The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-02

for their sake that makes their love for
him so constant and so considerable
A HARD-WORKING MONARCH.
Mr.. Chamberlain is said once 20 have
quoted, in denunciation OF the peers Of
Great Britain, They toll not, neither do
they spin" But this assurediy Is not a
reproach justly TO be directed against the
Emperor OF Austria No CHIEF executive OF
a practical. workaday, -"co-fummery'' re-
public works harder than he; no business
man with a vast fortune 10 make or TO
which 80 taxes the Prince OF Wales-the
entertaining OF guests, the laying OF cor
n~erstones. the opening Of public buildings
lay-hgure usefulness These things he does
when there is need. But beside and over
them all is a vast mass OF real work-the
work at once OF Legislator and executive,
the work OF the diplomat, the nnancier, the
statesman-such as most monarchs prefer
TO leave to their ministers, but which Fran
CTS Joseph insists on doing himself, with
much burning OF midnight oil.
Note, for example, his duties In oonnec-
non WITH the Hungarian Parliament Un-
DER the constitution he has the prerogative
OF examining every roposed bill before IL
Is introduced by a minister. This does
not mean simply that he is to know its
scope and general purport, but that he Is
to have placed before him its entire text.
every sentence and word. He regards this
NOT merely, as a privilege. but as a duty.
"a NAA~A AC
himself with the utmost ea~rneStness. Some
times an important bill will come before
MN covering scores of printed pages. He
Will study IL diligently. perhaps for weeks,
with frequent references to Ministers or
other authorities. Finally II VIII be re-
turned. With his initials on the first page.
indicating that he approves the introduce
ton OF IL into Parliament. But IL will not
be in its original form. by any means.
Every page will be covered thicily with
in~terlineations and marginal notes and
comments, in his Maiesty's own handwrft-
ing, with here and there, perhaps, answers
10 his queries by some of the Ministers.
These annotations show him TO be a master
Of the subject in hand, and are often OF
great value in the framing OF legislation.
On one bill, for example. he made a certain
criticism. and then referred IL 10 one OF
his Ministers, who wrote beneath IL this
reply: Your Majesty is right The meas
ure as proposed would have FLASHED, wholly
against our intention, with an act already
in force"
Such work has the Emperor been bestow-
ing, for weeks past, upon the civil marriage
bill, over which so furious a political fight
has long been raging. This is one OF the
most important measures proposed in Hun
act. containing as il does a history OF mar
riage in its preamble. fills a large volume.
which it took the government printer two
weeks to put in type. His Majesty has read
and reread every line OF II, and looked up
innumerabie authorities bearing on disputed
points. He has studied carefully the vol
luminous OF the Prime Minister
and the Minister OF Justice in favor OF IL.
anu o AdIulldS CCldUCn Hi NdCLdI1
against Ii, besides holding almost daily
conferences with all four concerning It In
fact, 1t is seriously estimated that from the
beginning OF August TO the early part or
November, he gave an average OF five
hours hard work daily to this one measure.
When we remember his other duties, many
and important, especially those connected
with the revolutionary disturbances in Bo-
hemia, 1t is evident that the Empress Eliza
she exclaimed the other day TO Cardinal
Vaszary: Look at my poor husband. de
has the greatest labor and anxiety of all
The Emperor has more than once ex-
pressed the fear that the future will know
him as Francis Joseph the Unlucky. Per-
haps "the Unready' would be a more TT
ting title, since most OF his nl-fortune
seems TO have come TO him through ms
own unreadineSs to seize opportunities and
to deal with emergencies as they arose.
There was a strange contradictoriness
losses. Louis NAPOLEON made him a tempt:
ing offer at Vilafranca- The bride would
have made him the foe OF Germany. and
man Princel' Yet, in truth, there was
not, and Is not, a drop OF true German
blood in his veins. But Germany trusted
Prussia, looked to him as the
'Deutsches Kaiser" as the s0yereisn
R giSn. S should s, restore tn the OLD cback EmP tSs
movement with his commercial union OF
1862; but still the hearts Of the German peo-
pie turned toward Francis Joseph. So at
the last he all Germany TO meet
him at Frankfort, where he should be
crowned Emperor. But II was too late
He had been unready. The opportunity
was past. AnothS- chance came soon after
Prussia was suspected of false play, and
all Austria sprang up with ineXpressible
zeal, ready to the last man to rush to the
field of battle. Had he yielded TO that food
tide of passion. he would have been the
leader Of a popular war that might have
overwhelmed the northern foe. But he re-
pressed it, and followed the traditions or
Austrian red-tape militarism; and the re-
suit was Sadowa-
1t Is related that i'm the year 1857, after
Napoleon III had his interview at Stuff
CART with Alexander II (Which was In
tended 10 bring about a FTanco-Russian
alliance), the Car paid a visit 10 his hrst
helmsthal, a favorite forest residence OF
the whole family. 1t had been settled that
at the same time the Emperor OF Austria
there was no king in Hungary them should
also pass a day at the Schloss, privately,
to enjoy the splendid shooting in the
Thuringer Wald. He did SO, and the two
Kaisers met in the presence OF their host
surrounded by his court. >The first meet
ing was extremely stiff and cold, re-
vealing the embarrassment consequent
War; but the second interview, which had
but one witness, was abruptly opened by the
son of Nicholas, who, as soon as he was
seated, laid his hand on his brother OF
Austria's arm. saying: viii you for once
be frank? And will you try 20 know what
you mean?' The fault, or rather misfor-
tune, of Francis Joseph's life has been that
he has not always known exactly what he
meant. Yet whenever he has known he
has not hesitated to do, and among the
many soyereigns who have held sway in
Europe during these forty-hve years OF his
reign there is scarce one whose place in his
country's history will be more hOlorable
than that of Francis Joseph the Unlucky.