The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-12-08
COUNT Won TAAFFE
The Irishman Who Governed
Austria Fourteen Years.
RIGHT HAND OF THE EMPEROR.
His skill in Ruling an Empire Com
posed of Many Races-How He
Kept a Majority.

Adapted from the New York Tribune.
While Celtic names abound among The
/ nobility OF Scandinavia and Of France,
Z irish p7fTonymtcs are equally plenutul IN
/ the ranks OF the aristocracy Of Austria.
/ The Scots in the northern part Of cont-
3 mental Europe, such as for instance, the
4 Douglasses and the Hamiltons Of Sweden,
/ are the descendants Of those officers who
I fought under King Gustavus Adolphus in
his great struggle on behalf OF the Protest.
/ ant church. while the forbears OF those
/ in France followed the Stuarts TO that
country and settled there. The sons OF
! Erin, on the other hand. seem 10 have been
/ attracted 10 Austria by the brilliancy or
! it's court. by the facilities which il afford
1 ed for seeing active service in the army,
/ by their devotion 10 the Catholic church,
/ OF which the Holy Roman empire was in
/ those days the principal champion. ana
1 last but not least. by a great similarity
1 of character. For there is much analogy
/ between the Irish and the Austrian es-
/ pecially among the higher classes. both
! being equally fond of pleasure, reckless
/ alike in their daring and in their extrava-
/ gances. and always eager for fresh excite
ment and adventure.
Indeed. in the last century. when Cath
/ olicism constituted a bar 10 advancement
/ in the English service. there was scarcely
/ a single house of the Irish nobility that
/ was not represented by one or more OF It's
! members in the Austrian army. To this
| is attributed the fact that the princely
| family Of Nugent, processing allegiance
TO Emperor Francis Joseph. has its chief
| in an Irish earl, young Lord Westmeath,
| now attached to the British embassy in
| Washington City, while the most conspcu-
| Gus and popular statesman who has ever
/ held the office of prime minister a Vienna
| since the beginning Of the present century
was the Irish Niscount Ta4ffe, who died
| November 90
BY no one is his death more deeply
mourned than by his hoyhood friend and
| chum. Francis Joseph. to whom he devoted
| the major part of his long and busy life.
/ II was nothing but deep affection for the
/ emperor and a patriotic sentiment of duty
| TO the fatherland that caused him 10 sacri-
| flee his inclinationS and tastes 10 politics.
| which at heart he despised quite as heart
| lily as stock exchange operations and
| "coups de bourse." Office could not add
| 10 his social importance or consideration,
| while it left him considerably poorer than
| when he first entered the service of the
| crown. Indeed. he always used to give
| me the impression that he regarded the
| whole thing as a dreadful bore and that
| il was only his Austro-Hibernan courtesy
| which kept him from yawning in the
| reichsrath as frequently as the Duke of
| Devonshire was wont to do when he sat
| in the British house of commons.
Strange Looking Arstocrat.
| Count Taaffe. when | knew him in the
| early eighties, was one of the most pecu-
| liar-looking men in Vienna. His head was
| narrow and long and sloped downward TO
| the back. and he wore his coal-black hair
| rather long. falling on the collar of
| strangely cut old frock coat that bore
| the mark OF having been built by an ex-
| ceedingly provincial tailor. An old and
| rather disreputabe silk hat of antiquated
] architecture was perched on the very back
! of his head. its narrow brim affOrding no
| shade whatsoever 10 the humorous black
| eyes that sparkled on either side of an
| aquline nose, which, in turn was perched
above a dropping black mustache. The
! cheekbones were high the complexion
| olive colored, and the general aspect of
the man. If not Oriental, was at any rate
| that OF a Spaniard.
1t is needless to say that he proved a
| perfect gold mine 10 the Vienna caricatur-
| lists. who, when he was in office, never
| tired of pOrtraying him and his old coach
| man, Pep" who was almost as well
| known a Niennese character as his mas
| ter Pepi, who used to abuse and order
| about the count in the same amusing fash
| ion that Francisco the old valet of Senior
| Canovas used TO boss" the autOcratic
| statesman who is now prime minister of
| Spain. had been, when l last saw the
| Taaffes, in their service for more than
! thirty years. He used to trim his hair in
| the same odd manner as the count. wore
| the same kind of tile" perched on the
| very back Of his head, and detestins his
| livery as much as the count did his uni
| form. was ordinarily arrayed when driv-
| ing his master in one of the latter's old
| gray frOck coats. Then. too, Pepi aped
| all the little mannerisms Of the count to
| such a degree that the resemblance be-
| tween master and man was startling
| so much so as TO be positively lldiCrOuS,
| and constituted for many years one Of
| the stock jokes Of the comic papers OF
| Vienna
| The Importance of .'Moppi."
| Another member of the Taaffe household
! whose good will l am proud 70 have pos
| sessed was that of 'Moppi." the most ia
| nous poodle of the Austro- Hungarian en-
| pire, and certainly more popular than was
| ever Prince B.smarck's 'Reichshund.'
| "Moppi'' was for many years the constant
| and inseparahle companion Of the count,
| and was probably acquainted with more
| state secrets than any other dog in Europe,
| He used 10 st solemnly in a chair in a
| corner OF the prime ministers room at the
! palace. where the cabinet councils were
| held. and where audiences were granted,
| with a look Of truly statesman-like sagac-
| ity on his clever and Intelligent face. n
| fortunately "Mopp.s' official deCoTum
| and un.mpeachahe conduct in official matt
| tiers did not extend to his private lfe.
| which was characterized by numerous in
| discTet.onS, and As soon as night set in
| 'Moppi' was wont 70 cast aside the cares
! 81 office and 20 become one Of the eayest
| dogs in Vienna. l. was during one Of
| these midnight excursions that he was so
| mauled and torn by a rival Don Juan OF
| the canine species that he succumbed 70
| his injuries. although tendorly nursed by
| the prime minister OF Austria and by
| Countess lrma. who IS one Of the grandes5
! ladies in the empire. 'Moppi' lies buried
/ in one Of the prett.est corners Of. the park
| surrounding the counts beautiful country
seat at Ellschau. and the tombstone that