New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-26

FRANCIS JOSEPH.
dreams of the men of 1S4S. and step OF "nich
49, ;nit,ative has been given by none other than
the Emperor himself 1t has been reign 1ul
90 v,c,ssitudes and full of strange contradic-
t,ons with none more strange than tnat this
APOSTOLIC King and firm believer in Divine
p,obt should be the standard-bearer OF uni
yersal suffrage and that this most loyal son
~ the Church of Rome should raise his own
hand TO strike down that Church's authority
and to sever the bonds that unite 1t with the
State.
No one probably ever said at the cradle
of Francis Joseph that the child would be En-
peror some day or even dreamed that such
would be the case. His father was ArchduRe
Francis Charles, a rather colorless ana IN
significant gentleman whose highest ambition
was personal comfort. He never meddied
in politics. and indeed detested the very word'
and the only time he ever displayed anything
approximating to energy of spirit was when ne
suddenly left Ischl at the very time when
Kaiser Wilhelm Of Germany came thither. be-
cause, as he bluntly declared. "he did not like
the old man." So Archduke Francis Charles
dawdled about the court of Ferdinand the Kind
Hearted and sent his son to the famous
Theresianum College. because that was the
proper thing to do" but never looked for any
higher destiny for the lad than to join the
noble army Of Hapsburg Archdukes. But
Francis Charles's wife, the Princess Sophie, was
the better man Of the two; a woman OF great
ability. shrewdness. determination. persuasion;
probably. too Of as little conscience In political
matters as any trickster or tyrant of her time.
She had great plans for her boys future and
for her own She would make him Emperor
in name while she herself would be Empress
in fact.
Her opportunity came when her son was eigh-
teen years old. The year of revolutions, 1S4S.
came around, and thrones began to totter; that
of Austria with the rest. The Emperor Ferdinand
was as weak Of will he said to be kind Of
heart; got scared, and fled to Olmutz. Princess
Sophie repaired thither Also not in flight, but on
a march to victory. Never before was she so
persuasive or the Emperor eager to be per-
suaded In twnkng it was done. Ferdinand
resigned the throne and crown with a silent but
deyout Good radiance! and passed them on to
the Theresianum student, who accepted them
with clamorous and lamentfu "Oh, my youth!
Thou art forever lost to me-
Presently peace was restored, and Princess
SOPHIE took her boy back to Vienna and showed
him to the people as their new Emperor. He was
not much to sea thin, pale. beardess youth
with timid eyes and with the heavy underlip that
IA the visible and outward sign of the Hapsburg
family. There was nothing about him to inspire
enthusiasm as there would have been about his
handsome and knightly younger brother. Maxi
milan who in later years met lamented fate
In Mexico. But 1t did not greatly matter. The
brains Of Princess Sophie. not the looks OF her
son. were the dominant factor in the problem.
Having showed Francis Joseph to the people
she babe him 20 and play while she governed
In he If
Gruenne, whose instructions were to look after
His Majesty's amusements. which he interpreted
TO mean that he should make and keep the
young Emperor the slave Of the passions and
Measures of the flesh. This went on for several
years: the Emperor led on from revery to rev.
elry unthnkng, while his mother, with hand OF
steel and heart Of stone. administered tyranny
in his name. Under her sway, reaction was the
rule. revolutonists were shot like dogs, patriots
fed into exile and every man was made to feel
that there was a police spy at his elbow; and
the public charged 1t all to the account Of Fran
els Joseph.
So one day what might have been expected
happened. It was on February Is. 1853. The
young Emperor reviewing the army on
the Schmelz. Suddenly through the throng
sprang young Hungarian. one Joseph Ii
benyi; laid violent hands on the sacred per-
son OF HIS Majesty, Struck dl inc iHipei idi
throat fearful blow with n sharp, heavy
butchers knife Jugular and carotid would
have been severed in a neutrality-suspicious. the
very spinal column severed; but the point caught
In the big buckle which every Austrian officer
must wear at his throat, caught and stuck. till
Count O'Donncll and some others grappled with
the would-be slayer and dragged him of. to
have his own throat circled with hemp next
day. Perhaps this episode strengthened the
Emperor's attachment to his Irish subjects. as
witness his staadfast friendship for Count
TaafYe. Certainly 1t set him seriously to think
ing there must be something rotten in the State
II such was the feeling Of any one toward him.
II would not be comfortable to go on forever
enduring the odum Of misgovernment which
was in his name but not according to his will
So he began to reach out for the sceptre with
his own hands
Soon after this tragic turn in his affairs
Francis Joseph performed one Of the most i'm
portant acts of his life entirely on his own
responsibility. This was his marriage to Prin-
cess Elizabeth of Bavaria. 1t has been said that
the match was forced upon him by his mother
but probably without truth. His mother in
tended that he should wed Princess Helena.
the eldest daughter of the Bavarian Duke
Max, and, indeed, fully negotiated the match.
Francis Joseph acuuesced In this arrangement