The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1880-04-04
RUDOLPH AND STEPHANIE.
Preparations for the Marriage Of the Austrian
Grown Prince and Fair Belgian Prin-
cess - What Signing Maiden
Found In the "Almanaeb
de Gotha."


New York Herald.l
| Surprise, general and ,inmitigated surprise,
WAS the impression produced both In Vienna
and Brussels by the news Of Grown Prince
Rudolph's betroihal with Princess Stephanie
OF Belgium. That has now given way to
equally unmitigated satsfactlo& for the
| Prince Imperial s after his father, the most
popular man In the Austrian empire. His
| atlability and simple manners have won the
peoples hearts. He ls q distinguished lin-
guist, and can converse with any Of his future
subjects In their own dialect. He has taste
| for natural history, and has written two
books. the subject of one OF them being u trip
down the Danube, and the other eagle shoot
| ing Neither of these works has been publish
ed. He has attended with great punctuality to
| his military duties at Prague, to the garrison
| OF which he belongs. He has seen something
of the world, and only last year went on u
shooting excursion TO Africa. He was greatly
pleased with his last journey to England and
| Ireland, and looks forward to the opportunity
he is about to have ot renewing acquatntance
with the Prince Of Wales. His future bride
| Is said to he one of the handsomest princesses
| OF Europe, OF an amiabe disposition, and.
| even for princess, exceptionally we'll edu
Gated. Few beyond the court circle have ever
| seen the Princess Stephanie. except those who
| have happened to be in the way when the
Queen has occasionally been accompanied by
| her daughter, as she drove In the well known
pony chaise to the Bois. She has been brought
,ip In the strictest secluslon, never unless
when with her parents, having been out of
the sight of the goatel7suf,te. She has never
appeared ON any public OCCASION not even to
Witness the school childrens tete given two
years age on the occasion of the King and
Queens silver wedding. Nor has she ever
been seen ON foot In the streets OF Brussels
or enjoyed the envied pleasure OF gazing In
passing into the shop windows. Her sole
companion has been her sister, the Princess
Olementine, now In her tenth year, aud the
principal recreation Of the week a Welt every
Sunday TO the Convent of Jette st. Pierre
where she was allowed to join In the amuse-
ments of the penstonnd,res OF that aristo-
cratic school; and now all is suddenly
changed. State dinners, visits to opera. drives
every day with her future husband, herself
with him, the object Of respectful curiosity
and interest, with all these gay flags flying
the freshness of youth and bright with the
first impression of an unknown world, must
feel herself transported to new life.
All who have approached her Royal High
ness speak of nothing but her grace, her en-
gaging manners, her kindness of heart, with
which are combined accomplishments of no
mean order, and highly cultivated mind.
Fair, with golden hair and blue eyes, che Ia
slight and rather tall. The story is told that
when few years ago her elder sister was
married to Prince Philip Of Saxony, che had
escaped to corner and was found poring
over the Almdndch de Gotha, trying, as ehe
artlessly said, to discoveriwhieh OF the young
princes of Europe was likely to fall to her
lot, and the one she had decided upon was no
other than Prince Rudolph of Austria. By
some tndiseretion the telegram sent by the
young Prince as soon as the offer of his hand
had been accepted, to his friend Count Hams
Wiczek, has been published: "1e suis rheu-
reux fiance de la Princesse Stephanie."
When the wedding will take place
is not decided; the Princess will only COM
plete her sixteenth year on the twentydr
of May, and 1t Is uncertain whether 1t will be
celebrated shortly after that date, or be de-
ferred until next year. AT any rate 1t is not
probable that II will be In Brussels, as In the
case of the marriage OF a Grown Prince 1t is
the rule that the ceremony should be per-
formed In his own capital. Vienna Is de-
lighted with the match. The Princes choice
was peculiarly limited, being confined to the
Catholic retaning houses. There is. Indeed,
no State law or law of the sovereign house
preventing Protestant princess from we'd
ding the heir apparent and eventually be-
coming the Empress of Austria; and the
grandfather Of the very Princess selected-
the late Archduke Joseph-was married first
TO a Russian and then to two Protes-
tant Princesses In succession. Still, by rea-
son OF the fact that for two centuries the
imperial family, one the foremost champions of
the Catholic cause on the Continent has been
In the habit of taking a public part In all
great Catholic festivals aud that the cere-
mony itself of coronation, both of the Empe-
ror of Austria and of the Apostolic King of
Hungary and the born Legatee of the Holy
See la performed according to the rites of the
testant princess, or a princess of other than
the Catholic confession, would have raised n
great number of perplexlng questions. An
other circumstance that could not be alto
gether left out of consideration was the
close relation already subsisting between
the Austrian imperial family and al
most all the Catholic reigning houses.
With ali this the Grown Princes
choice of wife was restricted to
very small number of ladies, and it became
questionable whether among that small num-
ber there would be one whom the Prince him
self would think eligible. As for the Bel
gians, nj. Frere Orban justlyremarked, when
communicating the event to the Senate, and
so did Nj. Vanderstraten, burgomaster of
Brussels to the town council, that the popu
lation of Belgium have always shared the
joys ani sorrows of the royal family, to
whom they are 50 loyalty and devotedly at
tached. Indeed, the new link that will con-
meet the young dynasty of Belgium with the
ancient line of Hapsburg revives the MEM
ory Of the times when the former country
formed part of the vast dominions of the
house of Austria.
Texan Rhapsody.
WACO TAX J Ekaminer1