St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-22
MARRIED FORTY YEARS AGO.
Anniversary of the rlarriage of
Franz Josef of Austria.
Row He CAME TO THE AUSTRIAN THRONE
Has Been in Many Respects Tragic
INne-A Union of the Heart and
IL What Has Came of itlTues.
As days's Festival.

On Tuesday next there will be celebrated
BY Emperor Francis Joseph and the Empress
Elizabeth of Austria the fortieth anniversary
Of their marriage. All Europe is deeply in
terested in this event of royal importance and
regal magnifcence. The presents already
bent from half the courts of Europe are large
In quantity, rich in their variety and mag
nifcent in selection. The subjects of the royal
pair have also shown their love for their
rulers by the lIberality with which in differ
emit parts of the empire they have contributed
to funds for the purchase Of gifts. Tie atti-
tude of the people, both of the aristocracy
ind the masses, is much different toward the
Emperor and empress now than it was forty
years ago when they joined titles, hearts and
fortunes for life. The feeling of GOODNESS
towards the emperor and of hostility to his
Royal bride then felt by the court circle was
,Ihared in great degree by the subjects at
large. The emperor was distrusted and the
newly created empress WIS received in
cold unfriendly manner.
! The conduct of public affairs by the
Princess Sophie, the emperors mother, a
strong-willed, determined woman, who ran
the empire in her sons name and her own in
terests engenderad & feeling Of unrest in the
minds Of the subjects, and the emperor, who
had nominally been the ruler for five years at
the time of his marriage was neither loved
nor respected. In fact, he was an accidental
ruler, but the accident has been, as demon
,strated in later years, g. fortunate one fer his
people. At the birth of the emperor there
was probably 10 one, save possibly his
mother, the calculating, long-headed Princess
Sophie, who ever dreamed of his future
exalted rank and greatness. His father was
the Archduke Francis Charles, an amiable
sort of gentleman, who took but little in
.terest in passing events except to consult his
iown pleasure in the matter of creature COM
forts and to hope that the future would be full
# good things, easy to get he had no taste
3br politics, and diplomacy was something
Antirely foreign to his nature.
& He left Ischei at the time the Kaiser Viii
helm of Germany went there, simply because
ihe did not like Wilhelm, and he was blunt
enough to say so. Francis Charles was an
.habitue of the court of Ferdinand the Kind
Hearted and sent his son to the famous
Theresianum college, not so much for the
purpose of educating him as because other
great men sent their sons there and it SEEM
Fed the proper thing to do. Hehad no greater
ambition for Francis Joseph than to see him
b member of the noble and numerous army
Sf Hapsburg archdukes. While the arch
f1uke was contented to drift along easily and
leave the world alone as long as it did not
Hnterfere with him personally, his royal wife e,
Twas alert, active and plotting. She was
/ natural politician, with as little regard for
the methods by which she reached her ends
. as any of the other scheming, serambling
plotters of her time. She mapped out a
Career of greatness for her son and must be
credited with having started him On it with
Some degree of success for which the young
man himself deserved no credit whatever.
& The Princess Sophie determined to make
him emperor in name while she should be
empress in fact. Her opportunity came in
i1S48, that year of revolutions, when Francis
Joseph was eighteen years Of age. He was
still at Theresianum and as little interested
in passing political events as his careless,
feasy-going father. Thrones were tottering
all about, and that of Austria was affected
with the rest. Princess Sophie was close to
the throne and quick to see its unsafe condi-
ton under the existing reign of the Emperor
Ferdinand. He was kind OF heart but ex-
,ceedingly weak of will, so that it was a COM
paratively easy matter for friends of the
Princess Sophie, acting as his advisers, to
induce him to fly to Olmutz. Thither he was
followed by Sophie, ambitious, scheming and
persuasive. Her strong will triumphed over
his weak one and the ultimate result, soon
attained, was his resignation of the throne
and crown in favor of the young student Of
Theresianum. The school-boy of eighteen
was emperor. That was forty-flve years ago
the first day of last December.
- The young emperor was not greatly inn
pressed with his new honor. He was lilly
fitted then for the cares of government and
paid little heed to affairs of state. His
mother. her ambition partly satisfied, pro-
ceeded with characteristic vigor to pave the
way for the young emperor's return to Wen
ma and her own accession to the real power
of the empire. Soon there came peace, and
the Princess Sophie took her son to VienDa
a3sysgo