
the i ncorporation of Hanover into the kingdom o f the
Hohenzollerns , the late Emperor W illiam and Prince Bis
mar ck decided that i t would be impolitic to permit him to
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WI LLIA M
2 04
11
centu ry h e became once more a reigning sovereign t hrough
his succession to the throne o f the Grand Du chy o f L uxem
burg o n the death o f his cousin the late Ki ng of the
N etherlands
The duke or rather as I S hould st y le him now
the
,
grand duke did not b y an y means regret his sovereignty
o f Nassau and attaches so li ttl e impor tance to his dignity
as ruler of L uxemburg that he sp ends the greater pa rt of
the year i n Aus tria p rincipally at Vi enna
H e is i mmensel y wealthy his fortune having been ac
quired much i n th e same manner as that of the princes o f
Monaco ; for until the time when Nassau was annexed b y
Prussia W iesbaden was one o f the most noted public
gambling resorts i n all E urope all the lessees o f the tables
being compelled to pay j ust like the Blancs at Monte Carlo
not merely a big rental to the reigning duke but li k ewise
a very considerable slice o f their pro fi ts
I t may b e of interest to add that the tables of W i esbaden
were farmed ou t until 1 86 6 by M Blanc whose son and
n the publi c gambling establishment at
daughters now ow
Monte Carlo
The accession o f the j ovial old D uke of Nassau to the
throne of Luxemburg was S ignalized by o ne o f the queerest
i ncidents that can possibl y be conceived , and one which
savored very much o f the opera comique
’
He was enj oying himself to his heart s content at Vienna
when suddenly he received the news that his cousin the
King of the N etherlands wi th whom he was on the very
worst possible terms had at l ength succumbed to his ill
ness and that he himself therefore had become through
’
the wicked old king s death , Sovereign Grand D uke o f
L uxemburg So h e set forth from Vienna for his new
capital , and before l eaving went so far as to give orde rs
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AN D F RA N C I S J O SEPH
2 05
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t h at his palace i n the A ustrian metropolis should be dis
mantled and that the whol e estab lishment shoul d b e trans
ferred to the cit y o f L uxemburg
O n arriving at th e latter place , h e was received wi th
great popular rej oicing Reports were published i n all the
pape rs o f his t riumphal progress to his new capi tal of his
entrance wi thin i ts walls , and of his assumption o f the
r eins o f government an d countless m essages o f congratula
tion and good wishes were publicl y transmi tted to hi m
from every court i n Europe
The old p roverb about the advisab ili t y o f killing the
b ear before ski nning i t received however once more an
illustration i n this case for all these popular rej oicings and
messages o f congratulation seemed to have th e e ffect o f
resurrecting the Ki ng o f H olland and o f b ringing him
back to li fe
I t tu rned out that wha t the p hy sicians had b eli eved to b e
death and had announced as such was nothing more nor
l ess t han a cataleptic trance and that the orders given for
the draping of all the publi c buildings o f the N etherlands
with crape and black hangings were the refore premature
The most p eculiar thing about the enti re affai r however
was that the dementia with which he had been a fflicted
until the moment of his supp osed demise had vanished as
i f by magic with his return to li fe and wi thin a couple o f
days afterwards he was actually abl e to i nform his dear
cousin Adolphus in an exceedingly curt and wrathy note
addressed to him as ex D uke o f Nassau that by the end o f
the week he proposed to resume the rei ns o f government
not only o f the ki ngdom o f Holland but also o f the grand
duchy of L uxemburg and that , therefore he would b e
”
pl eased if dear Adolphus would prepare his trun ks and
get ou t o f the grand duch y as speedil y as possible
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WILLIAM I I
2 06
The p oo r Old duk e, who was over seventy y ea rs o f age
at the time accordingl y betook himself back to Vi enna
leaving Luxemburg in a cab by night a sor ry contrast to
the splendor o f his ceremonial entry ami d the acclama
tions o f those whom he believed to be hi s subj ects
A full year elapsed before Ki ng W illiam o f Hollan d fi
nally di ed i n real earnest and i t was not before he had been
several weeks buried and when there appeared to b e no
possible chance o f hi s coming to li fe again that D uke
Adolphus consented to qui t Vi enna for the purpose of
reassum ing the reins o f government
Somehow or another he seems alwa ys to retai n a sp eci es
o f grudge agai nst the Grand D uchy i n connection wi th the
ridi culous contretemps to which he was subj ected and
as I have said b efore he spends most o f his time i n Aus t ria
N otwithstanding his age he i s still passionatel y fond of
all ki nds o f sports
H e was a S plendid horseman and now
in spite o f his eighty y ears , enj oys driving four i n hand
He stoops slightly wears his m oustaches l ong and
bushy an d being extremely S hort sighted i s never seen
without large spectacl es , which somewhat detract from the
martial nature o f his aspect
H e has all his life been
an admirer o f the fai r sex and even at the present time is
n ever happy unless he has some lady beside hi m on the
box when o ut d riving
I ndeed hi s fri ends and acquai nt
an c es declare that the numerous accidents w
i th which
h e has met while ou t driving du ring the las t few yea rs
must b e ascribed not to an y failure of his mental or physi
cal faculti es but solely to his paying more attention to the
pretty face beside him than to his ho rses
The p ri ncipal
preoccupation o f his gentlemen i n waiting and th e mem
bers o f his family is to prese rve him from b ecoming t h e
prey of adven t uresses
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WI L LI A M II
2 08
were i n an y wa y disposed to surrender into an appearance
o f courage
L ike the true hea rted woman that she was when Em
p ero r Alexander announced hi s i ntention o f conferring the
Cross of St George upon her that cross which i s only con
ferred for exceptional feats o f gallantry and courage on the
battlefield she privately i ntimated to him that she would be
unable to accep t i t unless he honored her husband i n the
same way her obj ect being to remove as far as possible
the popula r impression which prevailed as to his lamentable
cowardice
I n this respect Dame Rumor was onl y too well j usti fi ed
in setting her tongue wagging for King Francis was i n
every sense o f the word a most despicabl e creature w
ho
had not one taste s ympathy or quality i n common with his
lovely wife and his death must have been mo re o f a release
than a bereavement to her
At fi rst they made their home i n Rome where their
onl y child di ed and where the queen becam e i nvolved i n
a most amusing conflict with the aged mother o f the then
all powerful papal secretary of state , Cardinal Antonelli
The old lady who lived i n a palace adj oining that oc cu
pied b y the ex ki ng and ex queen was devoted to her cats
I n accordance wi th the
o f which she had a great number
customs of their tribe these cats were i n the habit o f mak
ing night hideous with moonlight concerts given on the
wall dividing the two palaces and j ust under the window
Her maj esty finding that complaints
o f the ex queen
to the old Countess Antonelli were i n vain u l timately
became desperate through lack o f sleep purchased a small
rifle and kept u p a fusillade against ever y cat that appeared
upon the wall until Sh e had routed the entire colony O n
the following day there was weeping wailing and gnas hi ng
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A ND F RA N CI S J O SEPH
of
2 0
9
teeth i n the Antonelli palace
The cardinal was ap
pealed to by his mother the P ope was appli ed to b y
the queen and fi nall y i t was her maj est y who car ried the
day to the i ntense delight of the R omans who hated th e
cardinal and his enti re famil y
After the Franco German war the k ing and queen set
t led i n Paris making thei r home i n a hotel being u nw
il
l ing to purchase a house lest i t should discourage thei r ad
h erent s and l ead them to believe that the y had given up
all h Op e of recove ri ng possession of their throne
The queen devoted h er attention to ho rs es and raced
with considerable success under the name o f Count I s
olla
The king who disliked horses as much as he hated
dogs devoted himsel f to the frail side o f the boulevar d
population and became inv olved i n all sorts o f unsavory
’
sc rapes some o f which are desc ribed i n Alphonse Dau det s
well kn own novel T/ze K i ngs i n E x i le where Queen
Sophia figures under the ve ry transparent pseudon ym of
”
Queen o f I llyria
She spent but little time in Austria as long as her hus
band lived the summers being mostly passed at the sea
shore especially at Boulogne for her maj esty is ver y fond
o f sailing and very s k ilful i n the management o f a boat ;
but since the demise of Ki ng Francis who lies entombed
o n Austrian soil she makes her headquarte rs i n the Austro
H ungarian empire where , i ndeed all her relatives and most
o f her fri ends live
She is still a stri ki ngly handsome woman presenting
many traits of resembl an ce to her S ister the late Empress
o f Austria and being very superstitious looks fo rwar d to as
violent a death as that o f her t w
o sisters : the empress who
was stabbed b y Luch eni and th e D uchess o f Alen con who
was burned to death i n the recent Cha ri t y Bazaa r fi re i n Paris
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I
4
WILLIA M
2 I 2
II
T hus for i nstance there has been at one and the same
time a Prince H ohenlohe who was grand master and grand
chamberlain o f the Court o f Vienna ; another who was
grand marshal o f the Court o f the reigning duke o f Saxe
Coburg a third who was gran d chamberlain o f the
Court of Berlin a fourth ai d de camp general to the
German kaiser and at the same time governor o f Al sace
L orrai ne ; while at the moment o f wri ting this b ook
a fifth holds the position o f chancellor o f the German
empire
The C hancellor of the German E mpire is kn ow
n at the
Court o f Berlin as well as that o f Vi enna b y th e name o f
0nkel C/z lodzozg and enj oys i n an equal degree the affec
tion and the trust of both emperors
H e is a li ttle old
I nde ed i t i s diffi
man very quiet and very soft spoken
cul t to i magine a more extraordi nary contrast than that
which exists between the octogena rian P rince Hohenlohe
and the first chancellor o f the new German E mpire the
late Prince Bismarck
Yet i t may well be that the more
diminutive o f the two statesmen has exercised a gr eater de
gree of influence upon both the kaiser and the other federal
sovereign
s o f the empire than di d P rince Bismarck
The latter was never entirely t rus ted by either of the
three emperors whom he served least o f all b y W illiam
II who certai nl y di d not love him The kaiser is bri ght
enough to have realized that i t would have been a most
unfortunate mistake to adopt blindly as hi s Ow
n the bitter
prej udices the political enmities and i n some cas es the
unreasonable whims o f the I ron Chancellor Moreover the
latter could not su ffi ci ently accustom himself duri ng the
’
early y ea rs o f the present emperor s reign to the fact that
the youth whom h e had known from babyhood had become
his sovereign
H e therefore tendered his advice i n t oo
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FRA N C I S J O S EP H
A ND
2 I
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3
dominee ri ng a manner o ffended his y oung maste r b y his
brutal frankness and unmindful that ties o f blood always
assert themselves sooner o r later was indiscreet enough to
encourage him to rebel against both his father and mother
How the Bismarcks regarded and treated the emperor
was strikingly demonstrated when the old princess o n the
’
day after her husband s dismissal loudly denounced her
sovereign i n a drawing room full of peopl e who had come
to take l eave as
D er d u mme bu d
D er u nuers c/z a emt e
ou t
The
stupid
brat
The
shameless
brat
[
D elighted to be free from the Bismarck tutelage and en
chanted at the prospect of governing on his own account
W illiam next entrusted the chancellorship to G eneral
C aprivi a courteous honest straightforward soldi er to
whom the duties of the o fli c e were all along antipathetic
and whose g uiding motive and chief characteristic through
o u t were blind obedi ence o f a p e rfun ctor y , milita ry nature
to his imperial master
Practicall y liberated from rest rai nt the impulsive i m
p e t uo us generous minded young kaiser givi ng free course
o n the o ne hand to the medi aeval theories o f D ivine right
and absolutism inherited from his grandfather and o n the
other to the equally exaggerated and Utopian doct ri nes o f
liberalism and state socialism inculcated in his mind by his
lamented father and brilliant mother shifted the course o f
the huge German ship o f state with every change i n the
direction o f the wind until the political condi tion o f the
empire developed into such a state o f chaos and unrest as
to leave the imperial skipper no other alte rnative than to
abandon the attempt to navigate the vessel alone through
his mate and second o ffi cer and to entrust the helm to the
safest and most reliable pilot that could b e found through
That was the real
o ut the l ength and breadth o f Ge rman y
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2 1
W ILLI AM
4
II
meaning of the appointment o f Prince H oh enloh e to the
o ffi ce o f chancellor o f the empire o f German y The em
ro r i t is true remai n
ed on the bridge but i t was the
e
p
prince who became navigating o fficer of the craft
The choice o f the p rince was a stroke o f genius on the
part o f the kaiser ; for i t went far to disarm that hostility
which i s always smouldering in the non Prussian states o f
the G erman empire against Prussia and which was par
t i c u larly acute at the moment when Count Caprivi resigned
the chancellorship Pri nce Hohenlohe had made his d eb u t
i n public life as a di gnitary of the court and as a cabi net
