New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-02-02


probably be accepted as the oficiai' cause OF
a death which every one attributes to far more
mysterious aud sanguinary tragedy IL may be
remembered that in the case Of Gambetta the
latter was officially declared to have inflicted on
himself the wound which his friends att the
time lxnew had been inflicted by some other
hand. Will every true Bavarian TO this very
day scouts the idea that the late King Ludwlgs
death was due 20 feo de sc. Suicide IS go con-
venient theory.
The Grown Prince, partly on doubt in consequence
of his devotion to the late Emperor FREDERICK
vas very far from being persona grata at bernn
His high-bred instincts together with tho chiva-
rous bearing which he had inherited from ms
father we're not of nature TO amalgamate win
the coarse, unmannerly ways of William IL ana
his intimacy with NJ Clemenceau and undisgulsed
admiration of General Boulanger, both OF whcn
were well known in the WilhelmstrasSe caused
him to be regarded by the Bismarck clique as a
man eminenty untitled 20 succeed TO the Vheone
Of Austro-Hungary. II is no secret tnaV tne Arch-
duke was thoroughly opposed 10 tne suooruii".
ton of Vienna TO Berlin, which constitutes one OF
the most ldistasteful features OF the Iriplc ALI
ance and had IL not been for the affectionate
raIa. ,ors which subsisted between Francis Joseph
and his SON there is no doebt but that the latter
the Schwarz und Gelb' lblack and yellow party,
as those opposed to Berlin dictation are called
Rudolf spent many years of his life at Prague
and although thorough Hapsburg had become
jmpregnated there with many of the Nationalist
ideas and anti-German prejudices which prevail
in Bohemia He was regarded as the hope Oh the
Slav element in Austria, and was a great admlrer
of Count Taafe's policy of federation ana local
self-government. His accession to the throne
would have involved the certainty OF his Deing
crowned with tho diadem OF st. Wencesiaus az
Prague, and the constitution OF an autonomous
and independent kingdom Of Bohemia on the same
lines as that of Hungary Had this come TO pass.
Bohemia. with its traditional hostility to every
thing German, would have become an almost I'M
penetrable barrier between Berlin and VIENNA
and would, moreover, have rendered the conunua-
ton of the military as well as of the commercial
alliance between the two countries mattet Oh
impossibility All this will tend to show now
much the Chancellor of the German Empire hau
70 Gain by the death of Crown Prince Rudolf
or eourse no one would ever dream OF accusing
Prince Bismarck of being in any respect accessory
70 the tragedy. It can only be said that fate has
worked TO his advantage through most extrdor-
binary series Of tragic condolences
"a Prince Bismarck has. however. numerous and
uuscrupulous agents of every rank and condition
nj life including such men as those who, few
davs after the demise of the Emperor Frederick,
were shouting under the palace windows, Here
Won arel One mark for the true History OF the
Amours of the English Woman with Count 81
a filthy namphlct containing the most outrageous
statements concerning the stricken Empress ana
her chamberlain To what extent Prince BIS
marck becomes blind to sentiments of humanity
when either his own personal interests or what
he chooses to regard as the national policy are
at stake will be realized when it is stated that
an Paris in 1867 he was notified eight hours
before it took place Of the attempt to shoot the
Gar IN his vay back from Longchamps with
Napoleon III By saying one word ne might
have had Berezowsk arrested, and have avoided
the shedding of innocent blood. But he remained
silent fully aware that if the attempt took place
it would put an end to all danger Of an alliance
between Napoleon and Alexander, an alliance
which would have rendered the Franco-German
war of 1870 an imposSibility. His conduct In
this matter was but in accordance with the cold
bIooded calculation and cyuicism with which he
watched the dying moments of Emperor Fred
erick, and in keeping With the brutal persecu-
ton TO which he has subjected both the widow
and all the. nearest and dearest friends of his
dead master.
aCrown Prince Rudolfs DEATH" continued
the diplomat brings us face to face with a.
situation which has not been seen since the
. great Seven Yeass' War. The Salic law, by
which females are prohibited from inheriting the
crown, prevails in Austria but not in Hungary.
On the death OF Charles VI. in 1740, his only
daughter. Maria Theresa, inherited the crown Of
ST. Stephen and became Queen Of Hungary IL
was only FIVE years later after the death OF
,at hv eli ofh her
husband, Francis Duke of Lorraine to the dig
nifty OF Emperor Of Germany she became de jure
and de facto Empress, title which until then had
been disputed by the Prince Electors Of the Realm
On the death of her husband. Francis of Lorraine,
in 1868 her son succeeded to the Imperial Crown
OF Germany as Emperor Joseph II, but not to
the throne of Hungary. which she herself retained
in her own right. Indeed. it was not until
the death of Maria Theresa fifteen years later, in
100, that Emperor Joseph became King OF
Hungary. The same separation OF tho two crowns
viii again occur on the death Of the present
Emperor The little six-years-old Archduehess
Elizabeth, the only child Of the late Crown Prince
Rudolf will succeed TO the crown of st. Stephen
as Queen of Hungary, and in case Of her demise,
she will be succeeded by the Archduchess Valerie,
the youngest sister OF the brte Grown Prince, his
eldest sister Gisela having renowned her rights
20 the succession of the throne on contracting
marriage with Prince Leopold Of Bavaria in s73
The Imperial Grown Of Austria, on the other
hand together with Bohemia, Galieia, Dalmatia
and all the other Cisleithan provinces will fall
TO the eldest brother of the present monarch, the
Archdukc Charles Louis, who will succeed the latter
as Emperor Charles VIII of Austria only Charles
Louis is not popular man. He is regarded both
as bigot in religious affairs and as the reverse
of liberal in political matters. Having already
been married three times, be has the reputation
among the people of being something Of Blue
beard while his intimacy with the Court Of
Berlin and undisguised admiration Of Prince
Bismarck render him exceedingly unpopular
throughout the country. His eldest son, the
ArchdulSe Francis, is young man about twenty