mi nister o f the King o f Bavaria
I n fact he was premier
o f that kingdom at the time o f the creation o f the German
empi re to whose foundation he contributed in no small
degree At the same time he distinguished himself o n
tha t occasion by the vigor o f his resistance to all attempts
o n the part o f Prussia to impair the autonom y and i nde
p end en ce o f the sovereign states Of the confederation
A fter the disgrace o f Count Harry Arnim he was ap
p ointed German ambassador at Paris ; Bismarck being o f
the Opi nion that i n vi e wo f the fact that the H oh e nloh es
are related by marriage to many o f the grandest houses of
the French aristocracy the prince would b e more welcome
o n the banks o f the Seine than any ordinary Prussian diplo
mat These exp ectations were fulfilled and he proved so
great a success as an ambassador that he was thereupon
transferred to the post o f governor general of Alsace Lo r
rai ne wi th the obj ect o f reconciling to German rule the
French element in these two provinces
He w
as filling this o ffi ce when requested by the kaiser
and the kaiserin as well to assume the o ffi ce o f chancellor
N o better illustration can b e given of the tact and delicacy
o f the prince than the fact that the fi rs t thing that he di d
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2 1
WILLI A M
6
11
Finall y the appointment o f Prince H ohenlohe had the
e ffect o f bringing to an end the bitter war whi ch under the
”
name o f Kul turkampf had so long been waged between
Berli n and the Vatican and n o t only reconciled the vas t
Catholic moiety o f the German p eopl e to the imperial
government but likewise transformed the powerful Catholic
party i n th e R eichstag— the most numerous and influential
of all the vari ous parliamenta ry factions— from rel entless
adversari es o f the government into suppo rters
These are only a few Of the politi cal achi evements of the
octogenarian Prince H ohenlohe who by reason of his ad
I ndeed
v an c e d age must now be on th e eve o f retirement
he may have resigned the chancellorship ere this book has
b een long i n p rint but he has played so great a rOle i n
G erman histor y and especially in the destinies o f the two
empi res that his nam e necessaril y demands a p rominent
place i n any description o f the court o f Berlin or Vienna
T his little qui et bowed and unobt rusive old man who
always talks i n the softest manner with an appearance of
weariness and o f aristocratic indi fference to the subj ect
under discussi on but whose remarks are i nva riably listened
to with the most profound deference and attention — of
which they are well wo rthy since the y are always saga
and to the point—is a most interesting and fine
c i o us
character
O f course the con fi dence wi th whi ch he inspires F ran
cis Joseph is largely due to the fact that at the time of his
appointment as chancellor his brother Constantine was
still the chief o f the househol d and p ri ncipal digni ta ry
of the cou rt o f Vienna and the most trusted of all the
membe rs of the entou rage o f the Austrian emp eror
He spent his entire life from the age of twenty in the
immediate entou rage of Francis Joseph
True he was
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AND F RAN C I S J O SEPH
2 1
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7
not popular i n Vi ennese society o r at court being charged
wi th close fi st edn ess selfishness and a keen eye for the
main chance ; but still he was a kind hearted man as
those who knew him well can testify and n o more striking
illustration of the a ffection and devotion which he inspired
can be given than the fact that his Old valet who had b een
with him throughout his entire career a t the court o f Aus
tria blew his brains out at the foot of the bi er upon which
’
his master s body was lying i n state
H e could n ot bear
the idea o f life wi thout his beloved master and in spite o f
his being a devout Catholi c and realizing as such the
penalties which that church rese rves for the remains o f
those w
h o have died by their o w
n hand , he nevertheless
unhesitatingly shot himself
The old chancellor was much a ff ected by the death
of his brother Constantine whose sons and daughters all
remai n established i n Austria , some o f them holding high
o ffi ce at the court of Vi enna
’
Constantine s death was followed by that o f his wife
and then by the demise o f two other brothers namely Car
dinal Prince Hohenlohe who used to make his home
at Rome and the D uke o f Ratibor who was president o f
the Prussian House o f L ords
Finally shortly afterwards ,
the chancellor lost his wife so that he has been i n deep
mourning throughout almost his entire tenure o f the o fli c e
which he now holds
There has always been a considerable amount o f c onfu
sion between his own wife and the wi fe of his brother
Constantine
This arose from the fact that both ladies
were o f Russian bi rth bore the name o f Mari e and b e
longed to the Sayn W ittgenstein famil y whil e the con
fusion was still further i ncreased by the fact that the
respective mothers of Princesses Constantine and Chlodwig
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2 1
WILLI A M II
8
H o h enlohe bore the same Christian name
I t was the
mother however o f Princess Constantine who achi eved so
much notoriety by her i nfatuation for the great maestro
and composer Abb é L iszt
She actually went to the
l ength o f divorcing her husband with the obj ect o f marry
ing L iszt who was not at the time i n Holy O rders
The great musician however was solemnly pledged to
marry Countess Agoult known i n literature as Daniel
Stern who had j ust become a wido w at the time the
obligation being o f a doubly pressing character owing to
its being necessary to l egitimize the children that she had
borne him after eloping from Count Agoult
O ne o f these children became the wife o f Emile O livi er
prime minister o f France at the time o f the outbreak o f
the war with Germany i n 1 8 7 0 while the other is to day
the widow of the composer Richard Wagner
L iszt was
in a terribl e quandary and appealed for advice to his
fri end Cardinal Hohenlohe who realizing the scandal
that would be created by the m é salliance proj ected by the
mother i n law o f his brother Constantin e recommended
L iszt to become a pri est in order to free himsel f fro m his
obligations
The wi fe o f the German chancellor the late Princess
Chlodwig was a most remarkable wo m an and only thr e e
weeks before her death in spite o f her seventy years o f
age shot and ki lled a bear on her vast Russian estates at
She inherited an immense am ount o f land e d
W e rki
prop erty i n Russia on the death of her brother who
sp ent the closing years of his life in France ostracized to
a great extent by society through his extraordinary mar
ri age with a woman whom his friends d e clare to ha v e been
a virtuous peasant girl but whom his o w
n relati v es assert
to have been a member o f the Parisian demi monde
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WILLI AM
2 2 0
II
There are H oh enloh es who are ma rried to Spanish
grandees and there are others who are wedded to patri
c i ans of Rome and of Naples while through t h e marriage
’
to Prince
o f the D uke o f Coburg s daughter Alexandra
Hermann Hohenlohe the latter has become a grandson of
Qu e e n Victoria
I t is true that the Bri tish sovereign was already pre
v i ously alli ed by matrimonial ti e s to the house of Hoh e n
lohe for her step sister married a Prince Hohenloh e and
i t was her Bri tannic maj esty who on the prematur e death
of her half siste r Feodora ,assumed charg e o f h e r children
one o f whom Princess Adelaide Hohenlohe widow of the
late D uke o f Augus tenberg is the m other o f the present
’
G erman Empress
Adelaide s brother the late Prince
V i ctor H ohenloh e for many years filled the o ffi ce o f con
stable o f W indsor Castle and after greatly distinguishing
himself i n the English navy in which he attain e d the
rank of admiral married into the English aristocracy his
children b eing known to day under the name of Counts
and Countesses Gleichen
O f course there are some drawbacks to relationship
thus existing between the chief digni taries o f a numb e r o f
di ff erent European cou rts and it is no secret that the
crushing character of the defeat sustained by the Austrian
army at Sadowa i n 1 8 6 6 was largely brought about by a
private letter which Countess Clam Gallas wi fe o f the
Austrian generalissimo wrote to her marri ed sister at Ber
lin i n which she inadvertently disclos e d the strategic
proj ects and movements o f her husband
This sist e r at
Berlin S howed i t to her ow
n husband who communicated
the important information contained therein to Bismarck
and to Moltke with the result that the Austrians were sur
prised But such mistakes as these are o f rare occurrence ,
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AND FRA N C I S J O SEPH
2 2 1
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and there is no doubt that they are more than c ou nt e rb al
an c e d by the advantages whi ch would be derived were
m embers o f the hous e o f Hohenlohe to become as i nfl u
e n t i al in Russia and France as they are al ready to day i n
Aust ria Prussia and all the other G erman states
The
cause o f peace would certainly be p romoted by the exten
sion o f what may be desc ribed as the i nfluence o f the
Hohenlohe ring
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2 2
W ILLI AM
4
II
for the treaty o f peace and i t was only ten or fi fteen yea rs
later that by mere chance Prince Bismarck suddenly dis
covered that theoretically speaking Prussia was still i n a
state o f war with L iechtenstein
W i th a certain amount o f humor he proceeded t o remedy
this conditi on of affai rs in the most serious manner possi
ble and dispatched a pleni potentiary in due form to Vaduz
the capital of the p ri ncipality fo r the purpose o f n ego t ia
ting a treaty of peace apologizing that the matter should
have been overlooked so long
I t was not until then that
L iechtenstein disbanded i t s army and forever released its
subj ects from liability to military service
The manner in which the nowreigning Pri nce o f Li ech
t enst ei n came to grant a consti tution to his subj ects i s ex
I t was the result of a dispute between
c e e d i ngly comi cal
the people and thei r sovereign o n the subj ect o f his spend
ing the greater part o f the year in Vienna o r at his count ry
seats in v arious parts o f Austria and Hungary
”
“
“
I receive
h e argued
no civil list from my sub
j ec ts I n fact I actually pay them for the honor o f bei ng
subj ect to my rule and they pay no taxes The entire ex
p e ndi t u re i n connection with the administration o f the
n pocket
go v ern m ent i s defrayed o ut of my ow
W hy
then should I n o t live where and how I like instead o f
boring mysel f to death at Vaduz P
”
I t is perfectly true his subj ects declared
that we
do not pay your highness a civil list that we are burdened
wi th no taxes and th at on the contrary we draw money
’
fro m your highness s treasury ; we admit all that but on
the other hand your highness is living an extravagant and
dissipated life i n Vi enna and the money you spend i n that
fashion would otherwise be spent i n your own domi nions
to o u r benefit
W e have therefore , a right to obj ect and
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A ND FRA N CI S J O S EP H
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2 2
5
while we are on the subj ect we may mention that we wish
for a constituti on and representative form o f government
just like the other nations o f Europe
After a considerabl e amount o f discussion a compromise
was arranged according to the terms o f which the prince
was p ermitted to remain resident abroad as much as he
liked but was compelled to endow his subj ects with a full
fledged gilt edged constitution and a parliament o f fifteen
l egislato rs elected by the i nhabi tants he the prince
being o f course compelled to pay their salari es
I may add that when a L iechtensteiner commits a serious
crime the pri ncipality has to hire prison accommodation
fo r him in the neighbo ring Austrian town o f Feldkirch the
’
prince o f course paying the prisoner s board ; fo r there
is no such thing as a jail i n the entire principality
The reigning prince was formerly a very b rilliant and
prominent figure i n Vi ennese society But for the pas t
twenty fi v e years he has l ed an existence which savors of
the fairy tal e H e is a ffli cted wi th a most distressing mal
ady which makes it impossible fo r him to appear i n public
and n o ne ever see him save a few most trus ted and de
voted servants
Fo r the past qua rter of a centu ry few i f any o f his
relatives and absolutel y none o f his fri ends and acquaint
au ces have ever caught a glimpse of him
H e lives a li fe
which i s solita ry i n o ne sense ye t not in another
His
castl es and palaces are filled with guests who are enter
H e watches
tai n e d i n the most lavish manner in his name
th em from behind latticed windows and screens and he
listens to their conversation i n the same manner yet never
under any circumstances do they ever see thei r kind and
magni fi c ently hospi tabl e host though they are perfectl y
aware that he is under the same roof as themselves
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2 2
WILLI A M
6
11
Although no on e except those i ndicated now knows
P rince John by sight there are few personages whose
names evoke expressions of more universal sympathy o r
who hold a higher place i n the regard o f th e goo d p eopl e
o f Vienna to whom only a year ago he presented the al
m ost pri celess collection o f pictures chiefly o f Old masters
which no wconstitute o ne o f the chi ef attractions of the
publi c art gallery
Pri nce Francis another L iechtenstein has been for a
number of years Austrian ambassador at St Petersburg and
is so ri ch that he disdains to accept any financial remunera
tion for his se rvices
But the most conspicuous o f all the
L iechtensteins is Prince Aloys whose career has been of
the most extraordinar y character
His fi rst wife w
as the adopted daughter o f L ord and Lady
Holland and until the time of her marriage bore the name
At fi rst the members of his family d e
o f Miss Mary Fox
c li ned to sanction the match on the ground o f the i n
equality Of birth taking i t fo r granted i n vie wo f the
p rofound secrecy which Lord and Lady Holland had al
’
ways maintained conce rning the girl s origin that she was
either a foundling o r else the o ffspring o f some unlawful
love At the last moment however L ord Holland came
forward and under the promise of secrecy furnished proof
that his adopted daughter was the fruit o f a perfectly law
ful union and that she had royal bl oo d i n her veins
All obj ections were at once waived and the marriage
took place with great pomp and ceremon y i n London the
’
prince s bride being received in V ienna with all the hono rs
due to h er rank
She died suddenl y, after a few y ea rs o f happ y marriage
wi thout the mystery relating to her bi rth having ever been
revealed to the public Her death served to remove the
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WILLIA M II
8
2 2
the prince and had been his mentors lost thei r heads and
told the p rince plainly that he must choose between them
that is between the politi ca l power which they command
and the lady
To their amazement he chose the lady
whom he proceeded to wed his daughters by his first mar
ri age giving a publi c demonstration o f their aversion t o the
match by immediately entering a convent and taking vows
as nuns
The histo ry o f the present wi fe o f Prince Aloys L i ec h
t e nst ei n is an extraordinary one
Her cha rms enj oy
probably a wider fame than those o f any other lady now
l iving o n account o f the fact that Sh e posed as a model for
the foremost of the singularly scantily robed figures whi ch
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grace Makart s celebrated picture o f the entry o f Charles
V i nto Antwe rp
She is the daughter of the Viennese
j eweller Kli nkosch and her fi rst husband was the Vi en
nese banker Haupt from whom she secured a most sen
sat i onal divorce on the same ground that enabled both the
late Lady Millais and the late D uchess de Frias to secure
the dissolution o f their first marriages
H err Haupt with
the same chivalry which distinguished John Ruskin and Sir
J ohn Crampton in the analogous cas es just quoted declined
t o o ffer any defense al though i n his case he would have
h ad ample ground for demanding a divorce in his own
The nature o f the
favor that too o n statutory grounds
lady may best be appreciated by the fact that utt e rly i n
di fferent to the generosi ty displayed by Herr Haupt Sh e
actually caused to be p ri nted a pamphlet holding him up to
ridicule and entitled [ c ei n V ollblu tt er ei n Ma u lt/zi er
I
a
thoroughbred
he
a
mule
]
[
Fo r a Short time after marrying this extraordinary wo m an
the prince remained in retirement but i t was n o t long
before h e was back in the arena o f politics , this time as the
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AND FRAN CI S JOSEPH
2 2
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9
swo rn foe o f th e Jews and as the leader o f the anti Jewish
movement which under his guidance has become an all
impo rtant factor i n the public life o f Aust ria as well as o f
Hunga ry
I t was largely owing to his eloquence and
poli ti cal st rategy that the anti Semite D r Lu eger was
elected mayor o f Vienna and that the emperor and the
government despite the opposition Of the Rothschilds
were obliged to ratify his election and to recognize hi m as
chi ef ma gistrate of the metropolis
’
I t is di fli cult to describe the violence o f the p rince s
attacks upon the Hebrews and he has not hesitated to
rep eatedly declare o n the platform that Austria could not
hop e to prosper until the peopl e had ri sen i n their might
and driven all the J ews from the land c onfi scati ng thei r
ill gotten wealth and prope rty
I t is imp ossibl e to predict what the fi nal metamo rphosis
of this singularl y brilliant yet wrong headed p ri nce will
be
H e has played so many roles and fi gured i n so man y
different parts i ncludi ng those o f a caval ry ofli c er a
diplo mat and a racing stable owner that i t is di ffi cul t to
p ronounce an y Opinion on the subj ect
The peopl e who
know him best however are o f the Opinion that he will di e
in the cowl of a monk and that after having tas ted every
form of pleasure and excitement the world can o ffer he
will finally dis gusted and disillus ioned wi th everything
and eve rybody cut himself adri ft from the world and bury
himself in some monaste ry
I t is his cousin P ri nce R udolph L i echtenstein who
is now the grand master and grand marshal o f the cou rt
after having been for many years the principal equerry of
the empress and her fai thful escort i n all her hunting ex
f
fi
f
t
fi
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H
e
is
a
bachelor
about
t
w
or
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s
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p
three yea rs of age , tall , spare and distinguished looking as
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3
W ILLIAM II
0
are all the men o f his family an unri valled spo rtsman and
possessed of a profound knowl edge o f all the ins and outs
o f Austrian society as well as o f the intri cate etiqu e tte o f
the court o f Vi enna so that he is p eculiarly well fi tt e d fo r
his p ost
I t is under his r égime that a number o f reforms p art i c u
larly in the direction o f economy have been adopted
at court
Following the example set by t h e present Queen
’
Regent of Spain he abolished all those extensive servants
’
and employees perquisites which until that time consti
t u t ed one of the principal features O f expense to Emperor
Francis Joseph
For instance i t had been the rule for
generations that whenever anything i n the shape o f provi
sions fruit wines liqueu rs bon b ons , flowers etc l e ft the
palace store rooms o r hot houses un der the requisition
they should
o f this o r that dignitary of the household
never under any circumstances be returned thither no
matter whether used o r not
I nasmuch as at each dinner
given by the emperor for instance at least three o r four
times the number o f bottles of costly wine needed fo r the
function were taken fro m the palace cellars all those
bottles l eft over t w
o thirds o f which were i nva riably still
unop ened became the p erquisi tes o f the servants who
found a ready sale for them even among the bou rgeoi si e o f
the Austrian capi tal these people being onl y too glad
t o be able to purchase at a moderate cost , wines almost
worth their weight i n gold
I n the same way the imperial servants had a t raditional
and daily right t o a certai n number o f wax candles either
I forget which and this again was an other
tw
o o r three
terrible source o f expense the p erquisites i n this particular
actually averagi ng as much as two wax candles api ece for
each se rvant every da y all the y ear round
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2
3
WILLI AM
2
II
she was brough t u p with the archduchess
She s hared t h e
’
latter s lessons h er pleasures and even her apa rtm ents ,
and not a portrait was taken of the archduchess i n which
her playmate did not figu re beside her They formed an
attractive pai r Valeri e with her burnished bronze hair
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and S plendid eyes reminding o ne o f her mother s and
Princess A glae with her magnificent blue eyes her long
fair hair and her peach like ski n About three months
before the tragedy o f Mayerling took place the p ri ncess
was compelled i n cons equence o f her failing health to
spend the winter i n Algi e rs
She was there wi th one o f
her brothers and some i ntimate friends when the crown
’
prince s death occurred and an attempt was foolishly an d
immediately made to connect her name with the tragedy
People insisted that i f she had gone to Algeria i t was for
the purpose o f avoiding the attenti ons o f the crown p ri nce
which Sh e d i d no t dare to repel altogether o r to complai n
of to the empress feeling that it would appear as an act o f
ingratitude in vi ew o f the kindness lavi shed u pon her by
her maj esty
So m e even went so far as to allege that she
’
had been rui ned by the crown prince and that the latter s
death was attributable to the vengeance o f her brothers
There was i t is needless to say not the shadow of a foun
dation for these stori es ; for the Princes Auersperg re
ta i ne d their commissi ons in the arm y and thei r places i n
soci ety which they could not have done had thei r hands
been stained wi th the blood o f the only son of their sov er
whil e Princess Aglae was subsequentl y o ne o f the
e i gn
’
most co nspicuous guests at Archduchess V aleri e s w
edd i ng
the archduchess in turn being p resent later at the marriage
o f her girlhood friend to Count Ferdinand Kinsky
The latter at the time when he led young Princess
Auersperg to the altar enj o y ed the reputation of being t h e
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A ND FRA NCIS JOSEPH
2
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33
handsomest man in the Aust rian army
H e is a son of
Prince Kinsky and a younger brother o f Charles Ki nsky ,
the most famous gentleman rider i n Europ e who won the
Grand National at L ive rpool besides v e ry many other
great races
Anothe r v e ry impo rtant personage at the C ourt of
Vi enna is P rince Albert o f Thurn and Taxis who was cre
ated a duke las t year by his uncle E mperor Francis
Joseph and who is heredi tar y postmaster general o f the
German empire and whose family had until 1 8 5 6 the right
o f printing thei r armorial bearings o n all postage stamps
Previous to the i ntroduction of the i nte rnati onal postal
system the Thurn and Taxis family enj oyed fo r several
hundred years the monopoly of the conveyance of lette rs
and parcels throughout the length and breadth of the G er
man Empire which up to the close of the last centur y
extended all the way to the N etherlands
The young p ri nce himself i s doubl y related to the
reigning family for he is marri ed to an imperial arch
duchess a daughter of Archduke Joseph who makes his
home i n Hungary while his mother was P ri ncess H el ene
o f Bavaria , whom E mperor Francis Joseph deliberatel y
j ilted i n order to marry her y ounger sister Elizab eth
Princess H el ene who was a remarkabl y gifted and beau
tiful woman took the disappointment very well although
it must have been a c ruel blow as well as a terrible slight
She remained the best friend o f E mpress Elizabeth , he r
most trusted adviser and the confidante o f all her sor
rows both prior and subsequent to her loveless marriage
to the late Prince Thu rn and Taxis ; and so profound
was the a ffection which existed between the two sisters
that when P ri ncess H el ene died after a number of yea rs
the empress too k charge o f her son,
o f widowhood
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WILLIAM II
34
and act ed the pa rt of mother to him until he came o f
age
To d ay the p rince i s one o f the b est looking and cer
tai nly o ne o f the most magnificent o f the great nobles o f
the Cou rt o f Vi enna
H e maintains a household o r
rather a small court fi t for a reigning prince his establish
ment comprising equerries , chamberlains ladi es i n wait
ing private chaplains private secretari es etc
His pri
vate railroad train is much more gorgeous than that o f his
uncle the emperor and he i s so particular about his dress
that h e never wea rs the same sui t o f civilian clothes t w
ice
H e is an amiable youth but something of a despot
towards the members of his family b eing esp ecially strict
and severe about all questi ons of m ésalliance
I n fact he
seems to fi nd it difficult to realiz e that the days have passed
when the chief o f his hous e had the ri ght o f life and death
over its members
Everyone I suppose knows the story o f how i n the
y ear when the independence o f the United States was pro
cla imed the wi fe o f the then head of the house o f Thurn
and Taxis was decapi tated by the public executioner of
Strasburg i n his castl e of Ludw
igslus t
The p rince , whose Christian name was Vi ctor found
evidence o f an i ntri gue bet w
een his consort Princess
O livia and a worthless adventurer who had been indiscreet
i n boasting o f his conquest The prince declined to seek
redress in any public court of j us tice
H e himsel f sen
t en ce d the princess to death and the executioner having
been summoned from Strasburg was conducted to the
“ O wl Tower ” o f the castle where he found a sca ffold
hung with black cloth and i n the middle of i t a chair
wi th a l ow back
Sho rtly afterwards a lady was led i n by
two pe rsons
She was dressed in deep mourning and her
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WILLI A M II
36
the bar under the name o f D r Taxis
obse rving st rict
secrecy conce rning his real name and rank
I n course o f
time he became the chi ef j udge o f Eastern Roumelia
It
is possible that his identity might have remained a secret
forever had not o ne o f the Pri nces of Sch w
art z enb e rg
fallen i n love wi th his daughter The interest thus ori gi
nat e d led Prince Sch w
art z enb e rg to make inqui ri es con
cerning the family of his sweetheart and on discovering
who the Bulgarian j udge really was he urged upon him to
take steps to secure a share o f th e fortune o f his family to
which he was entitled , and at the same time to obtain the
sanction of th e emp eror and the head of the house o f
Thu rn and Taxis to his mar riage failing which his chi l
dr en he pointed ou t would be regarded as illegitimate
”
D r Taxis eventually yi elded to the solicitations o f
young Prince Schw
art z enb erg and e ffected a compromise ,
according to the terms of which his ma rriage was recog
n i z e d and his children legitimized o n the condition that
b e abandoned all rights to the title o f a Prince Thurn and
Taxis receiving instead the Barony o f B ri skOw and a
large annui ty in perpetuity fo r himself and his mal e de
scendant s chargeable upon the Thu rn and Taxis estates
H is daughter has since become the wi fe of Pri nce Schwarz
enberg
I must not omi t to mention i n thi s sho rt nomenclatur e
o f th e great nobles of the Court o f Vi enna the E st e rhaz ys
whose power and grandeur are such that when i n the earl y
part o f the century Emperor Nap oleon I offered to make
the then chief o f the house Ki ng of Hungary , thus re
sto ring to the Magyar ki ngdom its ardently desired inde
n
e
p d e nc e the prince proudly repli ed that h e cared noth
’
ing for the French emp eror s offer and that no royal
crow
n or an ything else tha t Napoleon had the p owe r
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AND FRA N CI S J O S EP H
2
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to o ffer could add anything whatever to the exalted ran k
o f the house o f Esterhazy
The estates o f this family though considerably dimi n
i sh e d still exceed I reland i n size and comprise cities
towns and villages
W hen Prince Ni cholas Esterhaz y w
h o had spurned Napo
’
l eon s advances visited England i n the earl y part o f the
century and was asked by the Earl o f L eicester i f he had
in Hungary as many sheep as the immense flocks for which
H olkham was celebrated and which extended as far as the
eye could see the prince shrugged his shoulders and re
pli ed that he could sho won his Hungarian estates as man y
shepherds as the earl had sheep
I t was this sam e prince who was the friend and patron
and the latter composed
of the great composer Haydn
some o f his most glori ous works beneath the roof o f Ester
hazy whose p rivate chapelle de musique he conducted
’
Prince Ni ch olas s son Prince Paul was ambassador i n
London and was famous fo r his gorgeously j ew
elle d Hun
garian dress which he wore on all state occasions and
which was adorned with diamonds valued at two million
dolla rs
I t used to b e said that i t cost the prince five hun
dred dollars for repairing the injury don e to t h e smalle r
diamonds each time that h e wore this magnificent dress
Prince Paul mar ri ed Lady Sarah Villiers daughter o f the
Earl o f Jersey and i t is her son General Prince Aloys
Esterhaz y who is at the present moment mili tary attach e
o f the Austrian embassy i n Lo ndon ; the B ri tish capi tal
having been his home during six months o f each year for
more than three decades past the remainder o f his tim e
being spent i n Vienna
His elder brother P rince Paul di ed about two years ago
and the present head o f th e house is his nephew, P rince
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WILLI A M
38
11
N icholas who assu redly mainta ins the traditions o f inde
p e n denc e of his family for after a marriage had been ar
ranged for him with Archduchess Christine eldest daughter
o f Archduke and Ar chduchess Frederick he deliberately
j ilted her in order to wed a Countess Marguerite Cz i raky
whom he considered to be better looking— i n a word more
fascinating
The family is now divided into thr ee branches the heads
o f the two j unior ones being Counts Maurice and Francis
Esterhazy
All the encumbrances which fifty years ago so seriously
embarrassed the family have now been paid o fl and the
former gl ories o f the house have retu rned to i t the property
owned by the family comprises twenty nine separate estates
twenty one country seats sixty citi es and market towns
and four hundred and forty villages
The Est erhaz ys claim t o be lineal descendants o f Attila
king o f the Huns and the earliest records o f Hungarian
history S how th e Est erhaz ys to have already been great
magnates and lords
I n the seventeenth century they
espoused the doctrines o f Luther but later on recanted
them and became the patrons of the Jesuits and chiefs of
the Catholic part y in Hunga ry which the y remain to this
day
The name of G alantha which the princes and counts o f
this family bear to day i n connection with th e name o f
Esterhazy was conferred upon a certain Paul Esterhaz y as
a reward for his gallantry i n the wars against the Turks
services so distinguished that he received at the sam e time
the right of coining money and o f conferring titles o f
nobility
O ne cu ri ous point about this gr eat family is their extra
o rdinary comeliness The Huns and i n par ticular Attila ,
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C H A PT E R XXXII
There are but two members o f the Hebrew faith and
race who are to be met wi th at the Court o f Austria and
who i n spite of the very pro nounced prejudice o n the part
are
o f the o ld Austrian aristocracy against this people
nevertheless received i n the highest circl e of V i ennese
society They are the Barons Nathani el and Albert Roths
child each o f whom holds a patent from th e emperor which
has b een published in the Ofi ci al G az ette and which grants
to them
that is to sa y the right o f forming part
o f the out er court ci rcle
There are a number o f o ffi cial personages o f obscure
birth and o f plebeian origin who by reason o f the offi ces
whi ch they hold and o f the decorations and orders which
they possess are i nvited to attend great state functions
at court ; but they are only present on such occas ions
by vi rtue of an invitation and n o t as a right and of course
are absent from any o f the more intimate court entertain
ments and ceremonies which are restricted to nobles o f
both sexes who possess a s ufli c i e ntly blue blooded ancestry
free from all plebeian strain to render them h o ffah i g
the only exceptions that the emperor has made so far as
men are concerned are i n favor o f the two Barons Roths
child and the p rl v ilege was regarded as o f such an extra
ordi nary and unusual character that i t formed the subj ect
much commented upon and taken
o f a special decree
amiss b y man y
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WILLI A M
42
11
W hil e these impe rial honors thus granted to Albert and
Nathani el Rothschild consti tute a recognition o f the ser
vices rendered by them to the Austro Hungarian govern
ment in thei r capacity o f financiers their admission t o
court society must be ascribed entirely to the influence
and also t o th e sense of gratitude of Princess Pauline Met
t e rn i ch and i t speaks volumes for the extent of her social
prestige and power on the banks of the Danube that she
should have been able to e ffect this i n face o f the opposi
tion of several members of th e imperial family notably o f
the late Archduke Charles L ouis and of his imperi ous con
h o more intensely than
sort Archduchess Mari e Th erese w
all the other Hapsburgs distrust and hate all Hebrews
W hen Princess Metternich went to Paris as the wife o f
the ambassador to the Court of th e Tuileri es Sh e found
Baron and Baroness Alphonse Rothschild occupying quite
a prominent posi tion i n Parisian Napoleonic soci ety and
fi guring conspicuously in the entou rage of the parvenu
French emperor and empress
She had to choose b e
tween t h e a l t e rnati v e o f ignoring them as the members
o f the Hebr e w race had until that time been socially
ignored at Vienna or of following the exampl e of the
Parisian Bonapartist world and accepting them
L ike a sensibl e wo m an Sh e chose th e latter almost i n
e v i table alternati v e her position as ambassadress con
sid e re d and found less reason to regret it than o ne might
ha v e supposed ; fo r Baroness Alphonse Rothschild w
ho
had be e n brought up in England was a very witty and
attracti v e woman wi th whom she had in fact some tas tes
i n co mm on
I ndeed the two became quite friendly and
o n sev e ra l occasions when the Metternichs by reason of
the appalling extravagance which prevailed in court life at
Paris during the closing years o f the empire became i n
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WILLI AM
44
11
table i n the extreme and when sh e died i n childbi rth her
demis e was sincerely mourned Princess Metternich dis
playing an altogether maternal solici tude and kindness to
her six motherl es s children
O f course the acceptance by society o f Bettina Roths
child involved the recognition o f her husband Baron
Albert who is a very cl e v er and well mannered man and
possesses a correctness o f appearance which his brother
Nathaniel can scarcely b e sai d to enj oy
Nathaniel is a great character i n his way H e cares
nothing whatsoever for business but devotes himself e n
In
t i rely to soci ety to philanthrop y and to hospi tali ty
course o f time he became a particular favori te o f Princess
Metternich who ended by invariably getting him to take
charge o f all her chari table fetes and ente rtainments
treating him i n fact as a friend and j okingly describing
him as Mein Haus Jude
My
house
Jew
i
n
remem
[
]
brance of the time when each o f the grand families o f
the Austrian aristocracy had a Hebrew atta ched to their
households to manage the financial and business affairs
”
thereof and who went by the name o f the Hans Jude
I ndeed the fortunes of the now powerful Rothschild
family may be sai d to date from the time when Old Meyer
Rothschild entered the se rvice of the reigning Elector of
Hesse Cassel as his House Jew
W hen the elector was forced by the French invasion
under Napoleon to take to flight he left money to the
amount o f some five million dollars in the hands o f his
“ Haus Jude ” having neither receipt nor any kind
of
paper to show that he had confided any money to Meyer
Rothschild
O n the fall of Napoleon the elector who had never
dreamed o f seeing his mone y again , was gratified to receive
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A ND FRAN CIS J O SE P H
2
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45
a noti fi cation from his Haus Jude to the c fl ect that his
money was perfectly safe that by dint o f careful manage
ment and fortunate investments he had trebled the original
capi tal and tha t the enti re amo u nt sav e for the charges
o f management , was at the disposal o f the elector
The latter was so delighted that at the Congress of
Vi enna he was never tired o f t elling the story to the assem
bled sovereigns and pl enipotentiari es and thus gave the
R othschild banking house an adve rtisement o f u n p rece
dented and unparalleled value
O ne of the immediate re
sult s thereof was that the Austrian government transferred
i ts entire financial business to the Rothschilds who estab
li sh e d a branch at Vienna and so great were the services
o f the firm to the imperial exchequer tha t already i n 1 8 1 7
’
Meyer s so n Solomon i n charge o f the Viennese house
was ennobled by the emperor the entire family being
raised to the rank o f Austrian barons in 1 8 2 2
Ten years later the municipality of Vienna which is
now animated by sentiments of such bi tter hostili ty to the
Hebre wrace created Baron Solomon an honorary Freeman
the compliment being all the more highly
o f the City
prized i n vi ew o f th e fact that at that time Jews were still
excluded from the rights o f ci tizenship The muni cipali ty
gave as its reason for thi s honor conferred upon the baron
his public spi ri t his cha rity and his great exertion for the
welfare o f the Austrian metropolis
To day both Nathani el and Albert grandsons o f Solo
mo n are members o f the Austrian House o f L ords and
Grand Crosses o f several Austrian O rders o f chivalry by
vi rtue o f which they are entitled to be addressed as Ex
”
cellency
These honors are one i s boun d to confess ,
deserved for i f throughout the past half centu ry o r more ,
the fi nances of both Austria and Hungar y have always been
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2
WILLI AM
46
11
well managed and if A ustro Hungarian c r edi t has al w
ays
ranked particularly high abroad i t is large l y due to the
house o f Rothschi l d
Baron Nathaniel Rothschild whose appearance is some
what Falstaffi an and who is the most genial of oon oi o ants
is an extremely witty man and i nvariably manages t o get
e v en usually i n an amusing manner with those who ha v e
i ntentionally o ffended o r slighted him The way i n which
he go t the better o f Archduke Charles L ouis and his beau
tiful archduchess is suffi ciently characte ri stic to merit being
placed o n record
Finding that the archduke and archduchess had estab
lish e d thei r summer residence at Reichenau o n e o f the
most picturesquely and charmingl y situated spots i n the
”
“
neighborhood of Vi enna Baron Natty Rothschild pro
c ee d e d to purchase through a third party a large tract o f
round
adjoining
and
overlooking
the
estate
of
the
arch
g
He thereupon proceeded to erect a magnificent
d uke
c h a teau which completely cast into the shade the country
s eat o f the archduke and after having had i t furnished
t ook up his residence there for a S hort time establishing a
n umber of superb greenhouses and conse rvatories o n the
place
The archduke extremely indignant at what he regarded
as the impudence o f the baron set to work to render the
’
He
fi nan c i e r s soj ourn there as unpleasant as he could
deni ed him access to certain roads over the imperial e s
tates which were freely used by all the other residents and
inhabitants o f Reichenau and absolutel y ignored the salu
t at i o n s which the baron considered i t proper to address to
him as a member o f the imperial house when he met hi m
ou t riding o r driving
I t will sca rcely be believed that after having thus shown
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2
W ILLIAM
48
11
O f course a tremendous row ensued and owing to the
’
p ronounced oppositi on o f the archduke the baron s o ffer
was declined his imperial highness however who did not
’
relish the idea o f having a consu m ptives hospital so near hi s
sum m er home i ncurre d much popular odium for prefer
ring the health and interest o f his o w
n family to those of
t h e pauper sick of Vienna
N othing daunted t h e baron th e reupon present e d the
estate to the Austrian war department together with a
handsome endowment for use as a home for i nvalid sol
diers Th e gift aroused so m uch enthusiasm i n mili ta ry
circles that the archduke no longer dared to stand i n the
’
way of the baron s philanthropic intentions and resolved
to himself withdraw from Reichenau putting up his o w
n
country seat for sale
The baron immediately purchased
i t and added i t to his enormous institution for old soldi ers
the e m peror conferring upon him the Grand Cross of the
O rder of Francis Joseph by way of recognition of his gen
an act o f imperial favor which was naturally gall
e rosi t y
and wormwood to the archduke
I t is due to the more e nlighten e d vi ews o f Emperor
Francis Joseph o n the subj ect o f the Hebrew race that
there are to da y offi cers professing the Hebrew fai th hold
ing commissions in the Austro Hunga rian army whereas
ther e i s not o n e in active service holding a com mi ssion i n
the German army from Emperor W illiam
Strange to relate i t is a Jewish field o fli ce r General
von Porges who n o wholds the command of the fo rtress o f
Prs emysl which owing to the position i t occupies on th e
Russian frontier of Austria may be said to constitute the
most important o f all the keys to the D ual Empire
W hen the o ld Grand D uke Michael o f Russia some time
ago c e lebrated th e fiftieth anniversary of his j oining the
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A ND F RA N CI S J O SEPH
2
49
a rm y a deputation of o fli c ers from the Austrian regiment
o f which he is colonel i n chi ef proceeded to St Petersburg
by order o f Francis Joseph to convey to him the co ngratu
At the head o f the depu ta
lat i o ns o f the Austrian army
tion was the commanding ofli c e r o f the regi ment Colonel
Baron v on Schweitzer a professing Jew and before return
ing to Vi enna he was accorded the honor of a p rivate audi
ence by the present czar , who conferred upon him a high
R ussian order
But the most distinguished Jewish offi ce r i n the army is
old General Baron von Eiss for a number of yea rs the
commanding o ffi cer of the garrison at Brunn
He is a
general favorite which co nsidering that he belongs to the
despised race, is nothing S hort o f a miracle and his breast
i s covered with orders chief among which is the great gold
medal for conspicuous and extraordinary gallantry on the
battlefield
This Old offi cer was Slated for the Cross o f the O rder o f
Ma ria Theresa only granted for some extraordinary feat of
dari ng i n war
I t is the highest military distinction i n the
O ld W orld ranki ng even higher than the Victo ria Cross i n
’
England or the St George s Cross i n Russia and that i t
i s but rare ly conferred may b e gathered from the fact that
to day there are but six O ffi cers i n the Aust ro Hunga rian
army whose breasts are ado rned with this most highly
prized decoration
The statutes of this grand O rder which was founded i n
the middle of the last centu ry b y Empress Maria Theresa ,
restricts its membership to Christians and G eneral Von
E iss was informed that having been elected by the Chapte r
o f the O rder on the p roposal o f the Emperor the decora
tion woul d be conferred upon him i f he would consent
to become a convert to Christianity
Call ed up on to thus
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WILLI AM II
50
choose between the grandest prize o f the military pro
fessi on and apostasy the gallant old soldi er elected t o
sacri fi ce the distinction rather than to abandon his reli gion
and there is not an o fli cer i n the whole Austrian army who
does not honor him for his l oyalty to his creed All
military men realiz e moreover what i t must have cost hi m
to forego the Maria Theresa Cross which was wi thin his
grasp and admire him fo r his steadfast conduct
’
I t may be hoped that the emperor s successor Archduke
Francis will S how as mu ch enlightenment and progressi v e
ness i n dealing wi th his Jewi sh subj ects as F rancis Joseph
does and that he will have the good sense to lay asi de the
prej udices somewhat exaggerated i t must be admitted
which he inhe ri ted from his father Archduke Charl es
L ouis
History shows that lib eral treatm ent o f the Hebrew
race has always brought prosperity and weal th to the nation
that displayed liberal opinions i n the matter and that per
secu t i o n o f the Jews has chiefly resulted i n a decline of the
’
p eople s well being The p ower and riches of Spain com
menc ed to wane from the time when the Jews were expelled
from the kingdom
Russia is to day su ffering acutely
from a perfect avalanche of economic di fli culti es which
ar e clearly traceabl e t o the ill treatment o f the Hebrew
race by the government and the people whil e the phe
n o menal progr ess o f Great B ri tain and the United States
and the advance of thei r prosp erity with giant stri des
may i n the same way b e ascribed to the fact that J ews
enj oy precisely the same political rights and advantages
as people o f any other race o r creed all this being
easily explained i n Si x words : The Jews are the mone y ed
race
W hile Emperor W illiam has not since his accession to
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5
WILLIAM II
2
wished to marry his younger son Count W illiam to one of
the daughters o f the Frankfort Rothschilds and that o n two
separate occasions he made a defini te o ffer of such a m ar
ri a e which was rej ected by the Rothschilds solely on re
g
the prince having stipulat e d that his
li gi o u s grounds
daughter i n law should become a convert to Christianity
The late Princess Bis m arck was a most i ntimate fri e n d of
Baroness “ W illie Rothschild and i t may not gen e rally
b e known that Bismarck himself had H ebrew blood i n his
veins ; his maternal grandfather Menkel having b e e n a
converted Jew
Bismarck moreover remains on record as ha v ing fre
quently asserted that from a physical and intellectual point
o f view there was no finer cross than that betw e e n the
Teuton nobility and the Hebrew race
As long as Bismarck remained cha ncellor the Jews e n
j oyed an exceptional position
I ndeed the principal
financial adviser of the prince from the tim e he b e ca m e
premier o f Prussia until his ov e rthrow w
as t h e Hebrew
banker B lei c h rOde r
’
D uring that time the baron s influence was s e cond
only to that o f the chancellor throughout the l ength and
breadth o f the German empire and i t was the colossal
su m s which the baron was able to dispose o f that enabled
Prince Bismarck to so f requently defy first the Prussian
”
D iet then the
Z ollverein Parliament
and l astly the
Reichstag whenever any of the legislators attempted
to bend the prince t o their will by means o f tightening
the national purse strings
I t was B le i c hro d er who fur
n i sh ed him with the money to ca rry o n the government to
reorganize the army to defray the cost of the wars o f 1 8 64
and 1 8 66 and to b ri ng them to a successful issue in the
face o f the most violent opposition on the pa rt of the
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
2
53
Prussian D iet ; and agai n in 1 8 7 0 during the Franco
German war he came to the rescue of the chancellor and
the Prussian government
Cre at e d a baron for his inestimable services to the gov
e rn me n t — I may add that he was the financial agent o f
the G e rman Empi re through whom the colossal war i n
d e mn i t y exacted from France was paid — the old financier
beca m e i mbued like so many o f his race and class with
H e had but one son and a daughter
s ocial aspirations
and he sought admission for them to the most exclusive
circles at Berlin hoping to succeed i n this as well as Albert
and Nathaniel Rothschild had done at Vienna
H e took
the ground that the services that he had rendered to the
Prussian state and to the German Empire were every bi t as
i mporta nt as those that the Rothschilds had rendered to
Austro Hungary and added that he could n ot see why he
not enj oy a similar reward
Unfortunately for
s hould
him he had no Princess Metternich at Berlin to champion
’
his cause and even Bismarck s i m mense power was not
s u fli c i en t to beat down the wall o f social prej udice that
existed at Berlin against the members o f his race
I t is d i fli c u lt to conceive the humiliations to which the
o ld banker and his tw
W ith the
o children were subj ected
u tmost difficulty a commission was secured for his son
the
y oung baron i n on e o f the regiments o f guards not i t i s
tru e i n the actual regiment but merely as an o ffi cer o f the
reserve
As such h e had a right to wear the uniform and
was called upon to fulfil certain occasional mili tary duties
T hese were however rendered intolerable by the attitude
o f his fellow o ffi cers who subjected hi m t o the most cruel
ostracism
O n o ne occasion while attending the manoeu
the colonel had the bugle sounded to
v res o f his co rps
s ummon the o ffi cers around him
L ieutenant B le i ch rOder
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2
W ILLI AM II
54
naturally came up with the rest
But the commander
turned to him with the words
Sir I wish it to be distinctly understood tha t when I
sum m on my o ffi cers I do not w
i sh you to consider yourself
among th e number
O n another occasi on the old ban ker thought i t might
’
improve his son s position with hi s comrades i f he were to
invite them to dinner
Accordingly he addressed an invi tation to the entire
body of o fficers of the regi ment
The invitation was at
first declined and that too i n the curtest and coldest
fashion The old emperor on hearing about it however
through P rince Bismarck to whom the banker had com
plained summoned the colonel and ordered the accept
ance o f the invitation At the appointed time the entire
body of o fficers wi th the colonel at their head arrived at
the magnificent B lei ch rOder palace i n the B eh re nst rass e
’
and on entering the b aron s salons the colonel exclaimed
with a Sl ight inclination of the head to his host
At the
”
com m and of his maj esty we appear here for dinner
Silence reigned throughout the meal at the cl ose o f
which every o ffi cer le ft the house without returning to the
drawing room
Young B lei c h ro der ev e ntually le ft the army under cir
c u mstan c es which have never been satisfactorily explained
He was end eav oring to make his way through a crowd as
sembled around the gates of the i mpe rial palace i n order to
see the emperor drive out an d got into some sort o f alter
cation
I n the course o f the latter he is asserted to have
made a remark which was construed as disrespectful to his
maj e sty on t h e strength o f which his face was slapped by
a fe ll ow ofli c er This is the story related in the regiment
to which he belonged although the young baron deni ed
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2
WILLI AM
56
Not
11
a singl e lady with the exception o f Countess
Schleinitz spoke to the unfortun ate gi rl throughout the en
tire evening and Empress Augusta herself manifested so
much displeasure at her presence that the marshal of the
court was encouraged thereby to inti m ate to the m asters o f
ceremonies under his orders that the commands of the o ld
kaiser to find partners fo r her might be considered as re
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sc i n de d
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monarch himself spok e a few words to her but
save for this S h e was subj ected to the most cruel frost
throughout the entire evening the observed o f all u n
friend l y observers ; and she ne v er ventured to repeat the
’
The cli max o f the unfortunate girl s humilia
e xperiment
tion ca m e to h er in connection with her marriage I n S pi te
o f the contumely to which both her father and brother
as well as she herself had been subj ected by the ari stoc
racy she made up her mind with extraordinary obsti nacy
that Sh e would marry no on e but a nobl eman o f ancient
lineage Among th e impecunious sui tors who took ad van
tage o f thei r knowl edge o f this determination o n the p art
B lei ch rOde r was a certai n Baron Su ch t ri t z b e
o f Mlle
longing to one o f the most anci ent famili es o f Germany
and who was an o fli ce r o f the guards
The marriage took
place i n 1 8 8 7 and the bride received a do w
ry o f seve ral
million marks two magnificent estates in Silesia near Bres
lau i n addition to which the bridegroom had his enormous
debts paid in full by his fat h er i n law
For some time after the marriage which attracted much
attention at the time the young coupl e resided on their
estate at H u en e rn
But wi thin three months a fter the
marriage Baron Su ch t ri t z suddenly deserted his wi fe and
departed for foreign lands wi thout l eaving any addre ss
Simultaneously , a ve ry beauti ful woman named Eiseman
Th e
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A ND
F RAN CI S JO S E PH
2
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57
disappeared from Breslau and the climax was reached when
the deserted wi fe was notified that the country seat and
handsome estate where she was living and which had c o n
sti tuted part o f her dowry had passed i nto other hands hav
i ng been S old without her k nowl edge b y her husband for a
large sum o f money
The baroness retu rned t o her father, and a y ear later
’
obtained a divorce on the ground of her husband s miscon
d uct and dese rti on D uring th e cours e o f the trial th e fact
was brought to light that Madame Eiseman whose i ntimacy
with the baron existed previous to his marriage had fol
lowed the young coupl e about from place to place duri ng
thei r honeymoon ; i ndeed scarcely a day had passed on
which she had not been visited by th e bridegroom
As the baron coolly refused to refund t o his former wife
a single p enny o f h er dowry and as i t was discovered that
the marri age was merely a preconceived plan o f obtaining
’
some of Baron B lei ch rOder s millions —
a plan o f wh i ch the
amiabl e Su ch t ri tz had publicly boasted to his brother
offi ce rs —his conduct was made the subj ect o f inquiry by a
Court o f H onor composed o f offi cers o f the brigade o f
guards
Thei r first verdi ct was to acqui t the baron of an y
misconduct but the emperor declined to approve thi s
decisi on and subsequently i n deference to his commands
a decision was rendered to the effect that the baron had
been guilty o f conduct unbecoming an o ffi cer and a gentle
man
O n the strength Of this the emperor at once cash
i e red him , and he has since that time made his home i n
Austria
To day old Baron Blei chrOder is dead and both his son
and his daughte r have been cured de fi nitel y of all thei r
social aspirations
’
The episode of the young ba roness s only app earance at
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2
58
WILL I A M
11
a Berli n Court ball in defiance of the wishes of the empress
and th e members of the court had a sensational counter
part at th e Cou rt of Vi en na where o n only o ne occasion ,
Emperor Francis Joseph was compelled b y political con
siderations to invite a lad y whose presence w
as eminentl y
distasteful alike to the empress and the whole imperial
fam ily
She was the wi fe of the famous cavalry ge neral Baron
E d e lsh e i m who at the ti m e commanded the entir e Austro
Hungarian forces i n Hungary and who was particularl y
valuable to the emperor and to his government as being
the onl y Austrian offi cer o f the highest rank whose Magyar
afli li at i ons were such as to render him acceptable to the
H ungarian peopl e and to thei r army
For a number o f years his name was associated with that
of an actress who bore the name o f D i e Kaula
and
several yea rs elapsed after the birth o f her son before the
baron consented to ma rry her wi th a view of legitimizing
the lad
O f course both court and soci ety decided that
in view of the questionable antecedents of the new fl edged
baroness it would be necessary to subj ect her to the most
severe ostracism and to ignore her The fi eld marshal how
ever was resolved that his wi fe should receive imperial rec
To this end he a v ailed himself o f the Austrian
Ogni t i o n
D erby which is run every year at Vi enna and is r egarded
as the principal sporting event and as such attended by
all the court and aristocracy The baroness arrayed i n a
much too ostentatious and beautiful toilet took her place
i n one o f the boxes o f the grand stand which had been
secured for her in advance As soon as the third race had
been run her husband left her S i de and approaching the em
p ero r who was walking about i n the enclosure requested
him to be permitted to present his wife to him adding that
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2
WILLI AM II
60
selves graci ous to the Edelshei ms the archduchess how
ever restricting her conversation to the fi eld ma rshal ,
while the emperor spoke to the baroness
W i th the exception o f this brief inte rview the baroness
was left severely alone throughout the entire evening not
another lady belonging either to the imperial family o r to
the aristocracy taking the slightest notice o f her presence
while th e few m en who came up to speak to her husband
contented themselves with a mere bow on being presented
t o her
There the coupl e stood in on e corner of the room as i f
surrounded by a wall of i ce and looking the very picture
embarrassment and mise ry
They were
o f discomfort
glad when the entertainment came to a close and though
the baroness had obtai ned her wish and secured the
entr é e to court yet the experience of that o n e night
proved sufli ci ent and she never again availed hersel f o f
the privil ege
’
A short time before her husband s death he fought a duel
o n her account with Prince G eorge L obkowitz and a few
months after his demise she marri ed th e pri nce and
is to day subjected to a yet more se v ere ostracism as a
princess than ever fell to her share as Ba roness Edelsh ei m
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C H AP TER XXX I I I
I n all g reat o ffi cial ceremonies and state functi ons i n the
O ld W orld i t is always the principal personage who walks
last i n the procession and usual ly alone
I t i s therefore
right and proper that Emperor Francis Joseph S hould con
st i t u t e the subj ect o f the cl osing chapter of this work
It
is t rue tha t I have repeatedly referred to him and often at
some length i n the earlier pages of these volumes But he
p resents so st riking a spectacl e so interesting a figure Oc
cu pyi ng as he does the position o f patriarch among the
rulers o f the O ld W orld that some more detailed d esc ri p
tion o f his apostolic maj esty app ears to me to b e necessary
esp ecially i n vi ew of the fact that having attained the age
o f three score years and ten the S pan of life allotted to man
by the Psalmist his long and eventful r ei gn must b e re
garded as nearly reaching its close
N o monarch with the exception o f Queen Vi ctoria
enj oys the loyalty and p ersonal a ffection of his subj ects to
such a degree as this white haired emperor
I n fact i t
is the profoun d regard and the love which th ey universally
bear fo r their sovereign that may be said to consti tute the
chief na y almos t the onl y bond which unites the many
di fferent nationalities comp rised i n what is so wr ongl y
styled the D ual Empire
There are at l eas t sixteen di ffer ent and distinct races
who look up to Francis Joseph as thei r rul er
They are
imbued with senti m
ents of the most bitte r hatred to one
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2
61
2
WILLI AM II
62
’
anot h er Thus at the outset o f Francis Joseph s r eign the
Aus t rians did not hesi tate to i nvoke the assistance o f the
Russians to help them to c rush the Hunga rian i nsurrection ,
and the Magyar Kingdom was i n consequence overrun by
fi erce hordes o f semi barbarous Cossacks whose very name
still gives rise to a S hiver i n the Trans Leitbau po rtion of
the dominions of Francis Joseph
I n the same way the Bohemians wo uld be ready to
i nvite Muscovite co ope rati on i n order to get the best of
the Aust rians while the latter i n turn have gone to the
length of publicl y professing that they preferred i ncorpora
tion i nto the new German empire to compulsory obedi ence
to a government i n which Bohemians have any voice
The Croats and the Transylvanians are so hostile to the
H ungarians that they are ready to enter i nto any combina
tion o r to pa rticipate in any political move ment calculated
to disturb the Magyar government , while the I talian speak
ing provi nces regard the Austrians as their sworn foes I n
fact the abho rrence o f these sixteen di fferent nationalities
for o ne another is car ried to such l engths that i t is i mp os
sible to form a lasting combi nation between any t w
o racial
groups i n the impe rial parliament and the consequence is
that legislative gove rnment has b ecome vi rtually impossible
i n Austria
It
Al l these nations have but one ti e that unites th em
cannot b e call ed a dynasti c ti e for their lo yalty is not
accorded to the H ous e of H apsburg but solely and exclu
si v ely to th e pe rson of Francis Joseph ; and i t is to be
feared that this ti e the only remaining bond o f union that
preserves the Austro H ungarian empire from falling to
pi eces will disappear when the good Old emperor is gath
e red to his fathe r
s and is lai d beside his murdered wife,
wi th in the vaults of the Capuc hin C h urch i n Vi enna
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2
WILLIAM II
64
the language spoken in Transylvania are equally familia r
to him and since the incorporation of the Mohammedan
p rovinces o f Bosnia and Herzegovina i nto his empire he
has even taken the trouble to learn their tongue so that
he is able to bi d good morning to the Bosniac sentinels at
his palace gates at Vi enna in thei r ow
n dialect
Besides this faculty o f addressing the people o f each na
t i o nali t y comprised in his dominions i n thei r ow
n idiom
the e m peror acts i n many ways that contribute to hi s
populari ty
For instance he spends much of his time i n
travelling about visiting fi rst one then another provincial
capital and no matter where he may be sta y ing whether
i t be i n the metropolis o f Bohemia i n the p ri ncipal city
he
o f Croatia o r i n Crac ow the Old capital o f Poland
invariably invites the local authorities and the leading pe r
so nage s of the district to dine with him
H e is not satisfied however wi th the local fare ; for
these banquets he has eve ry thing brought from Vienna ,
even to the very candles that figure o n the imperial table
Such agap ce have to b e served with precisely th e same de
gree of pomp splendor and magnificence that character
izes the court entertainments at the Hofburg th e i dea of
the emperor being to convince his provincial guests that
i n his estimation they are every bi t as worthy of princely
hospitality as any of the great personages who attend cou rt
functions in the Austrian metropolis
There is a delicacy thoughtfulness and conside ration
in this imperial compliment which is all th e more appreci
ated by those honored wi th i nvi tations i n thes e provincial
capi tals because o f the intense j ealous y which they nourish
toward the people at Vi enna
There is also another and very characteristic method by
means o f which the old empe ror manages to keep in touch
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
2
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65
wi th his subjects and to retai n their love and a ffection no
matter what their race or creed
H e is the only sovereign
i n Europe who still keeps up the medi aeval p ractice of
granting p ri vate audiences to the ri ch and poor alike and
the humblest peasant even the nomad Tz igan greasy
wild and un k emp t in appea rance and without any home
but his canvas covered cart possesses the p rivilege o f ac
cess to his sovereign and of pouring his wrongs i nto the
ear o f his monarch , without the presence of an y o ffi cial o r
attendant
N othing is more cha racteristic than the scene in his
antechamber on Mondays and T hursdays when the em
ror is at Vi enna
The
reat
room
is
thronged
with
car
e
g
p
di nals and prelates , generals and statesmen great nobles
and magnates and mi ngling with all these high and
might y p e rsonages are Bohemian bricklaye rs , Styrian
farmers peasants fron Upper Aus t ria , humble shopkeepers
from the poorer classes o f Vienna and village priests all
waiting to submi t thei r troubles thei r sorrows thei r
"
wrongs and thei r g rievances to Unse rn Guten Kaiser
I t need hardly be added that i n accordance with the
teachings of the N ew Testament it i s the village priest
who is generally received before th e scarlet robed car
dinal the pooly clad p easant before the cabinet minister
in his gold embroidered uni form and the farmer before
the great terri torial magnate
Francis Joseph receives them standing i n front o f his
writing table , against which he sometimes l eans when talk
ing to them
I f his visitor i s in the least Sh y o r alarmed
his manner immediately becomes paternal and encouraging
and he mentally mak es rapi d notes and extracts from what
they have to say to b e remembered at leisure
Sometimes
it is a widow who wants the discharge o f he r onl y son from
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WILLI AM II
66
mili ta ry se rvice while at other times i t is an old soldier
anxi ous for the righting o f some error i n connection wi th
his pension o r perchance some village priest appealing for
fi nancial assistance fo r his poor
To one and all the emperor l ends a kindly and attentive
ear summons an aide o r a secretary to make a note o f the
most impo rtant cases and dismisses his visitor with a
kindly and paternal nod frequently extending his hand
which is kissed by the great and the hu bl e alike partly
i n a ffection and pa rtly , too in token of deep and reverent
homage
Sometimes very o dd episodes occur and o n one memor
abl e Occasion the loud squealing of a pig rang through the
loft y antechamber o f the emperor i n the Hofburg at
Vi enna This strange sound emanated from a small but
very nois y porker ado rned w
ith ribbons which was carried
in the arms of an elderl y woman arrayed i n peasant cos
tume
She had travell ed a considerabl e distance i n order
’
to implore the sovereign s pardon fo r some mili tary o ffence
committed by her only son who was serving i n the army
and had brought the sucking pig wi th her as a gift to the
monarch with the vi ew o f propitiating him
The poor
wo man had no troubl e i n reaching the emperor although
she experi enced some di fli cult y i n taki ng her offering along
wi th her
The emperor however insisted that i t should
not be taken from her and the pi g not only shared i ts mis
’
tress s honor o f an imperial audi ence , but was graciously
accepted by his maj esty who o f course arranged t o grant
the petition which the woman had brought with her Nor
are pigs the only denizens o f the farm yard that have been
seen i n the antechambers of the emperor for o n St Mar
’
ti n s Day o f each year the Jewish inhabitants o f the capi
tal i n which the emperor ma y happen to b e at the time,
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WILLI AM II
68
Francis Joseph allowed them to depart not however
before taking their names and addresses I n terror and fear
they awaited arr e st and sentence to a long term of i m
prison m e nt — t h e game laws being as exceptionally severe
in Austria as they are in Ger m any —but instead a few
days later they were notified of their appointment as imp e
rial game keepers
Francis Joseph had ascerta ined by
means o f private investigation that their story was entirely
true and that they had served him bravely through the
sanguinary war of 1 8 66 hence he was onl y too delighted
to overlook their offense and reward past se rvices
O n another occasion when driving from the Hofburg to
Schonbrunn he came upon a fi re engine which was unable
to proceed o n its way to a c o nflagrat i on on account o f the
wheels having sunk so deeply into the mire that the horses
had not strength enough to extrica te it
He at once stopped his carriage ordered his horses to be
taken out and harnessed to the engine with the vi ew
of using them to assist i n bringing i t to the scene o f the
fire while he hi m s e lf hi red a one horse fi ac re or b ack
tha t was passing and i n that extraordi nary con v eyance
drove to his d e stination
B e loved though he is by his people of high and lo wde
gree Emperor Francis Joseph is to day wi thout any i nti
mate friend o r associate tha t is to say i n his dominions
His onl y crony is the equally aged King o f Saxony who
only comes to Vi enna once or twi ce a year to j oin the i m
pe rial shooting parties
At Berlin the kaiser is wont to seek his fri ends and as
sociates among the members o f his nobility and I have al
ready mentioned in these pages his i ntimate association
with the Counts of Goertz Eulenburg and D ouglas
I n England t h e Prince o f Wales seeks his favo ri te cro
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AND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
2
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ni es among the members o f the Bri tish nobility ; but the
Emperor o f Austria while S impl e and una ff ected in his de
meanor and without the slightest touch of arrogance al
ways remains the monarch to his nobles and though pater
nal i n his attitude towards them as he i s to the lowliest
peasants never mingles at any time wi th them in a social
sense
The m embers o f the ol d aristocracy figure at his court
and at great sta te functions ; but the gulf between the i m
p erial house and the nobility is so sharply defined that
there is never the slightest question of familiarity o n the
part o f any of the princes or grea t magnates with the
members of their reigning house
There is much i n common between Francis Joseph and
Emperor Joseph II i n this respect Joseph was very fond
o f the common p eople and j ust as fatherly i n his dealings
wi th them as the present occupant o f the throne I t was he
i ndeed who pres ented to the people of Vienna the Augar
ten and the Prater which until that time had constituted a
portion of the p rivate pl easure grounds o f the so v ereign ,
but which to day may be said to constitute the lungs o f the
Aust rian metropolis
At the time Emperor Joseph II
made this gi ft o n e o f the greatest nobles o f his court i n
the most deferential manner ventured to exp ress his doubt
as to the policy o f this i m perial act o f generosity adding
that at that rate his apostolic maj esty woul d soon ha v e no
spot left to which he could withdraw in order to enj oy i n
p ri vacy the S oci ety of his peers
“
“ My friend ” repli ed Joseph
i f I were to be re
i t would be necessary
st ri c t ed to the soci ety o f my peers
for me to spend my li fe i n the vault o f the Capuchi n
”
red eces
Chu rch
That
is
among
the
remains
of
his
p
(
sors on the imperial throne )
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WILLI AM
70
11
Emp e ror Francis Joseph has n e v e r m ade use o f any such
si m i l e yet doubtl ess he cannot h e lp exp eri encing the same
feeling i n the matter as di d Joseph II
There is a touch
and fla vor of the bou rgeoi s i e about most o f the r e igning
dynasti es of Europe
This i s the cas e with t h e royal
fam ily o f England and lately a las !also with the imperial
house of Russia ; but there is nothing wha tso e v er of this
nature where the Hapsburgs are concerned and I should
be t e m pted to describe the maj e sty of Francis Joseph as
absolutely O lympian in the sens e that it is so entire ly
abov e even the great aristocracy aye and apart from
the m w e re it not for the paternal ki ndness and i f I may
coi n the word the app roa c/zfl clness o f the monarch
Save for the society of his two daughters and th e ir chil
dren Francis Joseph is very much alone indeed
He has
outlived most of his contemporaries who belonged to his
n fami l y as well as all those statesmen who acted as his
ow
po l iti cal advisers during the fi rst half or two thirds o f his
’
fi fty years r e ign and most o f the ministers and digni tari es
by whom he is now surroun d e d b e l ong to a di fferent gene
ration and w e re mere boys at school e v e n after he had
been r e i gning for more than twenty y ears
He stands i n
deed a very lon e ly and therefore pathetic fi gu re —doubly
path e tic S ince he has l ost i n the most cruel fashion that
first o f all his only son and thereupon
ca n be imagined
his lovely and beloved consort the unforgettable Empress
E l izabeth
O ne of the extraordi nary features o f this O lympian e mi
n en c e upon which the emperor is poised 5 0 to speak is the
fact that he is looked upon as so far above his m inist e rs and
his go v ernment that he is not regarded as responsible by the
people for anything that goes wrong His subj ects asc ribe
to him e v erything good that is done either by the crown or
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WILLI AM II
72
G rand D uke o f T uscany being an Aust rian archduke
Moreover all the non P russian states o f Germany looked
to the Emperor of Aust ria as their chief I ndeed he oc
c u p i e d a far higher position with regard to them than the
German kai ser does to day ; for whereas the non Prussian
states at the p resent time insist that they are merely alli es
o f the King of Prussia and his equals they were content
forty o r fifty years ago to look upon themselves as the
vassals of Francis Joseph
Before the e m p eror had been many yea rs on the throne
he found himself i nvolved i n a war wi th both France and
Sardinia whi ch after the crushing defeat sustained at Sol
fe rino by Austria was brought to a disastrous close by the
p eace of Villafranca ; according to the terms o f which
Francis Joseph was compelled not merely to surrender to
King Victor Emmanuel his I talian province Of L ombardy
including the ci ty o f Milan but likewise to consent to the
incorporation of Tuscany and all the other Hapsburg
ruled states o f I taly into the dominions o f the King of
Sardinia
’
I n 1 8 6 0 Franc i s Jos e ph s S ister i n lawand he r consort
the Qu e en and King o f Naples were deprived o f their ki ng
d o m and their throne by Victor Emmanuel without his
being able to raise a hand i n their defence and after hav
ing been forced against his will to relucta ntly play second
’
fiddle to Prussia i n the latter s war upon D enmark i n 1 8 64
he found himself confronted by Prussia and I taly i n 1 8 66
Before six weeks had elapsed P russia had defeated Aus
tria at every p oint and tha t t oo in the most crushing
manner all the non P russian G erman princes who had
sided with Francis Joseph as their suzerain i n the conflict ,
being compelled to seek refuge i n Vienna
I ndeed i n
’
those sad days much o f Francis Joseph s time was spent
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A ND
F RAN CI S J O SEPH
2
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73
in driving t o some rai lroad te rminus to receive this o r t hat
G erman so verei gn who had risked his throne and sac ri
fi c ed his crown i n order t o stand by Aust ria
’
Finally when the Prussians were wi thin a day s marc h
o f Vi enna a p eace was concluded according t o the terms
o f whi ch all the non Prussian states o f G ermany were
compelled to abandon thei r allegiance to th e house of
Hapsburg and to accept thenceforth their directions from
Berlin the Ki ng of Prussia four years later ass uming the
title of German Emperor which for many cen tu ri es had
been the he ritage of the h ouse o f Hapsburg
I t was this
war o f 1 8 6 6 also that cost Aust ria her provi nce of Ven
etia including the city o f Venice which she was obliged
t o gi ve up to King Victor Emmanuel although she had
d efeated the I talians at Cust oz z a o n land , and in the battle
o f L issa at sea
Finally Aust ria has been obliged to j oin in an o ffensive
and defensive alliance with Pruss ia , that is t o say with her
despoiler and to submit to the assumption o f the first rOle
i n the alliance b y Prussia the headqua rters of the Triple
Alliance being as ever ybody is aware , not at Vienna , but
at Berlin
I t is doubtful whether any alliance more distasteful to
Emperor Francis Joseph and the i mperial house o f Haps
burg than the tri pa rtite agreement could possibly have
been conceived ; for the Hohenzolle rns have from time
immemorial shown themselves mutinous subj ects disloyal
vassals and relentless enemi es to the dynasty o f which
Francis Joseph is the head ; while the ave rsion o f Aust ria
to eve ry thing I talian is still more acute
Francis J oseph ca nnot forget that this kingdom o f I taly
to which he is now bound by ti es o f an o ffensive and de
fensive alliance has d riven him out of the I talian Penin
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8
2
WI L L I A M II
74
sula at the point of the sword has despoiled his relatives
at Florence Naples Parma and Modena not merely of
thei r thrones and dominions but even of thei r p e rsonal
fortunes besides robbing the Pope o f his te m poral power
and virtually cond e mning him to i m prisonment within the
wa l ls of the Vatican
I t would be ridiculous to claim fo r one minute that
Francis Joseph has j oined this Triple Alliance o f his o w
n
fre e will and i nc l ination
I n fact there is no doubt that
h e l ooks upon the necessity o f taki ng part therei n as o ne
o f the many bi tter pills which he has had to swallow since
he ascend e d the throne
Few p eople can to day realize how numerous these bitter
pi l ls ha v e b e en
The entire reign o f Francis Joseph may
i ndeed be said to hav e constituted a long succession of dis
tasteful dra fts o f medici ne of this ki nd alleviated only
by the gre at j oy which he m ust ha v e derived from the
knowledge of the pro fo und and unalterable loya l ty and
a ffe ction of his p eople
He owes this lo v e o n th e ir pa rt
n extremely sympathetic persona l ity
enti re l y to his o w
and to t h e mann e r i n which he has sacrificed his own in di
vidual inclinations to the requi rements of his p eople
I t wo uld be di ffi cult to find any m onarch eith e r i n
anci e nt o r m odern history who enter e d upon his duties
as so v er e ign a m id such scenes o f ri ot rapine b l oodshed
and civil war as the E m peror of Austria Th e Hungarian
portion of his do m inions was in the ruthless grasp o f a
Russian arm y which the first Czar Nicholas had plac e d at
t h e disposal of o ld E m peror Ferdinand i n order to enabl e
h i m to suppr e ss t h e Magyar insurrection
Ci v il war like
wise p revail e d i n the Austrian moiety o f the empire The
i m perial fam ily ha d b een co m pelled to withdraw fro m the
metropolis to Olmli t z and the gutters o f Vienna literall y
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WILLI AM II
76
duke Francis Charles having renounced his ow
n rights
”
o f succession i n favor o f this young p rince his son
A solemn silence prevailed throughout that huge hall
whilst the old emperor was reading this speech and it
continued for several minutes a fter the address ha d been
completed the people present being apparently so thunder
struck as t o literal ly lose their b reath
Youn g Archduke
Francis Joseph appeared as surp rised as everyone else but
recovering his presence o f mind he approached his uncle
and knelt dow
n before hi m as i f to ask his blessing for the
task which h e was about to undertake
The old emperor
thereupon bent down towards the young emperor em
braced him laid his hand a ffectionately on his head and
exclaimed
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G ott
,
segue
di c/z ,
s ci nu r
ora u, G ot t
wi d di
r
c/z s c/z utz en
‘
”
God
bless
ou
D
o
your
b
est
y
[
God will protect you
I t has been done gladly ]
That constituted the inauguration o f the rei gn o f Francis
J oseph
There was no coronation , no ceremoni ous i nv es
’
ti t u re merely an o ld man s blessing yet the whole episode
was in fi nitely more impressive and moving than any mag
n i fi c en t pageant would have b een
Two hou rs later , the ex emperor and ex empress as well
as the parents o f the young monar ch took their departure
from Olmii t z l eaving the eighteen y ear old sovereign to
face al one a situation which had proved beyond the
strength o f the two old men
The ex emperor an d em
press sat side by side i n the car riage and facing them were
Archduke and Archduchess Francis Charl es while the
y oung emperor rode o n horseback beside the ca rriage as
escort and equerry to his uncl e
The whole road to the railroad station was lin e d wi th
tr oops while the street was dens el y crowded with people
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i s t gern ges cii elz en
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A ND FRA N CIS JO S E PH
2
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77
all heads being bared
There was not a single sound
heard e xcepting the commands o f the o ffi cers to thei r
men
The silence was p rofound throughout the entire
route and remained unbroken until the young emperor
bade a last farewell to his aged relatives at the moment
when the special train steamed o ff i n the direction o f
Prague leaving him to confront a si tuation al most without
parallel
How little Francis Joseph was equipp ed for such a posi
tion at the time will b e appreciated when i t is born e in
mind that he was brought up under the care o f th e Jesuits
that is to say of a religious school which i n those days
was particularly pronounced i n i ts intolerance
His polit
i cal ideas had been derived from old P rince Metternich
whose administration of the empire during the previous
half century had been mainl y responsible for the critical
situation in which i t became involved i n 1 8 4 8 while th e
principles which he had i nherited from his uncl e and his
father were of the most absolutist character
I ndeed he had b een taught from his earliest childhood
to loo k upon constitutionalism and legislative government
p recisely i n the same way as we to da y regard the most
advanced forms o f socialism and anarchy
The mai n
’
’
reason of Ferdi nand s abdication and his brother s refusal
to follo whim on th e throne was that nei ther coul d bring
himself to accep t principl es of popular government which
i n thei r eyes were nothing more nor less than rank heresy
but which they realized could no l onger be denied to the
peopl e
Francis Joseph , i n spite of this education has shown
himself one o f the most constitutional monarchs in Europe
H e has as I have said before subordinated all his o w
n
p e rsonal prejudices doctrines heredi ta ry p rinciples and
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2
W ILLI AM II
78
traditions to the re qui rements of his people in c onfidi ng
the chancellorship o f the empire first to a Pro testant in
the p erson o f Count B eust and a fterwards to a Hungarian
ex insurgent Count Julius Andrassy who had been sen
t e nc ed to death and was obliged to flee fo r his li fe in 1 8 4 9
i n c on seqence o f the prominent part which h e had taken in
the Hungarian rebellion which marked the commence m ent
I ndeed the emperor
o f the reign of Francis Joseph
while Andrassy was in o fli ce would often pat him good
hu mo re dly o n the shoulder , and exclai m wi th a smile
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H owglad I a m th at I di d not b a ng y ou i n 1 8 49
If
ou lea d not ma naged t o es cap e I s b ou ld be t o day de
pri ved
y
o
f the most sy mpath eti c and capa ble of a ll my mi ni s ters a nd
.
-
cons ti tu ti o na l ad vi sers
.
I t is fortunate that the emperor has but little time to
brood over his sorrows or to permi t his mind t o rest upon
the trials which he has undergone since he ascended the
throne There is no more busily occupied man nor one who
has more hard work throughout the length an d breadth
I ndeed he has not a
o f the Austro Hungarian empire
moment to himself from morning to night and the only
periods o f relaxation that he ever enj oys a r e when he is on
hunting and cham ois stalking expediti ons
He is extremel y conscientious about the performance of
his duties he has to sign the documents submitted to h i m
by a body o f no less than nineteen cabinet ministers and
to transact with each o f them the business o f thei r resp ec
tive departments He must direct the administration and
exercise the chief command o f the entire Austro Hungarian
a rmy comprising nearly a million o f troops sup e rvise on e
full fl e dge d court and household with i ts thousands o f
digni tari es o ffi cials and retainers o f every degree at
Vienna and another at Pesth
H e is obliged to be i n
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WILLIAM
II
this he di ffers from all of his fellow rulers Even Queen
Victoria is fond of gossip and does not obj ect when
piquancy is added thereto i n the shape o f a ce rtain flavor
of scandal ; while Emperor W illiam considers i t to be his
duty to keep himself p osted concerning all the ou dz ts o f
his entourage and as to what is going on in society at B e r
lin and at Potsda m
I n fact while Francis J oseph is as I have repeat e dly
sta ted already most ki nd and gracious to his entourage yet
he does not in v i te familiari ty and no o ne dreams o f ad
dressing him save i n repl y to a question nor would any
one venture to talk to his apostolic maj esty unasked ,about
some matter foreign to his ow
n pa rticular duty and position
I t is perhaps largely due to this that there has been so
little that has been trivial or petty i n his actions He is so
far removed above the little m eannesses of society no mat
ter whether i t be high o r low that one feels him to be i n
capable o f anything that is i n the slightest degree mean or
questionabl e
Thanks to this his people realiz e that he is
beyond the reach o f any i ntrigues that might be concocted
for the purpose o f influencing his actions either i n publi c
o r p rivate life
Every other monarch who has reigned duri ng the last
fifty years has been at one time or another exposed to the
reproach of yielding to the i nfluence o f some p ersonal favo
rite and whenever a c hange o f ministers takes place at
Berlin the first question asked is through whose influence
with the emperor i t has b e en brought about ; but there is
nothing o f this ki nd at Vienna and ne v er has been S ince
Francis Joseph ascended the throne The only influence
that he has ever permitted to sway his actions has been that
o f the empress his lamented consort and i nas muc h as hers
was invariably exercised in behalf of libe ralism and prog
In
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A ND FRA N CI S J O SEPH
2
-
81
r ess and as the p resent enthusiasti c loyalty of the Mag
yars to thei r king is mainly owing to the fact that he yi elded
to the advice o f his wife i n resto ring autonomy to H un
gary an d all the liberal reforms which i t now enj oys no
’
fault can b e found with his maj esty s deference to the en
lightened wishes of his deeply mourned wi fe
’
Exception may be taken to a sovereign s p ermi tti ng him
sel f to be influenced by more or less worthy favorites who
are without constitutional res ponsibility for the advice
which they i nduce their monarch to accept but no obj ec
’
tion can possibly be raised to a man s submitting to the i n
fl u enc e o f his wife when Sh e happ ens to be such a good
nobl e and altogether blamel ess woman as Empress Eliza
beth was
I n earlier chapters I have shown the extent to whi ch
i nt ri gu e p revai ls i n the entourage o f Emperor W illiam and
the un happiness which i t has caus ed there as well as the
extent to which i t has impaired the p restige and good name
There peopl e seem to realize that
o f the Court o f Berlin
thei r entire future as well as their p resent welfare depends
upon winning and retaining the personal favor o f the em
Every other consideration i s subordinated thereto
p e ro r
and as this in many cases can only be achi eved by oust
i ng those who already enj oy the favor of the monarch and
who are anxious to prevent the intrusion o f new comers i t
naturally follows that intrigues are the order o f the day
and that the entire atmosphere of the court is redolent
thereof
I t is the same at almost every other court ; i ndeed t o
such a d egr ee is this the case that the very designati on o f
cou rtier is equival ent to an intimation that the person
to whom i t is applied is a p etty i ntriguer and anxi ous to
fu rther his own selfish interests b y supplanting those who
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2
WILLIAM II
82
enjoy the favor o f the sovereign and of creating obstacles
and p itfalls for all those who are likely to prove rivals
There is an entire absence o f this spirit of intrigue at the
court o f Vienna The experience of fifty years has taught
those who are admi tted within i ts circl e that intrigue
is o f no avail i n any attempt to wi n the good graces o f the
emperor and that i f he is entirely beyond i ts reach i t is
b ecause he has never had any favorites o r deferred to any
other unconstitutional i nfluence tha n that of his wi fe
This is o ne of the reasons why cou rt life at Vi enna
i n spite o f the breadth of the chasm that prevails between the
imperial family and the aristocracy is so particularly
charming There is among the aristocracy and the en
tourage o f the emperor and the imperial p rinces a sp e cies
entirely devoid of
o f good fellowship and camaraderi e
any j ealousy back bi ting o r attempt to i nflict mutual
injury b y m eans o f i nsidious and mal evolent insinuations
Everybody knows that intrigue will be o f no a v ail and
that is why a tone o f chivalry prevails at the i m perial
palace at Vienna and at the royal palace in the Hun
garian capi tal which does not exist at any other court
o f the O ld W orld
Anythi ng that savors o f intri gue i n the gove rnment
reports documents or papers that come under Francis
’
Joseph s notice i n the ordi nary course o f business arous es
his keen resentment and on such occasions his wrath is very
great—I might almost make use of an expression which I
have already employed and desc ribe i t as O lympian !I n fact
his apostolic maj esty despite his pati ence his i ndulgence
his forbearance and his magnanimity can be very hot
tempered at times especially when he becomes aware
o f any act o f meanness o r o f dishonor
H e does not hesi
tate o n such occasions to use language which is qui te
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W ILLI AM II
84
Huny a di who i n addition to being a general o f cavalry is
grand master of ceremonies at the court of Vienna and a
trusted servant of the emperor The count lost no time in
se eking his i mperial master and obtained an audienc e with
him during the course of which he communicated the
circumstances connected with the discovery o f this bor
,
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d e reau
.
The emperor was at first dumbfounded and almost i n
capable o f beli eving i n the existence of such vile treachery
for he perceived at a glance the importance of the border
eau since i t enumerated a number of very confidential
documents which had recently been submitted to hi m
by the minister of war and the contents o f which no one
was supposed to know save half a dozen o f the l eading
generals o f the army
I t was thereupon that the interview between the em
the
i
nc
r
iminated
o fli c e r took place
i n the
ror and
e
p
cours e o f which his maj esty is des cribed as having S O com
f
e the
lost
control
his
temper
as
to
apostrophiz
l
t
l
o
e
e
p
y
man rep eated l y with the word s c/z zoei n as i f there were no
worse epithet h e could think o f i n the G erman langua ge
and even going so far i t is said as to strike the ofli cer with
h is cl enched fist i n the face
The man was at once arrested court martialled behind
closed doors degraded i n the p resence o f a number of
superior ofli c ers and picked troops and sentenced to a
long term o f p enal se rvi tude and soli tary confinement i n th e
military penitentiary o f Pet e rsw
arde i n
but the public
were never allowed to know anything about the matter
and n o mention was made thereof i n the newspapers and
to this day there are few save the initiated who are even
’
aware o f the man s name
Francis Joseph has shown himsel f o n many occasions so
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AND FRA N CI S J O SE P H
2
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85
i ndi fferent to popular clamor when he knew that he was i n
the right and the peopl e i n the w
rong that i t might be
imagined that he i s totally indi fferent to public criti cism
especially as i t is only occas i onally that he sees the dail y
papers for eve ry day a number of folio sheets containing
extracts from all the domestic and foreign papers and mat
ters o f news likely to i nterest him , are submitted to hi m
by a high o ffi cial o f the imperial household who has no
other duty to p erform than to prepare this species o f daily
préci s o f the p ress for his sove reign yet he sometimes
strongly resents popular criticism
I well remember that at the time the new Burg o r Court
T heatre was opened at Vienna , its architecture decorations
and appearance i n general were the subj ect of much abuse
o n the part o f the peopl e
True the emperor had not designed i t but he had ap
proved all the designs and what i s more had paid for the
construction of this magni fi cent temple o f the drama which
is maintai ned entirely at his expense and run without an y
regard to its revenues solely for the purpose o f foster
i ng dramati c art and giving the peopl e an opportunity to
become acquainted with the masterpieces o f mode rn and
ancient playw
rights That he keenly resented publi c c ri t i
n by a remark which was repeated
c i sm i n this cas e i s S ho w
to me at the ti me
“
I like the building immensely
sai d the emp eror ;
and even i f i t has faults I do not think tha t people ought
i n thi s way to endeavor t o S poil the pl easure o f o ne whose
main obj ect i n causing the theatre to be built was to pro
”
vide them with pleasure and entertai nment
There is something very paternal i n this complaint
It
reminds one far more o f a father chiding ungrateful chil
d ren than of a monarch dealing wit h his subj ects
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2
WI LLIAM
86
11
W hile o n the topi c o f this theatre which is regarded by
experts throughout the world as a t ri umph of architecture
I ma y mention that Fran cis Joseph possesses a far fi ner
sense o f the artistic than is generall y supposed or than
p eopl e might b e tempted to believe from the number o f
works of questionable meri t which i n publi c exhibitions
bear an inscription to the e ffect that the y have been p ur
chased by the emperor
I n such cases the works are purchased on the rec om
men dat i on of a committee appointed for the purpose The
emperor does this not b ecause he wants them or becaus e
he likes them but merel y for the sake of encouraging
native art
More than once he has subsequentl y admitted
this i n an outburst of confidence
Yes I kn ow that those p ictures are nothing but
rubbish] but you see I have b een recommended
s clz u nd [
’
to buy them and I don t thi nk i t would b e right to put my
own perso nal j udgment as an a mateur against the collective
”
Opinions of professional experts has often been his remark
This deference to the Opini on o f exp erts is o n e o f the
ke ynotes of the character of Francis Joseph
His favorite
adage is R u l ug u nd
which may be interp reted
as Stick quietl y to your profession and do your best at
”
it without attempting to splu rge
There i s no greater praise that falls from the lips of
Francis Joseph than an intimation to the e ffect that some
thing is quite s ac/z li c/z
The emperor while full of deference to the obligations
begotten by all the traditional etiquette of the Court o f
Vienna much of which dates back to the reign of his illus
t ri ou s ancestor E mp eror Charl es V
has a hatred o f every
thing that is theatri cal and that partakes of the nature of
hypocrisy o r pose
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WI LL IA M
88
11
loo k ing member of his family The Hapsburg features are
in him less conspicuous than i n the other memb e rs of his
house and there is about him an expression of st raight
forwardness and uprightness coupled wi th an appearance
o f determination that are altogether o u t o f keepi ng with
the traditional hesitancy o f mind which is set down as the
hereditary characteristic o f this most illustrious d ynasty
I n S pite of his kindliness o f manner and o f loo ks one
feels that he is n ot onl y an emperor but a gentleman and
that h e is utterl y i ncapabl e of anything m ean o r u n
chivalrous
His hai r has turned snow white and his
face furrowed by many wrinkl es , bea rs the impres s o f
sorrows domestic as well as national ; yet his fi gure re
tains all th e elegance for which i t was distingui sh ed i n
day s of yore and he still re mai ns outwa
r dl y and i nwardl y
the pe rsoni fi cation o f all that is k nightly
He is a man
Fo r Austro Hunga ry he is an ideal ruler
who decides onl y after long deliberation and who resolves
with wisdom whose sense of duty is so wide and so strong
that he considers the gr eatest tas k not above his abilities
and the l east , not undese rving of his care
H e is known
t o be entirely superior to all ambi tion o f personal glor y
and mili ta ry laurels to b e imbued with the deepest sense
of his responsibilities fi rst to his p eople and then to his
d ynas t y These are a few o f the public quali ties o f the
emperor , to which may b e added a singularl y gracious
readiness to forgive great patience magnanimity and gen
erosi t y
Fi nally there i s one vi rtue i n which he surpasses
all other crown ed heads o f the world , past and present
a vi rtue which goes fa r to account for his popula rit y
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tact !
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
WILLI AM
II AND FRANC IS J O SEPH
FA G B
Fron ts
QUAR TE RS
O F TH E L E H R - B A TTA L L I ON
E
MPER OR
OF
AUSTR IA
.